Records referring to a manorial house go back to 1383. Probably by 1519 a new manor house was built about a fifth of a mile to the east of the old one. This is usually called Chelsea Place and there is no contemporary evidence that Henry VIII built it. He acquired it as part of an exchange.
It was granted to Queen Catherine Parr for life in 1544 and reverted to the Crown in 1549. Edward VI granted it to John Dudley, later duke of Northumberland, in 1551 and his widow died there in 1555. Anne of Cleves died at the house in 1557. The Crown continued to rent it out and various people lived there including Anne Seymour, widow of Edward Somerset. Charles II eventually sold it and in 1725, after a few owners, Sir Hans Sloane bought it.
Sloane had given his collection to the nation expecting it to be displayed here, with his house becoming a museum. It was instead moved to Bloomsbury to become the start of the BM. The Tudor house was demolished in the 1750s.
Known at various times as: Chelsea Place, Winchester House.
Source: , and gives some details of this manor house and its history.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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