Tales of the Great Estates

11:20am Thursday 16th November 2000

Grand houses, grand estates, great stories ... ROGER WRIGHT talks to Oliver Wooller, author of a history of famous properties in Bexley

POLITICS, scandal, deceit and general malpractice. Whatever takes your fancy, you will find it connected with one of six estates in Bexley.

Oliver Wooller, who is archivist for Bexley borough, tells the fascinating story of the historic houses some of which no longer exist in his new book The Great Estates.

Mr Woollers book concentrates on the estates at Belvedere, Danson, Lamorbey, Hall Place, Foots Cray Place and May Place, and his painstaking research has revealed all sorts of fascinating anecdotes.

It is no exaggeration to say the Bexley area has been a hot bed of political intrigue over the years with incidents such as the suicide of the then Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh at North Cray in 1822 and the untimely death of Sir Cloudsley Shovell (pictured right) of May Place at the hands of a fisherwoman in 1707.

Mr Wooller starts his book with Hall Place, in Bexley, saying that there has been a house on the site for untold centuries, but the history of the present house only begins with the purchase of the estate by Sir John Champneys from the Shelley Family on, or about, June 14, 1537.

Sir John was an archetypal member of the new gentry which emerged under Henry VIII, and he became Lord Mayor of London in 1534. It is not inconceivable the King may have hunted on the estate.

May Place stood in Crayford and, for many years, was the seat of the lord of that manor and around 1537, the land was valued at £38.0s.10d.

The house would become the property of Sir Cloudsley Shovell, who was born in Norfolk, and joined the navy at the age of 13.

His amazing life story saw him rise to the rank of admiral and, in 1704, he assisted in the capture of Gibraltar.

On his return to England, Shovell was promoted, and in the space of three weeks, he became Rear Admiral of England, Admiral of the Fleet and Commander in Chief of the navy.

Eventually, the Royal Navy reigned supreme in the Mediterranean, but on October 22, his flagship The Association struck rocks off the Scilly Isles and sank.

Most of the crew were drowned but Shovell himself was washed ashore where he was found by a greedy fishwife, scouring the beach for wreckage, who strangled him and stole his emerald ring, a fact she only revealed on her deathbed, 30 years later.

Foots Cray Place, in Sidcup, had an equally fascinating history. The ancient Manor of Foots Cray is recorded in the Domesday Book.

Among its many famous inhabitants were the Walsingham family. Sir Francis was the man who set up an intelligence network, which uncovered the Babington plot, preserving Elizabeth I on her throne and bringing about the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Tragically, a fire broke out on October 18, 1949, and the building was so badly damaged, it had to be demolished.

Belvedere, in Erith, also has a long and fascinating history from the days of the English Civil War (1642-45) right up until it was demolished in 1959, when it was used as a home for retired sailors as the Royal Alfred Merchant Seamans Institution.

The first recorded owner of the Lamorbey Estate, in Sidcup, was Thomas Sparrow in 1495. In the late Middle Ages, the area was known as Lamienby or Lamb Abbey.

The house was eventually used as a hotel until 1946, when it was bought by Kent Education Committee as an adult education centre.

It is now the administrative centre of Rose Bruford College, part of the University of Greenwich, which holds it on lease from Bexley Council.

l Mr Woollers book took two years to write and should prove invaluable for anyone interested in local history. It is available, priced £5.95 (plus £1 postage and packing cheques made payable to Bexley Council) from Bexley Local Studies and Archive Centre, Central Library, Townley Road, Bexleyheath, Kent, DAJ 7HJ and all Bexley libraries, local bookshops and Hall Place. Call 020 8301 1545.

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