Map 1929 Dunsdale & Valence
The ‘modern’ story of Dunsdale begins when the mansion had been converted into a V.A.D. hospital in 1914 having been unoccupied since 1911 when Francis Johnstone, the tenant, and Norman Watney, the owner, both died.
From 1914 the Dunsdale Hospital (V.A.D. Kent 38) was fully occupied until 1917 when it was decommissioned from its V.A.D. status to be sold along with the Farm and Valence by the trustees of the Watney Estate. An auction was held on September 15 1917 but no buyer was forthcoming. A second attempt to sell the estates was launched in 1919 and on this occasion the whole estate – Valence and Dunsdale – was purchased by Cecil Ireland Blackburn for £29,000. The estate was at that time unaltered and the Dunsdale mansion was divided up and let to several tenants. This went on until 1929 when once again, the whole estate – Valence and Dunsdale – was put up for sale and purchased by Percy Somer Joyce for £28,000. This was probably a speculative purchase as he then sold the following year to Ronald Arthur Vesty for £32,500. The Vestys retained the estate intact until they sold it in 1949.
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