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 ...
Reference: WH0990
This 1939 section of O.S. map shows the mansion – internally converted into several apartments and let to tenants – to be externally unaltered at this time, albeit run-down with the gardens and grounds in a sorry state. Note that the lake had dried up beyond the stone bridge carrying the coach road.
Reference: WH0991
In 1949 the Valence estate (only) was purchased by Kent County Council to rehouse Laleham School for girls that had outgrown its earlier premises in Hartfield, Sussex. In 1951 the status was changed to that of Valence School for physically handicapped children. In 1949 the run-down Dunsdale estate and Valence Wood were sold to Llewellyn Jones, ...
Reference: WH0992
This section of the 1891 O.S. map shows the North Lodge, Dunsdale Farm and the Victorian gothic mansion itself, built for and occupied by a wealthy industrialist Joseph Kitchin in 1858. In 1880 the estate was sold to William Bryant, but by 1885 had been resold and purchased piece by piece over then next four ...
Reference: WH1045
