Waltham Abbey

The first church on this site dates to the 7th Century. It was a simple building of one or two rooms. A burial was discovered near the south door of the present church. Its radiocarbon dated to the 7th Century. An Anglo Saxon book clasp with clear religious motifs was also discovered.

A new church was built at the end of the 8th Century. This church would have been standing at the time of King Cnut 1016 - 1035.

The church was extended by Harold Earl of Wessex. It was consecrated in the presence of King Edward the Confessor in 1060.

The church was rebuilt by the Normans between 1090and 1150 in the Norman style. The present church was just the nave of the Norman church.

As part of his penance for his culpability in the murder of Thomas a'Becket, King Henry the second enlarged the churh to three times its present size and it was elevated to Abbey status in 1184. It was one of the largest and most important religious houses in the country.

When Edward the firsts beloved Queen Eleanor died in 1290 her body was taken from Lincoln back to London resting for one night at the abbey. The nearby Eleanor Cross was raised in her memory at Waltham Cross.

Henry VIII was a regular visitor and donated a stained glass window which is now in St Margaret's church in Westminster. Eventually in 1540 the Abbey was ordered to be closed. It was the last abbey to be destroyed in the dissolution. The nave was left standing as a parish church, but Henry II's magnificent abbey was reduced to rubble, much of which is still evident today.