Hall Place is a Grade I listed Tudor country house in the London Borough of Bexley, south-east London, built between 1537 and 1540 for Sir John Champneys, a merchant who had been Lord Mayor of London, and extended in red brick in the 17th century. Grade I is the highest level of legal protection for historic buildings in England. The gardens, visitor centre and café are free to enter, while the house itself can only be visited on pre-booked guided tours on selected dates.

History of Hall Place

Hall Place’s story is set out in Historic England’s list entry for the house, the national register of protected buildings, and in its register entry for the gardens, and Hall Place’s own tour programme adds the wartime chapter. It is one of many castles and historic attractions worth seeking out in England.

Hall Place Before the Tudor House

Hall Place stands on the site of an earlier medieval manor house, according to Historic England, which says that house is likely to have stood in the same place. A partial excavation in 2006 recorded structural evidence for the medieval manor house and for later phases of it, Historic England adds.

Sir John Champneys and the Tudor House

Sir John Champneys, a wealthy merchant who was Lord Mayor of London (the City of London’s chief civic officer) in 1534, bought the Hall Place estate in 1537 and built his house there between 1537 and 1540, according to Historic England. His son Justinian reshaped the building into a half-H plan around 1556, and Justinian’s son Richard lived in the house until 1649, Historic England records.

Sir Robert Austen and the Red-Brick Extension

Sir Robert Austen, a London merchant from Tenterden in Kent, bought Hall Place in 1649, according to Historic England. He was knighted in 1660 and extended the southern part of the house in red brick rather than stone. The house stayed in the Austen family until 1772, when the seventh baronet (a hereditary title) died childless and the estate passed to Sir Francis Dashwood.

Hall Place Under the Dashwoods

The Dashwood family owned Hall Place for the next 150 years but seldom lived there, and the house was let as a private school for seventy years, according to Historic England.

Hall Place in the Twentieth Century and Today

Hall Place’s own guided tour programme says the house’s rooms were used during the Second World War for top-secret work as part of Operation Ultra, the Allied effort to read German coded messages. American soldiers stationed there, under the code name Santa Fe, intercepted encoded German messages, and the programme describes an exhibition of veterans’ memories and declassified files.

Historic England records that the grounds later became public open space and that the house accommodated Bexley Museum and Bexley Local Studies Centre.

Why Hall Place Matters

Historic England describes Hall Place as a well-preserved example of a mid-16th-century country house despite later additions and alterations, and protects the house as a scheduled monument (a nationally important historic site) as well as a Grade I listed building. Hall Place’s website calls the gardens award winning and singles out their topiary, which is clipped hedging shaped into figures.

Visiting Hall Place: Practical Information

• Gardens, visitor centre and café: Free to enter. The visitor centre, café and Stables Art Gallery open at 9.30am, and the gardens open at 9am. All are open every day except at Christmas and New Year, and the gardens close later from April to September than from October to March, so see the official opening times page for closing times.
• Historic House: Open only on pre-booked guided tours held on selected dates. Hall Place offers a Tour of Historic Hall Place and a Codename Santa Fe tour on the house’s Second World War history, and visitors can see the exhibition galleries after the tour. Tickets are sold through the guided tours page, where each tour’s booking page shows its price.
• Group tours: Groups of 20 or more can arrange a tour for £10 per person including the booking fee, by emailing hallplacemuseum@bexley.gov.uk or phoning 0203 045 4088.
• Advance booking: Required for the house, because tours must be pre-booked. The gardens, visitor centre and café need no booking.
• London Butterfly Gardens: A separately ticketed tropical glasshouse, open daily, with tickets sold online or at the door. See the London Butterfly Gardens page for current hours.
• Jambs Owls Experience: Separately ticketed, open from mid-February to December on Fridays to Sundays and bank holidays (public holidays in the UK), plus Wednesdays and Thursdays in Bexley school holidays. Tickets are bought at the door; see the owls page for details.
• Miniature Railway: Run by the Welling & District Model Engineering Society from March to September only; see the miniature railway page.
• Rules: Dogs (except assistance dogs), barbecues, fishing, football, cycling and drones are not allowed, according to the site byelaws.
• Run by: London Borough of Bexley.
• Address: Hall Place, Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent DA5 1PQ. Areas of the house and gardens are sometimes closed for private events, photography and filming, so Hall Place recommends phoning 0203 045 4088 before a long journey.

Prices last checked: October 2026.

Opening hours last checked: October 2026.

Where to book: Book house tours through Hall Place’s guided tours page. The gardens, visitor centre and café are free and need no booking.

Frequently Asked Questions