site of Bermondsey Abbey

www.lostindustry.org.uk/walktower1.htm

Bermondsey first grew around the Priory (founded 1082, by Alwyn Childe, a citizen of London) and shaped for ever after the streets in the immediate locality. According to the 15th century Annals of Bermondsey Abbey in 1117 the monks were walking near the river and found a mysterious crucifix, the appearance of which they attributed to a miracle; soon the Priory became a place of pilgrimage. In 1399 it became an Abbey, under the rule of the strict French Cluniac order, whose monks wore black. The Abbey increased in lands and wealth; the establishment would have employed a large service staff of lay-people: agricultural workers, musicians, cooks and stable-men.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538, Sir Thomas Pope bought the Abbey Church, demolished it and used the stones to build his mansion, Bermondsey House. Neither the house nor the Abbey still stands but two hinges of the abbey gate can be seen on the outside of 7, Grange Walk