History

The Champneys

Hall Place is a fine Grade I listed country house built in 1537 for Sir John Champneys a wealthy merchant and former Lord Mayor of London. A rare example of its type, much of the house that John built still survives today.

Sir John Champneys

On a traditional, hierarchical plan the core of Sir John’s house consisted of a splendid central Great Hall crossed at one end by a service wing and at the other by high status family accommodation including a parlour and great chamber. The outer walls are a distinctive checkerboard pattern made of flint and rubble masonry, a beautiful example of the Tudor love of pattern.

The Austens

In 1649, the year of Charles I’s execution, Richard Champneys, Sir John’s grandson, sold Hall Place to Robert Austen, a merchant from Tenterden in Kent. Robert set about renovating his new property.

Seal of Sir Robert Austen

 Among his additions were some of Hall Place’s most beautiful architectural features. The 17^th century red brick courtyard includes a staircase tower topped by a prospect room (now inaccessable) and in about 1650 the spectacular plaster ceiling in the Great Chamber was added. This ceiling remains one of the house's most beautiful features.

  The Dashwoods

In the 18^th century Hall Place came into the ownership of the Dashwood family. Initially owned by Sir Francis Dashwood or ‘Hell Fire Francis’ by the Victorian period it had passed to his grandson Maitland Dashwood.

It was Maitland Dashwood who made the next set of significant changes to the fabric of Hall Place. Maitland and his architect Robert William Edis added the lodge and made many alterations to the house, including much of the fine wood panelling and parquet flooring. For much of the 19^th and 20^th centuries Hall Place was rented out to a series of tenants.  

Santa Fe and Operation Ultra

In January 1944 the U.S Army’s Signal Corps 6811th Signal Service Detachment arrived at Hall Place to operate an intercept station, code named Santa Fe. The station was set up in a new spirit of co-operation between British and American intelligence services. The Americans were to participate in the Enigma code breaking operation, Ultra. The Santa Fe station (Hall Place) intercepted encoded Morse signals mostly from the German Air Force and the Luftwaffe. Radio aerial wires were strung over the rooftops and the Tudor Kitchen and Great Hall were converted into a ‘set rooms’ with banks of Hallicrafters radio receivers lined up on wood-plank tables.

For research enquires into the history of the house email Victoria Nutt 

Bexley Local Studies and Archives also have many documents relating to the history of Hall Place see www.bexley.gov.uk for contact details.