Building started on Hall Place in 1537 for wealthy merchant Sir John Champneys, Lord Mayor of the City of London.

The outer walls are a distinctive checkerboard pattern made of flint and rubble, a beautiful example of the masonry style popular in the late 15th and 16th century.

Austen was created 1st Baronet, of Hall Place in Bexley, on 10 July 1660 and briefly held the office of High Sheriff of Kent.

Hall Place was one of a number of properties owned and managed by the Dashwood family, whose principal home was West Wycombe Park in Buckinghamshire.

It was Maitland Dashwood, grandson of Sir Francis, who made the next set of significant changes to the fabric of Hall Place beginning in the 1870s.

The tenants during this period reflected a new glamorous pre-war elite and included Baron Emile Beaumont d'Erlanger and his American wife Matilda, a former Gaiety girl.

The last tenant of Hall Place was Lady Limerick who lived here alone from 1917 – 1943, she added a number of mock-Tudor features including beams and fireplaces.

[1] This grant enabled the construction of the Riverside Cafe alongside the River Cray, a new visitor centre and an education suite.