Bermondsey Abbey

Illustration of Bermondsey Abbey.

Bermondsey Abbey archaeological dig, viewed from Tower Bridge Road, 5 March 2006.

Another view of the archaeological dig from Tower Bridge Road.

Details of the finds at the archaeological dig.

Some of the finds made available by the archeologists at the dig.

Bermondsey Abbey archaeological dig detailed view.

Bermondsey Abbey was an English Benedictine monastery. Most widely known as an 11th-century foundation, it had a precursor mentioned in the early 8th century, and was centred on what is now Bermondsey Square, the site of Bermondsey Market, Bermondsey in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast London, England.

Foundation

A monastery is known to have existed at Bermondsey before 715 AD, when it was a Surrey colony of the important Mercian monastery of Medeshamstede, later known as Peterborough. Though surviving only in a copy written at Peterborough in the 12th century, a letter of Pope Constantine (708-715) grants privileges to a monastery at Vermundesei.^[1] It is likely that this monastery continued, probably as a secular minster, at least until the 9th-century Viking invasions.^[2]

Nothing more is heard of any church at Bermondsey until 1082, when, according to the "Annales Monasterii de Bermundeseia", a monastery was founded there by one Alwinus Child, with royal licence.^[3] It is highly likely, given the trend to continuity of sacred sites, that this church was founded on the site of the earlier monastery. It is also possible that this foundation was a direct successor to the church last mentioned in the early 8th century.^[4]

Alwinus Child's new monastery, dedicated to St Saviour, is presumably identical with the 'new and handsome church' which appears in the Domesday Book record for Bermondsey, in 1086. In effect, Domesday Book clarifies the "Annales"' mention of royal licence, since it records that the estate of Bermondsey was then held by King William the Conqueror, a small part being also in the hands of Robert, Count of Mortain, the king's half brother, and younger brother of Odo of Bayeux, then earl of Kent. Royal support for the new foundation continued with King William Rufus' gift of the royal estate at Bermondsey, in either 1089 or 1090, and through further grants made, for example, by King Henry I in the 1120s and 1130s. ^[5] It may be that the counts of Mortain also maintained an interest in the new monastery, since Count William of Mortain became a monk there in 1140. Alwinus Child's only recorded gift to the new monastery was 'various rents in the city of London', and these may be represented in Domesday Book by mention of 13 burgesses there paying 44d (£0.18) annually to the estate at Bermondsey.

The new monastery was established as an alien, Cluniac priory through the arrival in 1089 of four monks from St Mary's of La Charité-sur-Loire, apparently at the invitation of Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury.^[6] These were Peter, Richard, Osbert and Umbald, Peter becoming the first prior. The church remained a Cluniac priory until the late 14th century. In 1380 Richard Dunton, the first English prior, paid a fine of 200 marks (£133.33) to have Bermondsey's establishment naturalised: this protected it from actions taken against alien properties in time of war, but it also set the priory on the path to independent status as an abbey, divorced from both La Charité and Cluny, which it achieved in 1390.

Royal Connections

At Christmas 1154, the newly crowned King Henry II and his Queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine held court at Bermondsey Priory.^[7] A few weeks later, on 28 February 1155, the royal couple's second child, Prince Henry was born there.^[8]

Both Catherine of Valois, wife of Henry V, and Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV, spent time at the Abbey following the deaths of their husbands. Catherine, also mother of Henry VI, was banished to the Abbey following her marriage to Owen Tudor in 1436; and, sometime around 12 February 1487, Elizabeth was forcibly registered as a boarder, receiving free hospitality as the widow of a descendant of the institution's founder.^{[citation needed]} She died there on 8 June 1492, having seen her two sons, Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, 4th Duke of York, disappear in the Tower of London around 1483, and her daughter Elizabeth of York marry Henry VII, a Tudor, three years later.

"King John's Palace"

Possibly because of the royal events at Bermondsey, a legend asserted that King John had built a palace there. The 17th century antiquarian, John Aubrey, gave credance to this story. However, Richard Rawlinson, editing his Natural History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey in 1719 said: "Mr Aubrey tells us, that he was assured by one Mr Hawkins, that this Abbey of Bermondsey was King John's Palace, and converted into an abbey; but upon what Authority this information was grounded I cannot find."^[9]

Land and estates

Bermondsey rapidly acquired a valuable estate, both temporal and spiritual.

In 1103 and 1104 it acquired from Henry I his interest in Southwark to the west of Borough High Street (Stane Street) just to the south of the ancient borough, stretching over to Lambeth and to the south to Walworth. This became known as the King's Manor, Southwark after its acquisition by the City of London in 1550. In 1122 it was given the church of St George the Martyr; Long Lane led northwest from the Abbey to the High Street by the church to connect the two estates.^[10]

In 1291, temporalities (such as landed estates) were valued at almost £229, and spiritualities (such as advowsons) at just over £50. The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 put the abbey's clear annual value at a little over £474.^[6]

The estate ranged widely, including properties in Surrey, Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Kent.
The manor of Charlton, then in Kent, was given by Bishop Robert Bloet of Lincoln in 1093. In 1268, Bermondsey was granted a Monday market at Charlton, as well as an annual fair of three days, centred on Trinity Sunday, the eighth Sunday after Easter.
Land in Dulwich and elsewhere was given by Henry I in 1127.

Dissolution

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the abbey was handed over by the last abbot to the king. Henry granted the property and its lands to Sir Robert Southwell. Southwell sold the buildings to Sir Thomas Pope, founder of Trinity College, Oxford. Sir Thomas broke up the abbey, pulling down a number of buildings and erecting a house on the property. He then sold it back to Southwell who later sold it on to a London goldsmith.

Archaeology

The site at Bermondsey Square is currently being redeveloped with the construction of buildings. This has provided PCA an opportunity to undertake a number of excavations on the site along Abbey Street, most recently in early 2006. Another part of the site is to be excavated along Tower Bridge Road.

Reports

The report for the current dig is not online as of March 2006 but should be published here.

• TQ 3370 7936 Bermondsey Square, SE1; (David Divers & Kevin Wooldridge); evaluation; September – November 1998; London Borough of Southwark; BYQ98
• TQ 3330 7936 Bermondsey Square, SE1; (Chris Mayo); evaluation; 15 July – 16 August 2002; BYQ98

References

External links

• About Bermondsey Abbey, by London online
• Annales Monasterii de Bermundeseia (Rolls Series, 1888) online. Gallica. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
• Bermondsey Abbey in the Victoria County History series.
• Discussion about excavations
• Notes on the Abbey

Coordinates: 51°29′51″N 0°4′51″W / 51.4975°N 0.08083°W / 51.4975; -0.08083