Milton Chantry

Milton Chantry stands in Gravesend, Kent, within Fort Gardens. It is a former chantry chapel built in 1322 by Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. The building is the oldest in Gravesham and once belonged to the Hospital of St Mary the Virgin leper hospital. It was designed to house priests who prayed for the souls of the dead. After the Reformation, it became a private home, an inn, and part of a fort’s barracks. The site is worth visiting for its layered history and local significance. It was dissolved into Crown hands in 1524 during Henry VIII’s reforms. Later, it served as part of New Tavern Fort, altered by Charles George Gordon between 1868 and 1871. The fort became a park in 1932, and the chapel’s basement was used as a gas-decontamination chamber in World War II. Visitors find the Chantry Heritage Centre inside, with exhibits on Gravesend, Northfleet, and nearby villages. The Grade II* listed building sits within a public park. The Gravesend Local History Society cares for the museum. The surrounding Fort Gardens offer a quiet place to walk and reflect on the site’s past.