Waltham Abbey

Has been described as a Possible Fortified Ecclesiastical site

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains

NameWaltham Abbey
Alternative Names
Historic CountryEssex
Modern AuthorityEssex
1974 AuthorityEssex
Civil ParishWaltham Abbey

King Cnut founded a church with two priests here. In 1060 Harold Godwineson refounded the church as a secular college, and was later buried behind the altar there. In 1177 the college was reconstituted as an Augustinian priory and designated an Abbey in 1184. The Abbey was dissolved in 1540, the last abbey to be surrendered, on March 23rd. Of the abbey, only the Norman nave of the church remains. The presbytery, transepts and crossing were demolished soon after the Dissolution. The cloister adjoined the presbytery to the North with the frater occupying the North part of the range. A gatehouse, bridge and fishponds are all that remain of the domestic buildings, (see TL30SE 74,75,79,128, 132 and 133 for associated buildings and structures.) A hospital was also built within the precincts circa 1218. (PastScape)

Gatehouse Comments

Licence to crenellate the abbey's belfry granted in 1366 and a further licence to crenellate the abbots house and precinct in 1369. The crenellations on the belfry can only have been decorative those on the abbots house may have had a little more to do with concerns about local anticlerical feeling although they could not have been meaningful fortifications. Neither belfry nor abbots house survive.

- Philip Davis

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceTL382006
Latitude51.6876602172852
Longitude-0.00374000007286668
Eastings538270
Northings200660
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

No photos available. If you can provide pictures please contact Castlefacts

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

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Books

  • Greene, J.Patrick, 1992, Medieval Monasteries p. 95
  • Eddy, M.R. and Petchey, M.R., 1983, Historic Towns in Essex: An Archaeological Survey 4 p. 88-91
  • Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longmans) p144, 178
  • RCHME, 1921, An inventory of the historical monuments in Essex Vol. 2 (central and south-west) p. 237-45 no. 1 (plan) online transcription
  • Page, Wm, Round, J.H. (eds), 1907, 'Houses of Austin canons: Abbey of Waltham Holy Cross' VCH Essex Vol. 2 p. 166-72 online transcription
  • Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol. 1 (London) p. 243-9 online copy
  • Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 417 online copy

Journals

  • Bascombe, K.N., 1986 Nov, Waltham Abbey Historical Society newsletter p. 1-4
  • Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 69-100 see online copy
  • Huggins, P.J. and Huggins, R.M., 1973, Essex Archaeological Society Transactions (ser3) Vol. 5 p. 127-84
  • Huggins, P.J., 1972, 'Monastic Grange and Outer Close Excavations, Waltham Abbey' Essex Archaeological Society Transactions (ser3) Vol. 4 p. 30-127
  • Huggins, P.J., 1970, Essex Archaeological Society Transactions (ser3) Vol. 2 p. 216-267
  • 1970, Medieval Archaeology Vol. 14 p. 126-47 download copy

Primary Sources

  • Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1912, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1364-67) Vol. 13 p. 309 online copy
  • Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1913, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1367-70) Vol. 14 p. 245 online copy

Other

  • English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 21 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 38 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 36 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 34 online copy
  • English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 East of England (London: English Heritage) p. 43 online copy
  • 1999, Waltham Abbey Historic Town Assessment Report (Essex County Council) Download copy