Hawley House now Hawley Manor

This is a view of Hawley Manor / House printed in 1838

In “An Epitome of County History – Kent” by Christopher Greenwood

Hawley House, in the Parish of Sutton at Hone, the seat of Richard Leigh, Esq. is situated one mile and a half south-east from Dartford. This house is of great antiquity, but at what particular period it was founded does not clearly appear. The interior is very elegant: among the embellishments are several interesting paintings, particularly one of Lady Hinchingbrook, the mother of John, Earl of Sandwich.

Hawley House is distant from London about 17 miles.

Haw Sawters, alias Sapters, in the reign of Edward III. belonged to the noble family of Hastings. John de Hastings, Earl of Pembroke, being killed at a tournament, anno 3 Richard II. left it in Possession of his widow, Philippa, daughter of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, who carried it to her second husband, Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel.

At her death, anno 2 Henry IV, as she had survived her second husband, it devolved, by entail of John de Hastings, on his cousin, William de Beauchamp, Lord Bergavenny, who, in the 12th year of Henry IV, was succeeded by Richard Beauchamp, his son, whose daughter, Elizabeth, conferred it on her husband, Edward Nevill, younger son of Ralph, Earl of Westmoreland.

In the first year of Henry VIII, it had become the property of John Poulter, whose daughter, Anne, carried it in marriage to Thomas Mayo; and his descendants, in the beginning of James I, sold Hawley House, with the reputed manor of Sawters, to Edmund Hunt, Esq. After his death, in 1609, it was possessed by Mr. William Hewson, whose son William, after the death of Charles I. transmitted Hawley House, with the estate (for the Manor of Sawten was now quite forgotten), to Edward Badby, Esq. whose heirs, after his death in 1682, sold it to the Hon. John Stafford Howard. His estates being forfeited for his adherence to James II, King William, in 1695, granted this seat to Sir Francis Leigh, of Tring, whose grandson, Francis Leigh, Esq. dying s. p. in 1774, left it for life to his fourth and surviving wife, bequeathing the inheritance to his nephew, Richard Leigh, Esq.

From the South Eastern Gazette in May 1894
The Garden front of Hawley House

Hawley House suffered a serious fire that killed Mr Temple Johnson, when the central block was destroyed. The wing now nearest to the A2 survived the fire, as did the part of the opposite wing. If you compare the right hand wing in the 1838 view, you will see the same brick gable that is now part of the adjoining house.

Hawley Manor was then rebuilt by Mrs Temple Johnson in an Arts and Crafts style.

This Tudor style house has been developed from the right hand wing of the original manor house

The feature shown in the 1838 etching of the House at the end of both wings is still visible today.

The Dovecot

It is just possible to glimpse the Dovecot between the main house and the Tudor house.