[1] The Manor of Bexley was acquired by Henry VIII, and remained a part of the royal estates until James I sold it to John Spielman in an attempt to raise funds for the crown.

[1] In 1699 John Styleman, a director of the British East India Company, took up residence at Danson, the estates having been acquired on his behalf by his brother Francis two years earlier.

[1] 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.

[1] 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.

[1] 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.

[3] At its centre is a large and picturesque 12-acre (49,000 m2) lake to the south of the house, on the site of the previous mansion,[3][1] described by Edward Hasted 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".

[3][1] Bean was the driving force behind the Bexleyheath Railway Company,[7] and chairman of Bexley Local Board, and envisaged transforming the 582-acre (2.4 km2) estate into a residential suburb.

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.