Dartford Palace (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Dartford Priory

In the civil parish of Dartford.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.
Medieval County of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ53937440
Latitude 51.44765° Longitude 0.21381°

Dartford Palace has been described as a certain Palace.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Dartford Priory stood on the site of Hall's Engineering Works. It was founded by Edward III about 1349 in the buildings of a former royal palace. New buildings had been erected by 1356. The priory was suppressed in 1538 and the buildings converted into a royal house which was at first occupied by Henry VIII, then granted to Anne of Cleves by Edward VI, later used by Queen Elizabeth but alienated by James I. The principal remains of this house consist of the Gatehouse which was built by Henry VIII between 1541 and 1545. It was subsequently used as a farmhouse until taken over by Hall's Works. An L-shaped building. 2 storeys red brick but with some stone rubble to the ground floor. Tiled roof, partly replaced with glass to form skylights. 5 casement windows. In the angle of the L is a 2 storeyed rectangular projection. At the north end of the north wing is a blocked 4-centred stone carriage archway with a moulded brick head and dripstone over. The interior contains contemporary stone fireplaces and ceiling beams but has otherwise been modernised. (Listed Building Report)

Dominican Nunnery founded 1349, dissolved 1539, refounded 1558 until 1559. Dartford Priory stood on the site of Hall's Engineering Works. It was founded by Edward III about 1349 in the buildings of a former royal palace. New buildings had been erected by 1356. The priory was suppressed in 1538 and the buildings converted into a royal house which was at first occupied by Henry VIII, then granted to Anne of Cleves by Edward VI, later used by Queen Elizabeth but alienated by James I. The principal remains of this house consist of the Gatehouse which was built by Henry VIII between 1541 and 1545. Under the Catholic Queen Mary it was reoccupied by the nuns between 1557-8. After the return of a Protestant monarch it was subsequently used as a farmhouse until taken over by Hall's Engineering Works. The remains, all now within Hall's Works, include the Tudor gatehouse incorporated in the Royal manor house circa 1543, and the precinct wall remains. Human remains have been found at the site. (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1086030
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 411240.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TQ 57 SW 126; MKE25549.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The manor gatehouse
Books
- Cooper, Nicholas, 1999, Houses of the Gentry, 1480-1680 (Yale University Press) p. 311
  Thurley, Simon, 1993, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale University Press) p. 50, 57, 58, 119, 151, 156, 161
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) (London) p. 68-74
  Newman, John, 1976, Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (Harmondsworth) p. 257
  Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol. 1: the Middle Ages (London) p. 264
  Page, Wm (ed), 1926, VCH Kent Vol. 2 p. 181-190 online transcription
Periodical Articles
- 1981, Moated Sites Research Group report Vol. 8 p. 14
  Cherry, J., 1978, Post-medieval Archaeology Vol. 12 p. 115
  Borthwick, A. and Davies, H., 1973, 'Excavations in Dartford and the Darent Valley 1973' Kent Archaeological review Vol. 34 p. 113-4 (slight) online copy
  Kirby, J.W., 1961, 'The manor house of Henry VIII at Dartford' Transactions of the Dartford & District Antiquarian Society Vol. 9 p. 6-29
  Clapham, A.W., 1926, 'The Priory of Dartford and the Manor House of Henry VIII' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 83 p. 67-85 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- E178/1178 (Survey of 43 Elizabeth) The National Archives reference
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Kent County Council, December 2004, Kent Historic Towns Survey (Kent County Council and English Heritage) view online copy
  Thurley, Simon, 1991, English Royal Palaces, 1450-1550 (unpub PhD thesis; London) p. 247-55 (available via EThOS)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

Data >	PastScape	County HER		Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio