Gadshill Place
GADSHILL PLACE, GRAVESEND ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1049037
- Date first listed:
- 27-Aug-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Gadshill Place
- Statutory Address:
- GADSHILL PLACE, GRAVESEND ROAD
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-03-01
- Reference:
- IOE01/15035/11
- Rights:
- © Mr Ron Garvey. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1049037
- Date first listed:
- 27-Aug-1952
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 26-Jul-1983
- List Entry Name:
- Gadshill Place
- Statutory Address 1:
- GADSHILL PLACE, GRAVESEND ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- GADSHILL PLACE, GRAVESEND ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Kent
- District:
- Gravesham (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Higham
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 71020 70872
Details
TQ 77 SW HIGHAM GRAVESEND ROAD 3/47 27.8.52 Gadshill Place (formerly listed as Gad's Hill Place, Upper Higham)
I
Built in 1779 by Thomas Stevens former Mayor of Rochester. Owned and occupied by Charles Dickens from 1857 until his death 1870. He wrote a number of his novels here. The opening scenes of "Great Expectations" are set in the locality.
Walls of red brick with string course below parapet. Slated Mansard roof with central octagonal bell turret with ogee shaped lead roof, ball finial and weathervane. Sash windows without glazing bars. Projecting porch with columns and pilasters and round-headed entrance door with fanlight. On either side 2-storey 3-sided bays with cornices to each storey. Central first floor window with 3 lights and elliptical arch to centre light. To the south-east the dining room was extended and a large conservatory added by Dickens. Rear much altered and built out, but an original doorcase with pilasters, pediment, and semi-circular fanlight, stone steps and wrought iron handrail. Internally Dickens' study is preserved as he left it with comical invented book titles in a sham bookcase on the door and original bookcases lining the walls. The staircase has had alternate balusters removed and fretwork panels inserted. Hans Anderson stayed at the house in 1857. Dickens built a tunnel beneath the main road to give acces to an extra garden where he erected a Swiss chalet now in Rochester museum.
Listing NGR: TQ7099170882
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 356772
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Dickens, C, Great Expectations, ()
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 06:10:26.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry