historical house, community/cultural, garden
Richard Griffiths Architects, 2003
Eastbury Manor House, Eastbury Square, Barking, IG11 9SN
One of the finest surviving Elizabethan red brick Manor houses- Grade I listed. Contains 17th Century wall-paintings, charming walled garden and a fine Tudor tower with original stairs. Many original features have been restored and layout remains mostly unchanged in over 400 years.
Upney
Barking
62, 287, 368
Upney Underground 8-minute walk. Barking train station is a 25 minute walk. Buses stop 1 min away from the house.
Ground floor is step free. Lift to other floors & accessible toilet on 1st floor. At busy times, we may stagger access to upper floors.
The house is generally quiet, although can be busier at certain times and in areas including the tea room. We are a Dementia Friendly Venue.
Eastbury Manor House is a Grade l Listed building Barking. It was built during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in an isolated position surrounded by fields, ponds and marshes, and with distant views of the River Thames.
The house was built for Clement Sisley and his family, and completed in 1573. Despite the isolated position of the house, he used the newest and most fashionable building materials and features. Eastbury boasted enormous chimney stacks, ornate fireplaces and glazed windows. Clement Sisley 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 and tenants, before being purchased for the National Trust in 1918. Most owners never lived at Eastbury and the estate was leased to a succession of 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, also Maria, married Lewis Tresham in 1603. Maria and Lewis were devout Catholics.
It is whilst they resided at Eastbury that rumoured links to the Gunpowder Plot emerged. 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.