Chalk extraction had occurred to the east of the Abbey by the late 19th century, although it was not until c.1930s when the Ingress Abbey Paper Mill (latterly the Empire Paper Mills producing wallpaper) was built riverside and to the north-east. [Partly in Ingress Park TQ 57 NE 97]. The Abbey, built in 1832-3 to a Tudor-Gothic style, has been reused as the Thames Nautical Training College and latterly a Merchant Navy College [See TQ 57 NE 93].

The Ingress Abbey site has been and currently is under extensive redevelopment, incorporating a number of residential schemes. The C20 industrial buildings to the west of the Abbey have been replaced with a small housing development, while parkland and sports grounds to the north form part of a large riverside development, Ingress Park (Crest Homes). This development encroaches upon the former Empire Mills site to the east, which appears to have been completely demolished. The mill complex was assessed in the Swanscombe Heritage Park and Craylands Gorge Desk-Based Assessment (WAT 2003) as being of historic value (section 7.9.26), however, the sites redundancy and development pressures attached to marketable riverside plots have ultimately led to its demolition.(1)

<1> Essex County Council, 2003, Aggregates Levy Survey Industrial Sites, KN871 &9 61 (Unpublished document). SKE12009.