Image: Dartford gatehouse from street (Photo: C.A. Stanford)
Acquired: 1539
At the suppression of this former priory, Henry caused a lavish new Tudor palace to be built here. It was later was given over to Anne of Cleves after Henry’s death. Nuns were reinstalled under Mary’s reign, but in later times it was used as a farmhouse.
Full records are preserved for much of the Henrician works at Dartford, overseen by the King’s surveyor, James Nedeham, from 1541–44. The convent had not been large and little was apparently reused. New royal apartments were laid out from the foundations, with separate ranges for the king and queen. While some of the materials were brought in from the demolition of Barking Abbey, the total cost recorded by the king’s surveyor, James Nedeham, was still approximately £6,600.
Little remains of the Tudor structure except the gatehouse and part of the precinct wall.
*Click here to see the women vendors that worked at this site.