Collection: Valence House Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Local History Collection

  Valence House Museum collects objects, art, archives and other material which illustrates the history of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Objects date from prehistoric times until the present and include material relating to Barking’s important 19th century fishing fleet. There are also furnishings relating to local homes, especially the Becontree Housing Estate.

  Archaeology Collection

  Archaeological archives for sites in LB Barking and Dagenham, excavated by Newham Archaeological Unit and transferred on the closure of the unit in the 1990s. These include material relating to the Barking Abbey, including jewellery, carved bone, pottery, gold thread and glass which show have that Barking Abbey was one of the most important religious archaeological sites in Europe.

  Fine Art Collection

  A collection of local topographical pictures includes works by A B Bamford and H G Glindoni.

  Fanshawe family portrait collection

  The Fanshawe Collection comprises paintings, letters and official papers relating to 500 years of Fanshawe family history. The collection was given to Valence House Museum by Captain Aubrey Fanshawe, R.N, in 1963. His father, Basil, had spent many years bringing the collection together. In 2004, Valence House Museum received a further seven portraits following the death of Aubrey’s widow Anne. With the 46 paintings from the original donation they form one of the best collections of gentry portraits in the country. The Fanshawes came originally from Derbyshire. Henry Fanshawe (1506-68) was the first to acquire land locally. He bought the manors of Jenkins and Fulks in Barking, and also Valence estate, although the family never lived here and it was quickly sold on. In 1613 the manor of Parsloes, Dagenham, was added to the family holdings. Henry served in the Exchequer for 40 years, succeeding to the post of Queen Elizabeth I?’s Remembrancer in 1566. He was the first of nine Fanshawe’s to hold this position, and it is through this that the family gained their money and status. For over 500 years, the Fanshawes held important positions both locally and nationally, as royal advisors, Lords of the Manor of Barking and Vicars. The collection contains works by Willaim Dobson, Sir Peter Lely, Marcus Gheereadts the Younger, and Mary Beale, among many others. . One family, identified sitters, family history; Valence House Museum.

  Archives

  Valence House holds the archives for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, which are managed with the local studies library as part of the same service as the museum.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC