Greenhithe History
Ingress Abbey I
Ingress Abbey II
HMS Worcester
A Victorian Resort

Ingress Abbey I

The Ingress Estate was a seat in the hamlet of Greenhithe. In 1363 the manor was endowed upon the Prioress and Abbey of Dartford by Edward III (1307-1377).
A short time before the dissolution of the monasteries, Jane Fane Prioress
of the convent at Dartford let the estate to Robert Meriel of Swanscombe
on a lease at an annual rent of £10, with Richard Grove as tenant. This included the "liberty to dig and carry off chalk there to the amount of one acre in length and breadth." At the suppression in the reign of Henry VIII
the estate came under the control of the crown. The lease was renewed to Martin Meriel by Edward VI.
Legend has it that the Abbess of Dartford put a curse on Henry VIII and all his male descendants, for confiscating the property. This curse was to continue on all future owners of the estate, to the effect that no male heir should ever live to inherit the estate.
Queen Elizabeth granted the estate to Edward Darbshire and John Bere, who purchased much of the lands of Dartford Priory made available by the dissolution of the monasteries. The estate then passed to Jones, then Whaley, Thomas Holloway, and then Shires.
He left it to his wife Mary, and with her two sons Edward and Robert  in 1649 conveyed the mansion house, manor, farm, lands belonging to it, chalk cliffs, lime kiln, wharf, salt and fresh marshes to Captain Edward Brent of Southwark for £1122. On his death it passed to his wife Christian and then to his son Edward Brent.
In 1689 it passed to John Smith of Camberwell, and then to his sons Nathaniel and Jonathan. Captain Nathaniel Smith conveyed his share to Jonathan then Sheriff of Kent in 1721.

 

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