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Barking Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery founded in the seventh century in Essex, which became one of the most important and wealthy convents in medieval England. The abbey was established around 666 by Saint Erkenwald and his sister Saint Ethelburga, achieving considerable influence and landholdings by the early medieval period. The site preserves substantial remains of the abbey church and associated structures, including the striking fifteenth-century gatehouse which survives as a prominent feature of the townscape. The community was dissolved during the Reformation in the sixteenth century, with the surviving buildings subsequently passing into secular use.
Barking Abbey is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1003581. View the official record →
Barking Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery founded in the seventh century in Essex, which became one of the most important and wealthy convents in medieval England. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1003581.
Barking Abbey is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1003581.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Burial mound on Winns Common, Plumstead (6.2 km), Shrewsbury Barrow, Shooters Hill (6.7 km), Romano-Celtic temple in Greenwich Park (8 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Barking Abbey's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Barking Abbey stands on Thames Group, bedrock that formed in the Eocene. The rock here is clay, silt, sand and gravel.