Eastminster

Eastminster was a Cistercian abbey founded by Edward III in 1350 on Tower Hill outside the old Roman wall in what is now Tower Hamlets. It stood north of the Hospital and Collegiate Church of St Katharine by the Tower. The abbey held lands like the manor of Shere in Surrey, renamed Towerhill after its patron. Its supporters were mainly courtiers, not London merchants. In 1538 the abbey was dissolved and later became the Royal Mint from 1805 to 1966. The abbey’s benefactors included Sir Nicholas de Loveyne, who left Crash Mills on the Thames to pay for masses. The site was excavated between 1983 and 1988 by Museum of London Archaeology. Findings from the dig were published after years of study. The abbey’s name varied over time, appearing as New Abbey or St Mary Graces. Its history reflects the shifting power and property around the Tower of London. Visitors today find the former abbey site now part of Royal Mint Court, later offices and now a Chinese embassy. The area still shows traces of its medieval past beneath later buildings. The River Thames once powered Crash Mills, donated centuries ago. The old abbey’s only named burial is Sir Nicholas de Loveyne. The site’s archaeology tells the story of a monastery that shaped the land around it.