Museums

We've included every museum in London. Use the filters to find something for you.

Tell us what we can do better, or what you’re trying to discover.

Valentines Mansion

A house of 1696 built for an archbishop's widow, restored by the council and opened free two days a week: a Victorian kitchen, a Georgian bedchamber and a walled garden in Ilford's best park.

Free

Photo by The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lady Tillotson, widow of the Archbishop of Canterbury, built it in 1696, and Sir Charles Raymond, an East India ship-owner turned banker, gave it its Georgian face in the 1760s; a cutting from his vine was taken to Hampton Court in 1768 and became the Great Vine there. The last of the family, Sarah Ingleby, died in the house in 1906 and Ilford bought the grounds for its park, then let the house drift through offices and emptiness until a restoration finished in 2009 with the Heritage Lottery Fund. The rooms are furnished by period, with an audio story in each: the Victorian kitchen, the Georgian bedchamber, the drawing room over the garden. Outside are the walled kitchen garden, an Old English garden and the dovecote, and beyond them Valentines Park, 130 acres of lakes and cricket, the biggest green space in Redbridge.

Where
Emerson Road, Ilford, IG1 4XA
Nearest station
Gants Hill · 6 min walk

Hours

Monday12:00 – 17:00
TuesdayClosed
WednesdayClosed
ThursdayClosed
FridayClosed
SaturdayClosed
Sunday12:00 – 17:00

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 8 September 2026.

From November to February the hours are 11:00 to 15:00. Free.

NearbyMuseums

NearbyOther Categories

See more nearby listings

Submit a correction for this listing.

Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

Which area are you in?