Waltham Abbey (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Waltham Abbey.
In the historic county of Essex.
Modern Authority of Essex.
1974 county of Essex.
Medieval County of Essex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TL38270066
Latitude 51.68766° Longitude -0.00374°

Waltham Abbey has been described as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

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)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1366 Sept 18 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1369 April 24.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1002181, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number ex60
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1124156 , 1124155 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 367309; 621472; 621474; 621483; 977434; 983876.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 34067.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- The Abbey Church, Waltham Abbey
  Wikipedia entry
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
Periodical Articles
- 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 (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- 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 sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- 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

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.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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