The historian John Dunkin wrote in 1844[1] that: On the borders of Dartford Heath is a house called Bowman's Lodge, which obtained that appellation from having been taken by the Royal Society of Kentish Bowmen...where their first meetings were held.
The members previous to the breaking up of the society, fitted up an apartment, in which they frequently acted plays and other dramatic pieces, to which the inhabitants of the neighbourhood were invited by tickets.A poem presented to E.M. Potts at Bowman's Lodge, in around 1834, ran as follows: Here knights and damsels met in splendid show Hailed the bright goddess of the silver bow, And maids of Kent, expert in piercing hearts, Supplied the archers with their eyes for darts; From Love's artillery discharged their lances And vanquish Cantia's heroes with their glances.
In 1779-80 a shop, the Suttling house, stood near Bowman's Lodge, kept by Mr. Powell of the Granby, Dartford, for the purpose of supplying troops with stationery and small stores while they were camped on the heath preparing for a foreign invasion.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries gravel was excavated in the area and numerous Palaeolithic flint implements were discovered in Bowman's Lodge Pit, which was located between the house and Chastilian Road.
Swan Lane, the road running past the property, remained a dirt track until the 1980s when it was upgraded and became part of the main signposted route to Crayford from the Dartford Heath junction of the A2.