Valence House

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Valence House Valence House is a Grade II* listed moated Medieval manor house surrounded by tranquil green spaces. Admission free. It is still partially surrounded by a moat.

It has a Museum, Archives, Tearoom and Garden. The only surviving manor house in Dagenham, Valence House was first recorded in a property deed in 1269. Exciting new galleries tell the story of Barking and Dagenham and its people throughout the ages. The Archives and Local Studies Centre has relocated to the new Visitor Centre. Admission free (some events are ticketed). Relax in the tranquil surroundings of the Herb Garden, Victory Plot and grounds. Round off your visit by taking refreshments in the Oasis Cafe and browsing in our shop..

Today we start a new weekly series called . In this series we will be bringing you art works, photographs and objects f...
16/10/2026

Today we start a new weekly series called . In this series we will be bringing you art works, photographs and objects from the Museum and Archive collections to inspire memories of times-gone-by in the borough.

So keep an eye out 👀 for this every week. Please post your memories in the comments ⬇️ as we look forward to reading them!

And, of course, we are going to start with Valence House. Here we have a photograph of the west front of the building, c.1920, showing Mr May's (the last tenent of Valence House) vegetable garden and hot houses. This is accompanied by a watercolour painting by Kenneth O. Bottom from 1951 showing these garden buildings partially removed.

Barking and Dagenham Council

History you can hear 🧚🏽‍♀️For over 70 years, our Bechstein grand piano was bought by O'Leary with the vision of making m...
16/10/2026

History you can hear 🧚🏽‍♀️

For over 70 years, our Bechstein grand piano was bought by O'Leary with the vision of making music accessible to all, it is still doing exactly that today.

Join Oliver Jones and .dawes_music tomorrow for Villainy, a lunchtime concert packed with mischievous melodies performed on a piece of living history.

14/10/2026

Our prime duo .dawes_music and just hit us with other sweet behind the scenes footage and you are invited for a sneak peak 🧚🏽‍♀️

We are opening our doors this Saturday and we are giddy with anticipation as we delve into villainy and mischief 😈

Spaces are naturally limited due to the intimate character of the Parlour. Unfortunately the front seat is taken by the Dagenham Idol, but the rest is up for grabs 🧙🏽‍♀️

Join our 3000 year old tasteful resident as we are tuning into drama and trickery this season ✨

🫣 In the lead up to Hallowe'en have you been enjoying the new adaptation of Stephen King's "Carrie" currently being show...
13/10/2026

🫣 In the lead up to Hallowe'en have you been enjoying the new adaptation of Stephen King's "Carrie" currently being shown on a popular streaming service? 🫣

If so, did you notice the inclusion of Henry Gillard Glindoni's "A Charge of Witchcraft" at the start of episode 3? Our local, Chadwell Heath-based artist has made it to Hollywood!

Victorian artist Glindoni moved to Chadwell Heath in 1880. His home and studio still stands on the corner of Mill Lane and Whalebone Lane North.

Barking and Dagenham Council

One of two Mayoral Scrapbooks of Cllr Fred Tibble donated earlier this year, including programmes, event photos, newsp...
12/10/2026

One of two Mayoral Scrapbooks of Cllr Fred Tibble donated earlier this year, including programmes, event photos, newspaper cuttings, cards and more!

Barking and Dagenham Council

Following our post yesterday to mark the feast day of St. Ethelburga, today we offer her a rose in celebration. Did you ...
12/10/2026

Following our post yesterday to mark the feast day of St. Ethelburga, today we offer her a rose in celebration. Did you know that she had a rose named after her? You can find this stunning pink, highly fragranced St. Ethelburga rose in our garden.

Barking and Dagenham Council

🎉🎉 Happy feast day of St. Ethelburga! 🎉🎉Ethelburga was Barking’s first abbess from its foundation in c.666 to her death ...
11/10/2026

🎉🎉 Happy feast day of St. Ethelburga! 🎉🎉

Ethelburga was Barking’s first abbess from its foundation in c.666 to her death in c.693. Her brother Erkenwald had founded the abbey and made her its first abbess.

The Venerable Bede recounts the story of a miracle attributed to Ethelburga at Barking in his work The Ecclesiastical History of the English People which was written in the early 8th century. He tells of a time when plague was ravaging the country and had killed a number of monks in the men’s community at Barking. Knowing that it would not be long before the nuns were affected too, Ethelburga asked them where they would like to be buried when the time came. Soon after a sudden light appeared in the sky and lit up a site to the south side of the monastery. This was taken as a sign and the location of the nuns’ cemetery was decided upon.

Miracles like these and Ethelburga’s supposedly saintly lifestyle are what led to here being made a saint by the church.

You can learn more about Barking Abbey and its powerful nuns via the link in the comments ⬇️

Barking and Dagenham Council

09/10/2026

A raw rehearsal moment just landed ✨

Some things can't be filtered... and shouldn't be.

As we prepare to launch our Lunchtime Parlour Concerts this October, soprano .dawes_music and pianist are bringing music, drama, and atmosphere back to the historic 17th century Parlour of the House.

Join us at lunchtime on the Saturday 17 October as we breath new life into a space built for performance and connection and hear our piano sing once more. Link to tickets in the comments ⬇️

Barking and Dagenham Council

08/10/2026

Our resident mischief-maker has wrapped and hidden 100 secret books across the museum to launch her reading revolution in support of the campaign on the 10th of October. Track down a mystery genre and steal 10 minutes to escape into a brilliant new story.

Just find the most obnoxious space to read for 10 minutes and make sure you tell her! She will copy you.

A word of warning: Just for good measure, do keep a pinch of salt with you, and make sure your socks are turned inside out… there is always the risk of her trapping you in her glamour. You have been warned, you see what her changelings go through daily 😜

Free entry. Bring your sharpest tracking skills! (To make sure the fairy’s magic reaches everyone, it’s a limit of one book per hunter!

Unwrap a mystery, dodge the Curator, and join the reading revolution! 🧚✨

🌳A plea from our friends in the Park Rangers team🌳Do you have any great photos of Barking & Dagenham's Parks? Please ema...
07/10/2026

🌳A plea from our friends in the Park Rangers team🌳

Do you have any great photos of Barking & Dagenham's Parks? Please email [email protected] 🍃

We are currently making changes to the website listings of all parks across the borough. Both urban parks and countryside parks will be featured in one place on a new web platform. This will make it easier to find out what green spaces are available in Barking and Dagenham, what facilities they have, and who to contact for any issues or queries.

On the new website, we'd love to feature photographs taken by park users of their favourite places. If you have some lovely, good quality shots that you are happy to share with us to appear online, please send them through by email, with your full name and the park location for each. Thank you.💚

Address

Valence House, Becontree Avenue
Dagenham
RM83HT

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 4pm
Wednesday 10am - 4pm
Thursday 10am - 4pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

020 8227 2034

Website

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