👻 Haunted place
Valence House Museum
The last of Dagenham's five manor houses still stands behind its moat — more than seven centuries of tenants, councillors and archivists held in one timber frame.
Photo: Wikipedia
Turn off Becontree Avenue into Valence Park and the city seems to step back a pace. Beyond the grass and the great trees sits a low, timber-framed house with water on part of its boundary — the only survivor of the five manor houses that once served Dagenham, and now a museum telling the story of the borough around it.
Valence House has been a great many things to a great many people: a medieval manor, a family home, a town hall, the headquarters of the borough's library service, and today a museum, archive and local studies centre.
Organised public ghost hunts are run at the venue by event companies, which makes this Grade II* listed manor on the edge of the Becontree estate one of the more accessible places in London to spend an evening in a building of its age.
🔦 You can join an organised ghost hunt here. Companies such as Haunted Happenings and Haunted Heritage run public overnight events at this venue — vigils, séances and all the kit in our sidebar.
Hauntings are told as reported — by owners, guests, guides and investigators — never as fact. The history underneath is often real, and sometimes tragic; we treat it with respect. Background from Wikipedia and the sources listed below.
The history behind the hauntings
A house was first established on this site in the 13th century, owned by Robert Dynes in 1280. The name we use today comes from its 14th-century tenants, Agnes de Valence and her brother Aylmer, Earl of Pembroke, whose wealthy family came from the French province of Valence and moved here when their uncle became king. Later tenants of the estate are remembered in the road names that now surround the park.
In 1475 the estate passed to the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, who held it until it went to the Church Commissioners in 1867. In the latter part of the 16th century the owner and tenant was Timothy Lucye — brother of Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote in Warwickshire — who in 1584 married Susanna, daughter of Henry Fanshawe of the adjoining manor of Jenkyns. The moat that partially surrounds the building was not built for defence but for a far more practical purpose: keeping livestock in place.
The modern chapter began in 1921, when the London County Council bought the house and land to develop the Becontree estate, using Valence House as its headquarters during construction. Dagenham Urban District Council later acquired the premises, extending the building in 1928 and 1929 for offices and a council chamber, having purchased the surrounding 27.82 acres from the LCC in 1926 to create Valence Park. The house served as the town hall until the Dagenham Civic Centre was completed in 1937, then became the borough's library headquarters. It was Grade II* listed in 1954.
The ghosts of Valence House Museum
1 reported apparition, as the stories are told.
👻 No named ghost in the record
Throughout the timber-framed manor house
We would rather be honest than inventive. The documented history of Valence House — its medieval tenants, its centuries under the Dean and Chapter of Windsor, its service as town hall and library headquarters — contains no named spirit, no recorded apparition and no account of a haunting that we can pass on to you.
What the house does have is human occupation reaching back to the 13th century. Organised public ghost hunts are run here by event companies, and any stories attached to the building are the ones participants take away with them rather than anything set down in its written record.
Valence House Museum in photos
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Visiting Valence House Museum
Valence House Museum stands in Valence Park, off Becontree Avenue in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Inside are permanent exhibitions on the history and life of the borough, including displays from the 1945 Becontree Estate, alongside regular special events for the public and for school parties. The museum, archives and local studies library closed on 22 December 2007 for extensive refurbishment, part-funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, and reopened in June 2010 with a new purpose-built archive and local studies centre.
The park itself is worth the walk: 27.82 acres created from the former estate, and home to one of the Great Trees of London, a Holm oak. Work supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund began on repairing the moat in February 2026. For those who want the building after hours, organised public ghost hunts are run at the venue by event companies; book with the organisers in advance rather than turning up on spec.
Where to stay near Valence House Museum
Nearest first — every distance measured from Valence House Museum itself. Make a weekend of it.
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Valence House Museum: your questions answered
What is Valence House Museum? ＋
It is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham: a timber-framed building, partially surrounded by a moat, in Valence Park off Becontree Avenue in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been a manor house, family home, town hall, library headquarters and is now a museum.
Can I join a ghost hunt at Valence House Museum? ＋
Yes — organised public ghost hunts are run at the venue by event companies. Book in advance with the organisers rather than arriving on spec; the museum also runs its own programme of special events for the public and school parties.
Why is there a moat around the house? ＋
The moat that partially surrounds the building was constructed to keep livestock in place, not for defence. Repair work on it, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, began in February 2026.
What can I see inside the museum? ＋
Permanent exhibitions on the history and life of Barking and Dagenham, including displays from the 1945 Becontree Estate. In March 2018 an exhibition of restored items from the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation collection opened here, inspired by local man Alan Friswell, who worked with Ray Harryhausen on the restorations.
Your experiences at Valence House Museum
Been on the tour, stayed the night, felt the cold spot for yourself? Tell the next visitor what happened — and if nothing did, that counts too.
No visitor stories yet — been to Valence House Museum? Yours would be the first.
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Sources and further reading
- Valence House Museum — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
Researched by the BritStays Haunted Britain team; last updated 13 October 2026. Spotted something we've got wrong, or have your own story from Valence House Museum? We'd love to hear it.