Excavations at the Manor Gatehouse, Dartford

The Dartford Group has been investigating small areas close to the surviving portion of Henry VIII's Manor House in Priory Road, Dartford. The Manor Gatehouse, as it is now known, served as the West Gate to a Manor House which was built in 1541-1544 on the site of the demolished Dartford Priory. Anne of Cleves lived there following her divorce from Henry. It later passed to Queen Mary (1553-1554) who returned it to the Dominican Sisters. It was unlikely that the sisters were able to re-establish themselves as Elizabeth I reclaimed the Manor House and they were again forced to leave. During Elizabeth's reign (1558 - 1603) large areas of the Manor House were demolished so that today only the West Gate and a boundary wall remains.

Dartford Borough Council now owns the building following its purchase last year. They kindly gave the Group permission to carry out work on this important site. Our work has revealed details of its construction including a section of rammed chalk which served as a courtyard surfacing on which a layer of gravel was spread over to form the final surface. Evidence has come to light concerning the possible re-use of medieval wall foundation to form the base to the later Tudor walls.

Elsewhere in Dartford on the south-side of the High Street an office development site has produced a quantity of 18th-century wine bottles as well as fragments of post-medieval pottery. These include salt-glazed stoneware and tin-glazed earthenware (Delft). Foreign imports are represented by Westerwald, a German stoneware in grey and blue. Group members were called in to assist in cleaning and restoring the shattered vessels and examples of various types of pottery sherds were kept by the Group to add to our fabric bank. Of particular interest was the discovery of fruit pips and stones in sediment left in the wine bottles. These were identified by Royal Botanic Gardens as belonging to cherry, grape, and blackberry. One unusual "ingredient" of this sediment was what appears to be lead shot! I am reliably informed that the addition of lead to drink is not unknown as the lead salts tended to sweeten the resultant drink. Of course, the side-effect of lead poisoning was unfortunately overlooked.

This material was rescued by local builder, Dave Miller, and handed over to the Group. It is now in the Dartford Borough Museum. The site is to the rear of Bank House (now called Home House) on what was the site of the former Council Chamber next to the Woolworths building which, in 1959, produced the impressive "Knights Jug" (13th-century Scarborough Ware) thanks to the hard work of K.A.S. member Mr. L. C. Dale.

Chris Baker
Dartford District Archaeological Group