History

Eastbury Manor House is a Grade l Listed Building situated in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It was built early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in an isolated position surrounded by fields, ponds and marshes, and with distant views of the River Thames.

Clement Sysley, the builder, was a wealthy Essex lawyer. Despite the isolated position of the house, he used the newest and most fashionable building materials and features. Eastbury boasted enormous chimney pots, ornate fireplaces and glazed windows. The building and decoration of the house took almost 20 years to complete. Clement Sysley lived only five years after the completion of the house, and died in 1578.

In the next 350 years the house and estate went through many owners including Steward 1593; Knightley 1628; Vyner 1650; Tombs 1690; Brown 1714; Sedgewick 1724; Weldale 1730; Sterry 1779; Bayman 1916 and The National Trust in 1918. Most of these families never lived at Eastbury and the estate was leased to a succession of rich yeoman farmers.

John Moore, an alderman of London, whose coat of arms can be seen in the Painted Chamber, lived in the house in 1603. His wife was Maria and his step-daughter, Mary Perry, married Lewis Tresham in 1603. Maria and Mary were Spanish and, like the Treshams, Catholics.

With the Perry/Tresham marriage, the Moore family of London and Eastbury came into contact with the families of some of the main participants of the Gunpower Plot. Lewis Tresham was the brother of Sir Francis Tresham, a conspirator, the cousin of Robert Catesby, also a conspirator and the brother-in-law of Lord Monteagle, thought by some to have known about the plot and who brought the plot to the King’s attention.

From the late 18th century, the house was occupied by a succession of tenant farmers and the house became increasingly dilapidated. Oak flooring, roof and walls were removed, fire surrounds sold, and the east turret staircase was demolished. The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings campaigned to raise funds. The London Survey Committee published a special monograph, “Eastbury Manor House, Barking”, illustrated by Hubert V.C Curtis in 1917. In 1918 the National Trust purchased the house, saving it for posterity.

Eastbury Manor House was leased to the Essex Borough of Barking in 1934. The Earl of Crawford officially opened Barking Museum there in 1935. During the Second World War the museum was closed and the house was used as a nursery, and the cellars as air raid shelters. The house suffered slight bomb damage during World War II. After the war the building had a variety of welfare uses. The Council restored the fabric of the building in 1964 and for many years it was used by Barking Arts Council.