Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Believed to be the fifth house on the site, the manor having formerly belonged to Dartford Priory and notable families. It was built in 1833 for Alderman James Harmer in a Tudor Gothic style by the architect Charles Moreing. Supposed to have been constructed from stone form the old London Bridge.

Eliza Cook the poetess lived here with James Harmer and wrote her famous poems "The Old Armchair" and "O, the green banks may fade" here.

In 1920 the abbey was purchased by the Thames Nautical Training College to provide a permanent land base for the college with the cadets living on a retired wooden naval ship moored on the river until the outbreak of WW2 when they were moved onshore to college buildings for the duration. After the war the college continue to run, but with the decline in post-war shipping the college finally close in 1968. The Abbey then became part of the Merchant Navy College until 1999 when it closed. The parkland around the building is now being developed for housing.

Monument Types

• HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1833 AD to 1920 AD)
• NAVAL COLLEGE (Modern - 1920 AD to 1968 AD)
• NAVAL COLLEGE (Modern - 1968 AD to 1999 AD)
• HOUSE (Modern - 2001 AD to 2001 AD (post))

Full description

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Believed to be the fifth house on the site, the manor having formerly belonged to Dartford Priory and notable families. It was built in 1833 for Alderman James Harmer in a Tudor Gothic style by the architect Charles Mooring. Supposed to have been constructed from stone form the old London Bridge. The building is of ashlar with a slate roof. Two storeys and attics in gables. The plan of the house is three sides of a square with 5 windows to each front. The principle front faces the river. It is flanked by projecting octagonal buttresses carried up high above the elevation and topped by ogee caps. In the centre is a 3 storey projecting square tower flanked by similar buttresses with a 3-light oriel window on the first floor. At each end of the front is a gable, the east one projecting, with finials and similar buttresses and a 2 storey bay window of 4-lights with enrichment between the floors and a castellated parapet over. Similar parapets between the gables and the tower.

The west front has 3 gables, of which the centre one has an extra-tall finial carried up to end in a heraldic beast. The whole front and the central bay window, which projects are flanked by similar buttresses to these of the north front. The central window bay projects with buttresses and a 2 storey bay window of 6-lights similar to those of the north front. Central doorcase has portcullis and rose in the spandrels. The west elevation has wooden window shutters to top windows. Victorian conservatory at rear. Interior contains dining room with plastered ceiling walls and marble fireplace and north entrance wall of 1835 with fretted woodwork and fireplace with Atlantes.

Eliza Cook the poetess lived here with James Harmer and wrote her famous poems "The Old Armchair" and "O, the green banks may fade" here.

From 1905/6 onwards the Ingress Abbey Paper Mills (latterly the Empire Paper Mills TQ 57 NE 95) occupied the north eastern corner of Ingress Park.

In 1922 the abbey was purchased by the Thames Nautical Training College to provide a permanent land base for the college. The cadets lived on two retired wooden naval ships, the Worcester and the Arethusa, moored on the river until the outbreak of WW2, when the cadets were moved onshore to college buildings for the duration. After the war the college continue to run, but with the decline in post-war shipping the college finally close in 1968. The Abbey then became part of the Merchant Navy College until 1999 when it closed. The area, the parkland, around the building is now being developed for housing.(1).

See TQ 57 NE 97-Ingress Park.

See also:

Ingress Abbey, An Archaeological Impact Assessment [2].
Greenhithe Waterfront, Planning report to accompany Ingress Park historic Landscape survey [3].
Ingress Abbey, A Record of the Landscape [4].
Ingress Abbey, Analysis of the Development of the Designed Historic Landscape [5].
Results of Archaeological excavation and recording at Ingress Abbey [6].
An Archaeological Evaluation at Ingress Abbey [7].

Ingress Abbey Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) Hospital use for military convalescent patients from July 1917 to December 1918, initially as an annexe to Rosherville VAD Hospital and later affiliated to Chatham Military Hospital.

<1> Essex County Council, 2003, Aggregates Levy Survey Industrial Sites, KN871 & 961 (Unpublished document). SKE12009.

<2> AOC Archaeology Group, 1998, Ingress Abbey Greenhithe Kent. An Archaeological Impact Assessment. (Unpublished document). SKE12234.

<3> Tibbalds Monro, 1999, Greenhithe Waterfront. Planning Report to Accompany Ingress Park Historic Landscape Survey. (Unpublished document). SKE12240.

<4> Debois Landscape Survey Group, 1999, Ingress Abbey, Greenhithe, Kent A record of the landscape. (Unpublished document). SKE12236.

<5> Land Use Consultants, 2001, Ingress Abbey, Greenhithe, Kent. Analysis of the Development of the Designed Historic Landscape. (Unpublished document). SKE12241.

<6> AOC Archaeology Group, 2004, Results Of Archaeological Excavation And Recording At Ingress Abbey, Greenhithe, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE12239.

<7> AOC Archaeology Group, 1999, An Archaeological Evaluation at Ingress Abbey, London Road, Greenhithe, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE12252.

Sources and further reading

Related records