Beneath your feet lie the stones of Barking Abbey. It was once the foremost Benedictine Abbey in the country. Today only ruins remain. These stones and bricks show where the Abbey once stood. You can see the outline of where the various rooms were.
Let me tell you a story about this significant place. Erkenwald founded two monasteries around 666 AD. One was at Chertsey for himself. The other was at Barking for his sister Ethelburga. Barking Abbey was a double house. Monks and nuns lived in separate but identical buildings. Ethelburga became a nun to avoid marriage. A nun called Hildelitha was brought from abroad to instruct her.
Hodilred granted Ethelburga her monastery. Erkenwald died at Barking in 693. He was visiting at the time. He was buried at St Paul’s Cathedral. Later, he became the patron saint of London. Ethelburga’s death date is unknown. She was canonized. Her day is celebrated on 11 October.
In 871, Vikings attacked Barking. The Abbey was destroyed. The town became part of the Viking-controlled Danelaw Territory. The nuns fled to their estate in the City of London. This later became the parish of All Hallows, Barking by the Tower. In the 900s, the Danelaw was regained. Barking Abbey was rebuilt as a single-sex Benedictine nunnery. King Edgar supported it.
William the Conqueror stayed at Barking Abbey. It was towards the end of December 1066 and early January 1067. This was while the Tower of London was being built. After William, many monarchs stayed here. Henry VIII was the last one.
In the twelfth century, Mary Becket became abbess of Barking Abbey. Henry II appointed her. Perhaps this was penance for Thomas Becket’s murder in Canterbury. Mary enlarged a nearby hospital in Ilford. A previous abbess initially set it up. She opened this up to the lepers of the area.
In 1221, the abbess received a licence. This allowed her to take wood and hunt hares and foxes in her wood of Hainault. In 1319, she had a licence to fell 300 oaks in Hainault. This was for the repair of her Manor House. The church and other Abbey buildings were also repaired. The area of Barking suffered many times over the centuries. This was from flooding of the nearby River Thames.
The king granted land and status to the abbess. In return, she and the nuns prayed for him and the royal family. The abbess was also responsible for the souls of the local people. Prayers offered by the Abbey were vital for everyone’s wellbeing. Rich and poor left money for the nuns to sing masses after their death. In 1300, St Margaret’s Chapel became a parish church. Local people could worship separately from the nuns.
In 1381, John of Gaunt paid for Elizabeth Chaucy’s admission as a nun at Barking. Geoffrey Chaucer may have been a relative of hers. John of Gaunt was a patron and close friend of Chaucer.
When Katherine de la Pole was abbess, Edmund and Jasper Tudor were brought up in her custody. The Abbey was paid for their board and lodging. Edmund Tudor later married Margaret Beaufort. They were the parents of King Henry VII.
At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Barking Abbey was handed over in 1539. The abbess and thirty-seven ladies received pensions. Afterward, the Abbey was destroyed. The finest stone was used in the King’s Manor House at Dartford. Lead from the roof repaired the royal palace at Greenwich.
Only St Margaret’s Church and two gateways survived. The Curfew Tower still stands today. It contains a painted stone carving of the crucifixion. The smaller North Street Gate has since been demolished.
Barking Abbey’s ruins now form part of a small park. It adjoins St Margaret’s Church.