HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ingress Abbey is a
Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...
Jacobean-style
country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...
in
Greenhithe Greenhithe may refer to: *Greenhithe, Kent Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Gree ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, England, built in 1833 on the site of an earlier Palladian-style house.


History of the Ingress Estate

The Ingress Estate was a manor in the hamlet of
Greenhithe Greenhithe may refer to: *Greenhithe, Kent Greenhithe is a village in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England, and the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe. It is located east of Dartford and west of Gravesend. Area In the past, Gree ...
. In 1363, the manor was endowed upon the Princess Madeline Bevis and Jamie Bevis in
Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...
, Kent, by
Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
(1307–1377). The priory of Dartford was the only house of Dominican nuns in England. The sisterhood was placed under the care of the Friars Preachers of King's Langley,
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, and a community of sisters commenced religious observance at Dartford in 1356 under the friars already there. The original intention of the founder, Edward II, was to establish a convent of forty nuns, which with the sixty friars of King's Langley would make up the hundred religious he contemplated when he founded the friary of King's Langley, but it is doubtful whether this number was ever reached. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, the estate was confiscated and sold, with the proceeds used to finance the wars of King
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. According to legend, the Abbess of Dartford, Jane Fane, put a curse on Henry VIII and all of his male descendants as a punishment for confiscating the estate. This curse was supposedly passed onto all future owners of the estate, such that pipes would burst in the property at random intervals. Henry VIII kept the site and rebuilt it to use it as a country retreat whilst visiting the coast. In 1540, Sir Richard Long was paid £8 per day to be keeper of the site. In 1548, the King, in consideration of the compulsory surrender of certain lands in
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
, granted the priory and manor of Dartford to
Anne of Cleves Anne of Cleves (; 28 June or 22 September 1515 – 16 July 1557) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 6 January to 12 July 1540 as the Wives of Henry VIII, fourth wife of Henry VIII. Little is known about Anne before 1527, ...
. After Henry VIII's death, seven nuns, who had already been permitted by Queen Mary to return to Dartford, re-established the convent at King's Langley Priory, Hertfordshire, with Elizabeth Cressener as prioress. However, in 1559, visitors from the Privy Council came to Dartford and tendered the oaths of supremacy and uniformity, first to the provincial prior, and then to each of the nuns separately; all refused to take the oaths. The visitors then sold the goods of the convent at low prices, paid the debts of the house, divided what little remained among the sisters, and ordered them to leave within twenty-four hours. The band of Dominican exiles, consisting of two priests, a prioress, four choir-nuns, four lay sisters, and a young girl not yet professed, joined the nuns of
Syon House Syon House is the west London residence of the Duke of Northumberland. A Grade I listed building, it lies within the 200-acre (80 hectare) Syon Park, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The family's traditional central London residence had b ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
(now
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
), and crossed to the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
.
Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...
then granted the estate to Edward Darbyshire and John Bere, who purchased much of the lands of Dartford Priory made available by the dissolution of the monasteries. In 1649 during the English Civil War, the estate, including the mansion house, manor, farm, lime kiln, wharf, and land (including the chalk cliffs and salt and freshwater marshes) were passed to Captain Edward Brent of Southward for £1122. It was sold in 1748 to William, Viscount Duncannon, an
Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...
aristocrat, who on his father's death succeeded him as
Earl of Bessborough Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749, he was given t ...
and Baron Ponsonby of Sysonby. He lived at Ingress with his wife Carolina, the eldest daughter of William, Duke of Devonshire. He greatly improved the seat, and reputedly commissioned
Capability Brown Lancelot "Capability" Brown (born c. 1715–16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783) was an English gardener and landscape architect, a notable figure in the history of the English landscape garden style. Unlike other architects ...
to landscape the grounds (though evidence for this is lacking). In 1760, Carolina died at Ingress. The property was then sold to John Calcraft, MP for Rochester. On John Calcroft's death in 1772, the estate passed to his son John, who sold it in 1788 to John Disney Roebuck, on whose death in 1796 it passed to his son Henry Roebuck. The estate then passed to William Havelock (1757-1837) shipbuilder and ship-owner, father of Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857), army officer, who spent his early childhood at the Ingress Estate and attended
Dartford Grammar School Dartford Grammar School is a secondary foundation school for boys (ages 11–18) in Dartford, Kent, England, which admits girls to its sixth form (ages 16–18). All of the students joining the school are considered to be from the top 25% of t ...
. William Havelock lost his money through solicitors' fraud and loss of uninsured ships. Ingress Park estate was sold to the Crown. At that point, owing to the contemporary conflict with France, plans were drawn up for a large dockyard to be built from
Northfleet Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsf ...
to Greenhithe (which would have included the Ingress Estate). The house was demolished (1820) and the site cleared. However, instead docks were built at
Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
and the plans for Greenhithe-Northfleet were dropped.


Construction, development and occupants

In 1831, a wealthy solicitor named
James Harmer James Harmer (1777–1853) was an English solicitor, involved in the investigation of miscarriages of justice, radical politics, and local government in London, where he served as an alderman. He served as a model for Jaggers, the Charles Dickens ...
purchased the land, and in 1833 built his Elizabethan-style mansion, which he called Ingress Abbey, on the banks of the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
. He provided his architect, Charles Moreing, with £120,000 for the construction of follies, grottoes, and hermit's caves. Some of the stone from the
Old London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box gir ...
was used in building Ingress Abbey. Harmer served as a model for Jaggers, the
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
character from ''
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after ''Dav ...
'', and in the mid-1800s he also owned the '' Weekly Dispatch'' to which the poet Eliza Cook was a longterm contributor, living and writing some of her works at Ingress Abbey. In the 1880s, the Shah of Persia sailed up the Thames and noted that "the only thing worth mentioning at Greenhithe was a mansion standing amid trees on a green carpet extending down to the water's edge". During the First World War, Ingress Abbey was used as an army hospital. By 1922 both house and grounds had been purchased by the
Thames Nautical Training College The Thames Nautical Training College, as it is now called, is a school that trains officers for a seagoing career. It was, for over a hundred years, situated aboard ships named HMS ''Worcester''. London shipowners, marine insurance underwriters ...
whose training ship was moored in the River Thames. By 1998 the site had been sold for redevelopment into modern housing, with the first phase completed in 2001.
Crest Nicholson Crest Nicholson is a British housebuilding company based in Weybridge, Surrey. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1963-2000 The company was founded by Bryan Skinner in 1963 as Crest Hom ...
spent £6 million restoring the abbey,
follies ''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot centers on a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the ''Ziegfeld Follies ...
and grounds as part of the redevelopment scheme. This included a nautical themed piazza inspired by the estate's past nautical training and linked to the Abbey by a tree-lined boulevard. Ingress Abbey was bought in 2001 by
Pandora International Pandora International was an Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards, Emmy award winning, English maker of hardware and software for telecine control and Color grading, colour correction in post production film editing. History Pandora International ...
, and then by
Irène Major Irène Major (born 22 October 1979) is a British-Cameroonian singer, model and activist. Personal life Major was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon to a soldier father and seamstress mother; the family was "middle-class but poor". Major is married to ...
in 2012 and converted back to a family home. In May 2016, the Abbey became an official honorary consulate of the Republic of
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
.


Follies

There are a number of follies on the Ingress estate, including: The Cave of the Seven Heads abuts and is under the Fastrack bus road that runs through a tunnel, under the gatehouse which still stands, at the location of the original main gate to the estate, between the Ingress estate and Greenhithe railway station. The Georgian Garden Bridge is a late 18th or early 19th flint and brick garden bridge on the eastern edge of the Ingress Estate. The Georgian Wall Tunnel, the entrance to which is bricked up for safety reasons, is set in the chalk cliffs overlooking the Ingress Estate. The Grange and adjacent tunnel is on the heritage path a couple of hundred yards south of Ingress Abbey. It is a large folly arch in the shape of a gatehouse with attached storage chambers and a dog-legged flint lined tunnel with five rectangular chambers carved out of the chalk. Also adjacent is a flint four-centred arch about 8 feet in height with a splayed chamber cut out of the hillside. The Grotto comprises a number of small flint lined caves set in a semi-circle. Originally these were next to the driveway to the Abbey just down from the gatehouse at the original main gate to the estate. They can now be accessed on the other side of the Fastrack bus road from the Cave of the Seven Heads. There are supposedly a number of tunnels leading from Ingress Abbey. One certainly exists, situated between the Ingress Abbey Coach House and Ingress Abbey. The Lovers Arch is a flint-lined alcove south-east of Ingress Abbey which now houses a bench. The Monkswell comprises a short tunnel with leading to a semicircular vaulted roofed chamber with well shaft. The Prioress Tomb is to the left of the path leading to the Grange near the gate to the car park behind Ingress Abbey.


Events and filming

It is theorized that Ingress Abbey may have been one of the inspirations for Carfax, Count Dracula's fictional home in England in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
''. Ingress Abbey has been used as one of the filming location for a number of television and motion picture productions including: * "The Kidnapped Prime Minister", an episode of the ITV television drama ''
Agatha Christie's Poirot ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'', or simply ''Poirot'' (), is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2020. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, wh ...
''. * "He Who Dares: Downing Street Siege", feature film


References


External links

{{commonscat-inline
Ingress Abbey I
Country houses in Kent Grade II listed buildings in Kent Grade II listed castles Gardens by Capability Brown Gardens in Kent Renaissance Revival architecture in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in Kent Greenhithe Anne of Cleves