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The original Franks Hall was built in 1220, in the reign of Henry III, by a Yorkshire family named Frankish. It was located on the other side of the River Darent, opposite the present house, and its foundations are still visible from the air. In the early part of the 15th century, when Henry VI was on the throne, the Frankish family died out and the house passed to John Martin, whose son of the same name inherited it in 1436,later bequeathing it to his grandson Edward.

By this time the somewhat primitive medieval house was falling into decay and early in the reign of Elizabeth I, Edward Martin alienated the estate to Lancelot Bathurst, an alderman of the City of London and member of both the Grocers' and the Merchant Adventurers' Companies.

Bathurst had little interest in the damp and dilapidated building and began work on a new house on higher ground on the opposite bank of the river. The existing Franks Hall was completed in 1591, but Bathurst enjoyed his magnificent new home for only three years before he died. He and his wife, Judith, had six sons and four daughters and their eldest son, Randolph, succeeded to the estate. Randolph also had a large family and in turn was succeeded by his son, Edward, the first of the Bathursts to be knighted. Sir Edward's son, Thomas, who qualified as a doctor of medicine at Leyden University was also knighted, by Charles II. He lived at Franks until his death in 1688.

Sir Thomas's only son, Francis, had one daughter, Beronice, and two sons by his first wife, Susannah, but his sons died as young men aged 21 and 15. After Susannah's death he remarried and became a widower twice more before marrying his fourth wife, Mary.

Beronice married and in 1738,when her father died, succeeded him at Franks, living there until her death ten years later. Her only child, Susan, who married the son of a Dartford solicitor of dubious reputation called John Tasker, inherited the estate but died childless in 1757. Thus, after nearly 200 years, Franks passed out of the Bathurst family.

John Tasker married again and continued to live at Franks until his death nearly 40 years later; his widow survived him by a further eighteen years until she died in 1814. The property then passed to John Tasker's niece, a Yorkshire woman who unfortunately took little interest in Franks and did not live there.

The house now began to fall into decay and was eventually bought by a yeoman farmer named Ray, who lived there until his death in the late 1850s. He used the ground floor more as a barn than a house, storing straw and animal feedstuffs in the banqueting hall, and he was not averse to allowing his animals in to shelter as well. It is not surprising that the house became a near-ruin.

The year following Ray's death in 1860,Robert Bradford acquired the estate and devoted a considerable fortune to its renovation. He changed the layout of the house completely and turned Franks Hall from a typical Elizabethan mansion into a comfortable Victorian country house. The open courtyard was enclosed with a part-glazed roof and the present staircase installed.

Bradford's fortune may not have lasted. An auctioneer's sale catalogue now in the British Museum, records the bidding for Franks in 1877. It reveals that bids started at £50,000but the property was withdrawn at £69,000, having failed to reach the reserve of £75,000. Franks was purchased privately afterwards by Frederick Power (uncle of Tyrone Power, the film star) for £70,000- a quite fantastic figure for those days, and roughly four times the figure paid for the 446-acre estate half a century later.

The property changed hands again in 1883when the new owner was Vavasour Earle, who made few alterations to the main house. His most significant contribution was to build a picture gallery at the end of the lime avenue for his vast art collection. It was a substantial building, with caretaker's quarters at each end. Only the walls now remain. World War II incendiary bombs did considerable damage, smashing the glass roof and burning much of the oak flooring.

In 1910Earle and his family emigrated to America and the ownership of Franks turned full circle. The then Lord Bathurst, a descendant of George Bathurst, the fourth son of Lancelot, who built Franks Hall almost 350 years earlier, bought the estate. He lived there from 1910to 1923and gave it to his son, Lord Apsley, when he married. The Apsleys appear not to have liked the house and left after only a few months.

The house then remained empty for ten years when it was acquired by Morris Wheeler, a prosperous property owner and draper of Bexley. He returned the neglected property to a good state of repair, although in his later years it began to deteriorate once again. He died in 1962 and his widow continued to live at Franks until her death fifteen years later.

Franks was then purchased by Michael Berry, who remained in residence for three years. However, the house became too much for the family to maintain and in 1980, after a year during which no private sale could be arranged, the estate was purchased by Findlay Publications Ltd as its prospective headquarters.

When Franks Hall was purchased in 1980 by Findlay Publications it marked another major change in the history of the estate when permission was granted for this Grade One Listed Building to be converted into offices.

A major restoration programme was launched and the neglect of years was wiped away. Modern lighting, heating, fire protection, security and telecommunications systems were introduced, yet the historic character remains virtually untouched. Structurally, the house was changed hardly at all, apart from a delightful transformation of the derelict servants' quarters on the top floor which has become two cheerful, spacious open areas reached by spiral staircases.

The main house was connected directly to its adjoining open-courtyard stable block via an aboveground covered walkway extension to the old underground servants' tunnel which passes under the North lawn. Although parts of the stable block had been previously sold, the new owners bought them back and this 19th century building has been extensively renewed to form ancillary offices, dining and staff residential accommodation. The estate itself has dwindled in size over the years from 446 to 88 acres, but these include both banks of the River Darent, providing an ideal setting for the hall's renaissance. Franks no longer faces the risks of decay or obsolescence which have befallen many other fine country houses. It retains all the tranquillity and charm of its former residential character and indeed, could easily be restored to that use if future generations chose to do so.

In May 2005, the estate was purchased by Transcribe Thames Group with Franks Hall being used as their prestigious head office. Their commitment to the continual restoration and care of the house and grounds was a contributing factor in the sale from Finlay Publications. The company now uses what used to be the dining room as a technology showroom displaying the very latest in multifunctional photocopiers, duplicators, print finishing, and document management. Keen to encourage the enjoyment of the Hall and its beautiful grounds, the company held a summer fair for its customers in the summer of 2006 and plans to hold conferences and exhibitions in the future.

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