9.
Horsman’s Place
This important Dartford residence stood in Lowfield Street on an area of
land now partly covered by a
doctors’ surgery (demolished early 1983) and Dartford Social Club.
It would appear that a building of
some importance has existed here since at least 1321. In that year, the
owner, Thomas de Luda, came to an arrangement with Thomas de Sandwich,
Abbot of Lesnes Abbey, to establish a water-course to link the River
Cran or Cranpit with the water supply to his house. At this time the
Cran flowed along the east side of Lowfield Street, down Hythe Street,
and finally emptied into the Creek.
The house and estate were later owned
by Thomas de Shardelow, who gave it to his daughter, Margaret, on her
marriage to Thomas Horsman. It is believed the house was rebuilt by him,
and this is how it came to
derive its name. Margaret outlived her husband and the whole of the
estate remained in her ownership until her death in 1441 when it was
bequeathed to a relative of hers named Thomas Brune (Brown). Eventually.
the estate passed to Brune’s daughter, Katherine, on her marriage to
Robert Blage (Blagge). In 1541. a son of the marriage. Barnahy, sold
Horsman’s Place to John Beer (Byer or Bere).
John Beer had lived in Dartford for
some years in a house situated on the south side of the High Street. In
1551, John rebuilt Horsman’s Place and he was later responsible for
alterations to the ‘Spital House’ on West Hill, and also for the
building of the Almshouses in Lowfield Street. Horsman’s Place
remained the |
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property of the Beer family until 1628
when the estate was bequeathed to their cousin, John Twisleton. He died
in c1658.
In 1682. his son, also called John
died and his manor and residence passed to a nephew. once more bearing
the same names. In the year 1704 this John Twisleton rebuilt the
‘Spital House’ (now called the ‘Twisleton Almshouses’) on West
Hill. The Horsman’s estate remained in the possession of the Twisleton
family until 1768. The last of the family to own the property was Thomas
Twisleton, a colonel in the Guards, later to become the tenth Lord Saye
and Sele, and he sold the property’ to the mortgagees. Williams and
Smith. The house and estate then passed through the hands of
a number of owners and was allowed to fall into a
state of disrepair. In 1782. it was let to James Storey, a market
gardener, who some years later (c.l800) obtained the permission of the
owner to ‘pull down the old mansion and rebuild one of smaller
proportions’. In the course of this work, part of the ground floor of
Horsman’s Place became the cellar of the new smaller building.
James Storey also changed the aspect
of this house. Originally it had
faced west and was reached via a long tree lined avenue which ran from a
point near the ‘Spital House’, West Hill. The new building
constructed by Mr. Storey now faced east towards Lowfield Street, which
had also been realigned to improve access. It was this last building
that served for many’ years as a doctors’ surgery— now replaced by
a modern purpose-built health centre sited to the rear of the demolished
surgery. and named in keeping with
tradition. Horsman’s Place. |
