Valence House in Dagenham is free, open Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and is the only surviving manor house in Dagenham, still partly ringed by a moat dug more than 700 years ago. It sits near the end of the District line, with one bus after the train. The museum closes for an hour at noon, which is the detail that spoils visits.
It is the best of a group of outer London museums that almost nobody makes a deliberate journey to see. All four of the others here are free too: a Rothschild family kitchen, a medieval moat in Harrow, an Ilford collection just reopened with lottery money, and Kingston's museum with the borough archive ten minutes away.
For the concept, the archive rules and the central borough museums, see our companion guide to the borough museums nobody visits. This page takes the five that need a real journey.
Valence House at a glance
- Price
- Free
- Open
- Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm. Closed Monday, Friday and Sunday
- The catch
- The museum building closes every day from 12pm to 1pm. The tearoom, shop, toilets, archives and gardens stay open through that hour and until 4.30pm
- Address
- Becontree Avenue, Dagenham RM8 3HT; telephone 020 8227 2034
- Nearest station
- Becontree (District line), then the 62 bus. Chadwell Heath is the alternative
- Parking
- Free in Valence Park and on Becontree Avenue. Blue Badge parking at the delivery entrance off Margery Road
- Listed
- Grade II*, list entry 1064404, first listed 28 June 1954
- How long
- An hour and a half for the museum, two and a half with the gardens and the tearoom
What the building is, and why "Tudor" is not quite right
The statutory list entry is careful, and worth quoting because the popular description of Valence House is looser. Historic England dates the house to the seventeenth century, "but possibly partly of earlier date", and adds that "there has been a house on this moated site certainly since the C13". So the moated enclosure is medieval, the site has been occupied for some 800 years, and the timber frame you can see is largely Stuart rather than Tudor. The panelling in the best room is "probably early C17".
The building is L-shaped, of two storeys, timber-framed, plastered and colourwashed, with old tile roofs and two gabled dormers on the left-hand block. The windows mix nineteenth-century casements with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century sashes, and a flat-roofed extension of about 1920 sits on the right in a matching style.
What survives inside, according to the list entry:
- A painted panelled room on the ground floor at the eastern end of the old part of the house, the panels small with raised mitred mouldings, probably early seventeenth century.
- A late Stuart marble fireplace surround in that room, with a bolection-moulded panel above.
- A late seventeenth-century well staircase with turned balusters.
- A further oak-panelled room on the first floor.
The name comes from the de Valence family. Historic England says that in the fourteenth century the property belonged to Aymer de Valence and his sister; the museum says the manor is named after Agnes de Valence, and for the name itself the museum's version is the one to prefer.
Photo: JRennocks · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
What is on display
The core collection runs to about 20,000 objects, from prehistory to the present, and the galleries were rebuilt in 2010. Four things to find:
- The Dagenham Idol, a carved wooden figure found in the marshes at Dagenham, on loan from Colchester and Ipswich Museum. The museum lists it first among its highlights.
- The whalebones, believed to come from the lower jaw of a Greenland right whale.
- The Fanshawe family portraits, which the museum calls one of the best collections of gentry portraits in Britain. The archive holds the letters of Sir Richard Fanshawe alongside the paintings.
- The wall painting, found during the 2010 refurbishment and thought to date from about 1600. Ask at the desk; it is easy to walk past.
The moat, the trees and the Dig for Victory garden
The grounds are half the reason to come, and stay open through the lunchtime closure. The moat once encircled the house and the north arm survives; Barking and Dagenham Council has planning permission to restore it, with work starting in the autumn of 2025 to repair the banks, add reed beds and clear trees to open up the views between house and park. The council calls it a rare example of a medieval hand-dug moat, first documented in 1650. No fishing.
Between the moat and the house stands a veteran evergreen Holm Oak, which is on the Great Trees of London list. Swamp cypresses along the moat bank turn red in autumn, which makes late October the best month to come. By the door are a ginkgo, an English oak planted for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, and an ancient coppiced hazel. The tulip tree in front of the house gives the museum its logo.
The herb garden was designed by the historic gardens consultant Virginia Nightingale around a green pergola, and there is a wartime Dig for Victory plot with a replica Anderson shelter. Beehives are looked after by the Romford division of the Essex Beekeepers' Association and the honey is sold in the shop. The gardens hold Green Flag and London in Bloom awards.
The archive, and the free subscriptions
The Barking and Dagenham Archives and Local Studies Centre, in the visitor centre next to the house, is the reason a lot of people come twice. It holds the borough's records and those of its predecessor authorities back to 1558, plus diaries, oral histories, photographs and films. Highlights include William Frogley's manuscript on Victorian Barking, the records of Samuel Williams and Sons, air-raid log books kept by ARP wardens, and a copy of Gerard's Herball.
Two things make it unusually good value. It offers free use of Ancestry Library Edition and Findmypast Community Edition on site, a real saving if you have been paying for either at home. And there is a Family History Helpdesk on the last Tuesday of every month except December, first come, first served.
No appointment is needed to walk in, but book if you want archive material or rare books out, particularly on a Saturday. First-time users fill in a registration form and must bring proof of identity and address. Pencils only. Bags and coats go in the lockers. Copies cost 25p per A4 sheet, 50p per A3, and a self-service photography licence is £7. The reading room closes 12.30pm to 1.15pm on Saturdays only. Read on the museum's site in September 2026.
Getting to Dagenham, and eating there
Becontree, on the District line, is the nearest Underground station, and the walk from it is not worth attempting: take the 62 bus from outside the station to the junction of Becontree Avenue and Valence Avenue. Our guide to the District and Circle lines explains the eastern branches. From Liverpool Street, trains run to Chadwell Heath every 20 minutes and you can walk from there or pick up the same 62. Buses 5, 128 and 150 also run nearby.
Access is better than at most historic houses: level access throughout the museum's ground floor and a lift to part of the upper floor. The visitor centre, including the archives, café and function rooms, is fully accessible.
The Tulip Tree Tearoom opens Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday, 10am to 4.30pm, with tables in the herb garden in good weather. It holds a food hygiene rating of 5, inspected in November 2025. Children's lunch boxes are £4.95. There are picnic benches and free lockers.
Our guide to Barking and Dagenham covers what else is in the area, which is not much for a visitor; Valence House is the reason to come.
The other four worth a long journey
| Museum | Where | Open | Price | The reason to go |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gunnersbury Park Museum | Gunnersbury Park, between Ealing and Chiswick; Acton Town about ten minutes on foot | Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 4.30pm; closed Monday except bank holidays | Free, museum and park | The Rothschilds' former country house: the Victorian kitchens, with one of the earliest gas ranges and an icebox, and the Butler's Pantry. About 50,000 items, including Dennis Morris's Southall photographs |
| Headstone Manor and Museum | Harrow, in Headstone Manor Recreation Ground | Winter hours until 14 February 2027: Thursday and Friday 10am to 3pm, weekends 11am to 3pm. Otherwise Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm (checked November 2026) | Free entry to site and museum | Harrow's own medieval moated manor, with a Nature Finders trail for children and the Moat Café. The winter hours are a real cut |
| Redbridge Museum and Heritage Centre | Second floor, Redbridge Central Library, Clements Road, Ilford IG1 1EA | Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 5pm | Free | A new permanent museum, reopened after a £100,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant with Arts Council England and Art Fund support. More than 70 exhibitions since 2000 |
| Kingston Museum, and Kingston History Centre | Museum: Wheatfield Way KT1 2PS, five minutes from Kingston station. History Centre: the Guildhall, KT1 1EU, ten minutes | Both Thursday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. The History Centre closes 1pm to 2pm | Free entry to both | The borough's local collection, with one of the better-run local archives next to it in Court One of the old magistrates' court. A blue flag flies when the History Centre is open |
Gunnersbury works best as a day out rather than a visit, because the museum sits in 72 hectares of parkland, which Gunnersbury describes as Grade II* listed, with lakes, boating in summer and formal gardens. Acton Town is about ten minutes' walk along Gunnersbury Lane, crossing the North Circular; South Ealing plus the E3 bus drops you at the Popes Lane entrance. Note that the historic kitchens open only when a steward is free and no school group has them, so ask at the desk. Our guide to Ealing and west London covers the area, and Syon House is the grand alternative to the south.
Headstone Manor is the one to combine with something else, because Harrow is a long way out: see our guide to Harrow on the Hill, an older part of the same borough. Redbridge fits with Ilford and is on the Elizabeth line, which makes it the easiest of the four to reach. Kingston works with Kingston and Surbiton and, in summer, with the river.
How to make a day of it, honestly
Do not try to do two in one day: they ring the edges of London and the journeys between them run to an hour or more. Pick one and spend the afternoon on the neighbourhood around it.
- Valence House if the building and the archive interest you, or if you have east London family history to chase. Arrive at 10am, do the galleries before the noon closure, and use that hour in the gardens and the tearoom.
- Gunnersbury if you are bringing children or want a park as well as a museum. Arrive after lunch and stay until 4.30pm.
- Headstone Manor if you want a medieval moated site, and between spring and October rather than in the shortened winter season.
- Redbridge if you are short of time: it is inside a library on the Elizabeth line and takes 45 minutes.
- Kingston if you are already going to Hampton Court or Richmond, since it only opens Thursday to Saturday.
Free family history subscriptions are the hidden benefit of outer London museums. Barking and Dagenham offers Ancestry Library Edition and Findmypast Community Edition free in its reading room at Valence House, and other borough archives do the same. If you pay for either at home, one Saturday with a staffed help desk in the room can be worth more than a month's subscription.
Are they worth it if you are on a short visit?
No, and we would rather say so. If you have four days in London and have not seen the national museums, go to those: also free, and in the centre. Our list of free museums in London has them, and London Museum Docklands is free, in a Georgian warehouse three minutes from a DLR station, covering the east London river story that Dagenham can only touch on.
Come out here if you are staying longer, if you have a family connection to the borough, or if what you like about museums is small collections in old buildings. The closest central equivalents are in our guide to the Carlyles' House and London's smallest museums, and the nearest thing to a great private collection in a villa is Ranger's House in Greenwich, though that is closed until 2027.
Frequently asked questions
Is Valence House free?
Yes. Entry to the museum, the gardens and the Archives and Local Studies Centre is free, and so is parking in Valence Park. You pay only in the shop and the tearoom. The museum lists itself among the Guardian's fifty best free things to do in London.
What days is Valence House open?
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, 10am to 4pm, closed Mondays, Fridays and Sundays. The museum building also closes from 12pm to 1pm every day it is open, although the tearoom, shop, toilets, archives and gardens stay open through that hour and until 4.30pm.
Is Valence House a Tudor building?
Not exactly. Historic England dates the present house to the seventeenth century, possibly partly earlier, and records that there has been a house on the moated site since at least the thirteenth century. The panelling in the best room is probably early seventeenth century and the staircase late seventeenth. The moat is medieval.
How do I get to Valence House by public transport?
Take the District line to Becontree, then the 62 bus from outside the station to the junction of Becontree Avenue and Valence Avenue. Or take a train from Liverpool Street to Chadwell Heath, every 20 minutes, and walk or take the same 62. Buses 5, 128 and 150 also serve the area.
Which outer London museum is best for children?
Gunnersbury Park Museum: free, with Victorian kitchens and a toy collection that hold children's attention, in 72 hectares of parkland with a boating lake. Headstone Manor in Harrow runs it close, with free entry, a medieval moat and a nature trail booklet from the café.
Sources
- Valence House - Visit us for 2026 opening hours, the lunchtime closure, travel and the reading-room rules, About for the collection, the archive, the free Ancestry and Findmypast access and the gardens, and Moat restoration for the works (checked September 2026)
- Historic England - Valence House, list entry 1064404, Grade II* (Internet Archive copy, 19 December 2025) (checked September 2026)
- Gunnersbury Park - Plan your visit: free entry, opening times and travel (checked September 2026)
- Headstone Manor and Museum - Visit: free entry, summer and winter opening times (checked November 2026)
- Redbridge Council - Redbridge Museum and Heritage Centre: address, opening times and funding (checked September 2026)
- Kingston Heritage Service - Kingston Museum and Kingston History Centre: free entry, opening hours and travel (checked September 2026)
- Food Standards Agency - food hygiene rating for the Tulip Tree Tearoom, Valence House Museum, Becontree Avenue RM8 3HT (checked September 2026)