Lesnes Abbey, Bexley

The view across the Courtyard towards the Monk's Garden.

Lesnes Abbey.

In 1178, Richard de Luci founded Lesnes Abbey, probably as penance for his involvement in the death of the Archbishop Thomas Beckett, who had been murdered in Canterbury Cathedral, in 1170.

Richard de Luci was Lord of the Manor of Erith and Chief Justiciar of England, a post he shared with Robert de Beaumont, Earl of Leicester. Upon Robert's death, in 1168, Richard held the post alone until he stepped down in 1178. The Chief Justiciar was second only to the King of England, making it a powerful role.

Lesnes Abbey was dedicated to St Mary and St Thomas, the martyr, and belonged to the order of Augustinian canons whose duty it was to baptise, preach, give penance and bury the dead. Belonging to the Augustinian order the Abbey was never wealthy,  largely due to the expense of repairing and maintaining the adjacent river walls.

The Abbey was an impressive building, with huge columns supporting the high ceilings, while highly decorated tiles covered the floors of some of the rooms. 

Looking east along the Nave.

The most important areas of the Abbey were the church, the buildings around the cloister, the infirmary and the great court. It was in these areas that the monks (canons) lived and worked, looked after the sick, showed hospitality to guests, made contact with the outside world and carried out day-to-day administration of the monastery and its estates. These estates included the marshland that stretched north to the River Thames.

A spring-filled pond, situated close to the Monk's Garden, provided fresh water for the monastery.

Walking with Keilyn: Abbey Wood to Crossness... and beyond

Lesnes Abbey viewpoint.

Saturday December 27, 2025.

Today marked the last walk of 2025, for Keilyn and I.

It began with a taxi to Watford Underground station, where we caught a train to Finchley Road and, from there, a Jubilee line train to Bond Street. A walk through the various passageways brought us to the Eastbound platforms, where we waited three minutes for a train. We had decided that we would catch the first train, regardless of its destination. As it was, an Abbey Wood-bound train was the first to arrive.

A little while later we had reached the terminus and exited the station onto Harrow Manorway. Within minutes we were entering Lesnes Abbey Woods.

A monk.

We followed the path, which brought us to Monks Close which we followed, until we entered the largest part of Abbey Woods. To our right we noticed the carved figure of a monk with his Crosier, atop a tree stump. After taking a few photos we made our way to the 'Chestnuts Kiosk', where hot drinks were purchased, before we set off to explore the grounds.

The monk's garden.

Lesnes Abbey Monk's Garden, was our first exploration, where various plants that aided in 'healing' the sick were planted. At its centre was a seated area, with, as its focal point, a giant Crosier. We continued our exploration of the garden, before following the path towards Lesnes Abbey itself.

Various information boards were dotted around, but none of them explained, or could adequately convey, the sheer size of the ruins. It wasn't until Keilyn and I were among the various broken walls and foundations that we could appreciate its scale, and what it would have looked like when it was built, in 1178.

Lesnes Abbey ruins.

We explored every inch of it. From the West Door to the Infirmary to the Kitchens and everything in between. Keilyn took notes and 'googled' various words, such as 'Slype' or 'Reredorter'.

Once we had explored the ruins, the view of the London skyline from the edge of the woods, the Mulberry tree planted by King James I, and the mosaic, we made our way out of the park via the footbridge over Abbey Road. (Not the Abbey Road made famous by 'The Beatles', which is in St John's Wood).

A pony on Erith Marshes.

This path flowed through green spaces, between some brutalist concrete buildings, and brought us to South Mere Lake. Here the path split, so we chose to go right, which brought us to South Mere Park and Erith Marshes. It was here that we saw some ponies in a field.

Dagenham.

We continued following various pathways, passing the Erith Town Football Club ground and a new nature reserve, which is on the site of the old 'Thamesview Golf Centre', which closed in 2014. Eventually we ended up beside the 'Crossness Pumping Station'. Across the river we could see the 'Dagenham Oil Storage Depot' and the 'Ford Motor Company' Dagenham Plant. 

Oops. We were now further east than we had expected. So, we simply pointed our feet westward and continued walking.

All Hallows by the Tower

All Hallows by the Tower is the oldest church in the City of London.

All Hallows means 'all saints' and the feast was instituted when martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honoured. All Saints Day has been celebrated on November 1st since the 8th century.

1st-5th century: The Romans

In the crypt museum, still in its original place and at the ground level of Roman times, is a section of tessellated floor from a 2nd century dwelling. There are also other artefacts from the Roman occupation of this site. 

5th-11th century: The Saxons

In 675 AD Erkenwald was made Bishop of London and founded, on this site, a chapel of Barking Abbey, where his sister, Ethelberga, served as Abbess. Whilst the first church was made of wood, the undercroft and the great Saxon arch probably date from the 8th century and are part of the first stone church on this site. The Saxon arch is believed to be the oldest Saxon arch within the City of London.

11th-15th century: Medieval Times

All Hallows passed between various ownership from the turn of the first millennium to the 16th century. In 1539 it was exchanged to the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury, where it remains to this day.

12th-14th century: The Order of the Knights Templar

In 1119 the Order of the Knights Templar was founded. They would go on to become wealthy and influential throughout Europe, which brought them into conflict with the Catholic church. In 1307, Pope Clement instructed all Christian monarchs to arrest Templar Knights and seize their assets. King Edward II, who was unenthusiastic about this, was compelled to receive Inquisition Judges and, in 1311, trials were held at All Hallows.

The altar, in the Undercroft Chapel, is made of stones from Richard I's Castle Atlit, in Palestine.

'Exquisite Pain' by Damien Hirst

'Exquisite Pain'.

"I like the confusion you get between science and religion...

that's where belief lies and art as well."

- Damien Hirst

Inside the Priory Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great, in the south transept, you will find an anatomically correct statue of St Bartholomew. The statue has his skin draped over his right arm, with his right hand holding a scalpel. His left hand holds a pair of scissors.

It is a striking piece, eerily gleaming against the darkness of the interior of the church, which, when first seen, is very unsettling. However, the more I studied it the more captivated I became.

The Ratcliff Highway Murders and the Aftermath

The Ratcliff Highway Murders.

In two incidents, between December 7th and 19th, 1811, seven people from two families were murdered in what would become known as the Ratcliff Highway Murders. This was one of London's first major serial murder cases, which deeply shocked Victorian society. 

At midnight on Saturday December 7th, at 29 Ratcliff Highway (now The Highway), Mr Timothy Marr, a draper, sent his maid out for oysters before he and his apprentice, James Gowan, closed the drapery for the night. On her return the maid could not rouse them to gain entry and so summoned a watchman, who also failed to make entry.

29 Ratcliff Highway is now a block of flats.

A neighbour, John Murray, who finally managed to enter, found the draper and apprentice murdered in a blood-spattered room, downstairs, and Marr's wife Celia and their child Timothy dead, upstairs. The weapons, a chisel and a maul hammer, lay on the shop floor. Two pairs of footprints were found in the back of the shop.

The site of the second murders.

On Thursday December 19th, a nearly naked man escaped from a second-floor window of the King's Arms public house, at 81 New Gravel Lane (now Garnet Street), shouting, "They are murdering the people in the house!" The publican, John Williamson, his wife, Elizabeth, and their maid, Bridget Anna Harrington, were later found dead with fractured skulls and their throats cut. A crowbar was found beside John Williamson, but no knife or sharp implement was discovered.