Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country".
Originally established in the 7th century, from the late 10th century the abbey followed the Rule of St. Benedict. The abbey had a large endowment and sizeable income but suffered severely after 1377, when the River Thames flooded around of the abbey's land, which was unable to be reclaimed. However, at the time of the dissolution, it was still the third-wealthiest nunnery in England.
The abbey existed for almost 900 years, until its closure in 1539, as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. It had many notable abbesses including several saints, former queens and the daughters of kings. The abbess of Barking held precedence over all other abbesses in England.
The ruined remains of Barking Abbey now form part of a public open space known as Abbey Green. It is recognisable for its partially restored Grade-II* Listed Curfew Tower, which features on the coat of arms of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
Barking Abbey is also notable because the adjacent St Margaret's Church, a grade I listed building dating back to the 13th century, was built within its grounds. The Abbey Ruins are used as a venue each May for outdoor classical concerts, as well as an annual pilgrimage by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
History
Early history
Barking Abbey was one of two monasteries built in the 7th century by Saint Erkenwald (later Bishop of London). Erkenwald founded Chertsey Abbey for himself, and Barking Abbey for his sister Saint Ethelburga. Erkenwald and Ethelburga were of royal ancestry and were born in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey (roughly located within the modern county of Lincolnshire).
It is said Ethelburga (a Christian) chose to become a nun to avoid having to marry King Edwin of Northumbria, who was a pagan. However, this seems doubtful, and there may have been confusion between Ethelburga and Æthelburh (Ethelburga) of Kent, who did marry King Edwin in 625.
Either way, Ethelburga's brother Erkenwald founded Barking Abbey specifically for her. The abbey was endowed by "the East Saxon Princes", who came from the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of the East Saxons/Kingdom of Essex, and initially dedicated to Saint Mary. However, Ethelburga served as the Abbey's first abbess, and it was later dedicated to both Saint Mary and Saint Ethelburga. Saint Hildelitha, a nun brought from abroad to teach Ethelburga, would become abbess after her death. Erkenwald himself would die at the abbey in 693, although his body was taken to Chertsey Abbey for burial.
Saint Wulfhilda (Wlfhildis) became abbess of Barking Abbey during the 10th century. Wulfhilda had grown up at Wilton Abbey, Wiltshire. King Edgar the Peaceful fell in love with Wulfhilda at Wilton, but she was committed to pursuing a religious life and spurned his advances, presents and offers of marriage. Eventually Edgar tried to entrap Wulfhilda; getting her aunt, Abbess Wenflaeda of Wherwell to fake an illness and summon Wulfhilda, with Edgar instead waiting when Wulfhilda arrived. On arriving, she "found his fervour so alarming that she fled, leaving her sleeve in his hand, and escaping through the drains".
Wulfhilda pursued her ambition and became a nun. King Edgar then created her Abbess of Barking and donated "considerable estates" to Barking Abbey. Wulfhilda herself donated 20 villages to the abbey and established another monastery at Horton in Kent.
King Edgar's eventual queen, Ælfthryth became jealous of Wulfhilda, and following her husband's death deposed her as Abbess of Barking. Wulfhilda was later restored by Edgar's and Ælfthryth's son, King Æthelred the Unready.
Another version of the story says that Queen Ælfthryth, as overseer of the abbey, deposed the abbess Wulfida after complaints made by the nuns; and that it was the Queen, not her son, who reinstated her twenty years later.
Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, (909 – 19 May 988) changed Barking Abbey to follow the Rule of St. Benedict. According to medieval scholar Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, Barking Abbey may have been "especially devoted to Martha", the sister of Mary of Bethany and Lazarus in the Gospels of Luke and John. In , Osbert of Clare wrote a letter to Adelzia, who was abbess at the time, requesting that the Barking Abbey nuns pray for him; Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis states that it demonstrates his "confidence in the promptness and solicitude" of their prayers.