Valence House Museum is the local history museum for the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. Valence House Museum has been described as 'one of the best local history museums in Greater London' ('Museums Journal', March 2011). Since its formation in 1937, the Museum has continued to collect works of art by local artists and works which depict the local area and its communities. Set within a fifteenth-century moated manor house, the jewel of the collection is the Fanshawe family portraits. Incorporating 54 portraits dating from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century, this collection has been called the best collection of gentry portraits in the country. Artists include Sir Peter Lely, William Dobson, Marcus Gheeraerts the younger and Mary Beale. Valence House Museum is set within landscaped grounds that include a herb garden, Second World War vegetable plot, traditional fruit orchard and apiary. The site is surrounded by a medieval moat.