Barking Abbey, Essex, was established circa 666 AD and disestablished in 1539, during the dissolution of the monasteries, with demolition beginning the following year. Once the second richest abbey in England, thanks to Royal grants, there really is not much of it left- with the Curfew Tower being the only significant feature- but it's very atmospheric and peaceful, and certainly worth an hour of your time.
Once a "double house" meaning both nuns and monks lived here, it became a single-sex Benedictine nunnery about a hundred years after it was destroyed by Vikings in 871 AD.
People who believed they were possessed by evil spirts would come to see the Abbess of Barking to be exorcised, and it's said that it's from that ritual that the phrase "barking mad" originates! Halloween trick or treating is also said to originate from here, as people were sent to the abbey to be cured of witchcraft. That also takes into account that the date of the abbey's founding- 666- is the devil's number!
Come and take a wander with me as I look around the abbey and the neighbouring St Margaret's Church graveyard, in search of four elusive skulls...
Link here:-
Don't forget to check out the blog I have put together about these interesting abbey remains and the neighbouring church and graveyard. I will always be a writer before anything else!
Remember to like and subscribe, and don't forget to follow this blog as well!
TTFN
The Miss Elaineous
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX
X
XXXXX
X
No comments:
Post a Comment