Barking Abbey

Barking Abbey stands in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham as the remains of a once-great royal monastery founded in the 7th century. It began as a double house for monks and nuns under Earconwald and his sister Ethelburga, who became its first abbess. The community followed strict rules, enlarged its lands through royal charters, and became a centre of learning where nuns wrote and studied. After Viking raids forced the nuns to flee, the abbey was rebuilt and refounded as a women’s house in the 10th century. Notable abbesses included Wulfhilda, who resisted royal advances and expanded the abbey’s estates, and Æfgiva, who rebuilt the church after the Norman Conquest. The abbey’s importance is shown by its wealth and royal connections. At the Dissolution in 1539 it was England’s third-wealthiest women’s monastery, and its abbesses held precedence over all others. The community included former queens and daughters of kings, and its relics of Ethelburga, Hildelith and Wulfhilda were translated into the new church. The abbey survived floods, fires and political disputes, including a long conflict over bridge maintenance with Stratford Langthorne Abbey. Its story is told through charters, chronicles and hagiographies commissioned by abbesses and archbishops. Today the ruins form Abbey Green, a public open space centred on the restored Curfew Tower. The adjacent Grade I-listed St Margaret’s Church, dating from the 13th century, was built within the abbey grounds. Visitors walk among the masonry of the former cloister and church, where the saints’ relics once rested. The site hosts classical concerts each May and an annual Orthodox pilgrimage. The Curfew Tower, with its historic bell, remains a landmark on the borough’s coat of arms.