THE site is first mentioned in the thirteenth century, when it was owned by the de Scathebury family. From 1424 to about 1655 it was owned by the Walsinghams, including Christopher Marlowe, Sir Thomas Walsingham, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth I, and Francis Walsingham, was born there. It was purchased by the London Borough of Bromley in 1983 and opened to the public in 1985