Danson House is a
Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
mansion and a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
at the centre of
Danson Park
Danson Park is a public park in the London Borough of Bexley, South East London, located between Welling and Bexleyheath. At 75 hectares, it is the second largest public park in the borough (the largest being Foots Cray Meadows at 100 hectares), ...
, in
Welling
Welling is an area of South East London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley, west of Bexleyheath, southeast of Woolwich and of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater London in 1965, it was in the historical county of Kent.
...
in the
London Borough of Bexley
The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The ...
, south-east London.
History
The Danson Estates before Danson House
The earliest reference to the Danson Estates can be found in an Archbishop's survey of 1284, in which seven of the Archbishop's tenants are cited as owning 17 acres of land at "Densynton".
The Manor of Bexley was acquired by
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
, and remained a part of the royal estates until
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
sold it to John Spielman in an attempt to raise funds for the crown.
On 1 March 1622 the Manor was bought by
William Camden
William Camden (2 May 1551 – 9 November 1623) was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and herald, best known as author of ''Britannia'', the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, and the ''Annal ...
, who immediately granted it to
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
to fund a chair in History.
In 1695 the estates were sold into private hands for the first time as an owner-occupied property.
In 1699
John Styleman, a director of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, took up residence at Danson, the estates having been acquired on his behalf by his brother Francis two years earlier.
Styleman began to develop the estates as a country seat, but left Danson shortly after the death of his wife Arabella at the property in 1717.
In 1723 Styleman leased the property for 99 years to
John Selwyn MP, a royal courtier, who improved and enlarged the estates a great deal before his death in 1751.
The estate at this point included a mansion with five bedrooms, four living rooms, a nursery, kitchen and brewhouse, as well as an icehouse, elaborate water features, and an ornamental Chinese-style house.
1753–1800
John Styleman had died in 1734, his will stipulating that half the proceeds from the lease should go to his widow, Mary Styleman, and the other half to charities providing almhouses for 12 poor families in
Bexley
Bexley is an area of south-eastern Greater London, England and part of the London Borough of Bexley. It is sometimes known as Bexley Village or Old Bexley to differentiate the area from the wider borough. It is located east-southeast of Char ...
.
On 10 July 1753 Selwyn's widow, also Mary, sub-let the property to
Sir John Boyd,
sugar merchant and vice-chairman of the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, and son of the
St Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
planter and slaveholder Augustus Boyd.
By 1759 Boyd had taken over the lease and bought out the rest of the land added to the estates by Selwyn.
However, he still had to pay £100 annuity to the charity established by Styleman's will, which owned half of the freehold. His offer of a permanent annuity in return for the charity's half of the freehold required an Act of Parliament, and as a result the ''Styleman Act'' was passed in 1762, and John Boyd thus became the sole owner of the entire estates, paving the way for extensive enlargement of the property and the construction of Danson House as it stands today.
![Southwest View of Danson House (02)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Southwest_View_of_Danson_House_%2802%29.jpg)
Originally called Danson Hill, the Palladian villa was designed by leading architect Sir
Robert Taylor (architect of the
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
),
and constructed to the north of the older mansion.
Work began on the house in 1763, and Boyd moved into the house around 1768 with his new wife Catherine.
By the time of Boyd's death in 1800 it stood in the centre of over 600 acres (2.4 km
2) of pleasure grounds and agricultural estate
– over 200 acres (0.8 km
2) of which today form
Danson Park
Danson Park is a public park in the London Borough of Bexley, South East London, located between Welling and Bexleyheath. At 75 hectares, it is the second largest public park in the borough (the largest being Foots Cray Meadows at 100 hectares), ...
, the second largest public park in the
London Borough of Bexley
The London Borough of Bexley () is a London boroughs, London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The ...
. Internal furnishings and decorations, including ornate chimney-pieces, were designed by
William Chambers, a friend of Boyd's,
and murals and paintings were produced for the house by artists such as
Richard Wilson and
Richard Corbould
Richard Corbould (1757 in London – 1831 in London) was an English artist, sometimes misspelt "Corbold" .
He was a painter, in oil and watercolour, of portraits, landscape, and occasionally history; of porcelain, and miniatures on ivory, and e ...
.
The landscape was designed and laid out from 1761 to 1763, by either
Capability Brown
Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783), more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English gardener and landscape architect, who remains the most famous figure in the history of the English la ...
or his assistant Nathaniel Richmond.
At its centre is a large and picturesque 12-acre (49,000 m
2) lake to the south of the house, on the site of the previous mansion,
described by
Edward Hasted
Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS (31 December 1732 NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent. As such, he was the author of a major county history, ''The History and To ...
in his ''History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent'' of 1797 as "a most magnificent sheet of water so contrived as to seem a beautiful serpentine river, flowing through the grounds". A small house with a spire, named Chapel House, was constructed to the south of Danson House, which has now been separated from the rest of the park by a motorway,
but can still be seen today near the roundabout at Blendon.
1800–present
![Danson House from back](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Danson_House_from_back.jpg)
After Sir John died in January 1800 (being buried in St Mary's churchyard,
Lewisham
Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...
),
his son demolished the imposing wings containing kitchens and stables, and built the present stable block (design attributed to
George Dance the Younger
George Dance the Younger RA (1 April 1741 – 14 January 1825) was an English architect and surveyor as well as a portraitist.
The fifth and youngest son of the architect George Dance the Elder, he came from a family of architects, artists a ...
). He sold the estate in 1807 to John Johnston, a retired army captain of the
62nd Regiment of Foot
The 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was raised in 1756 and saw service through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 99th (Lanarkshire) ...
and
Freeman of the City of London
The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...
.
In 1829, it passed to Johnston's son Hugh. Hugh's daughter Sarah painted a number of watercolours of the interior in the 1860s with intricate detail, which were later of key use in the restoration of the interior. Hugh Johnston sold Danson to
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
Alfred Bean in 1862.
Bean was the driving force behind the
Bexleyheath Railway Company, and chairman of Bexley Local Board, and envisaged transforming the 582-acre (2.4 km
2) estate into a residential suburb. Outlying areas were sold off for residential development according to Bean's will,
but the house and 224 acres of the estate remained in Bean's family after his death in 1890,
until the death of his widow in 1921, when it was auctioned, and eventually acquired by Bexley
Urban District
Urban district may refer to:
* District
* Urban area
* Quarter (urban subdivision)
* Neighbourhood
Specific subdivisions in some countries:
* Urban districts of Denmark
* Urban districts of Germany
* Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...
Council for £16,000 in 1924.
The park was opened to the public in 1925 by
Princess Mary,
while the house was used for civil defence purposes during
World War Two
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Over time football pitches, tennis courts and a bowling green have been added, along with an open-air swimming pool in 1936 and the Boathouse and Cafe, open to the public in 1964.
The park is now used extensively by the community.
When the house was acquired by
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
in 1995, it was in a dangerously dilapidated condition, having been uninhabited since 1923,
and was described by English Heritage as "the most significant building at risk in London".
It was painstakingly restored in a ten-year £4.5m project by
Purcell Miller Tritton architects. Bexley Heritage Trust, a local heritage charity, was involved in partnership with English Heritage from 2000 and completed the interior furnishing and fitting-out of the house prior to its reopening by
HM The Queen in Spring 2005.
The Danson Park grounds were also restored, funded by the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
, in 2006.
In 2016, the borough cancelled its grant to the Bexley Heritage Trust for the upkeep of the property, and the charity therefore withdrew to focus on
Hall Place
Hall Place is a stately home in the London Borough of Bexley in south-east London, built in 1537 for Sir John Champneys, a wealthy merchant and former Lord Mayor of London. The house was extended in 1649 by Sir Robert Austen, a merchant from T ...
, and the house fell under direct management from the borough.
The council has subsequently made Danson House the
register office
A register office or The General Register Office, much more commonly but erroneously registry office (except in official use), is a British government office where births, deaths, marriages, civil partnership, stillbirths and adoptions in England, ...
for Bexley Borough.
![Basement of Danson House](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Basement_of_Danson_House.JPG)
The house is now owned by English Heritage on a 999-year lease from 1997, and will eventually be managed by a trust. It is open to the public on selected viewing days.
The estate's stable block is now a
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
, the Danson Stables.
The house was used as a filming location for the 2017 historical TV drama ''
Taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
'', starring
Tom Hardy.
References
External links
Welling Website
{{Authority control
Country houses in London
Houses in the London Borough of Bexley
Historic house museums in London
Museums in the London Borough of Bexley
Grade I listed houses in London
History of the London Borough of Bexley
Robert Taylor buildings
Georgian architecture in London
Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Bexley
Grade I listed museum buildings