Barking Abbey

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Curfew tower with St Margaret's Church in background

The ruined remains of Barking Abbey are in situated in Barking in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham in East London, England; where it forms a public open space.

Formally The Abbey of Saint Mary, and later the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Ethelburga. The first Barking Abbey was founded by St. Erkenwald, Bishop of London, for his sister Saint Ethelburga in 666, as a missionary centre. All Hallows Barking, at Tower Hill, was founded by the abbey in 675.

Bede recorded the foundation. The Abbey was destroyed by the Vikings in 870, and 100 years later was re-founded as a Royal foundation. William the Conqueror spent his first New Year after the Norman Conquest in 1066 at the Abbey. Archbishop Dunstan made Barking Abbey a strict Benedictine nunnery.

In 1541 the Abbey was dissolved by order of Henry VIII. After that, the Abbey site was used as a quarry and a farm. A modern ward of the borough is named Abbey after the ruin.