Lesnes Abbey 500

On 13 February 1525 Abbot William Tysehurst surrendered Lesnes Abbey to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s chaplain and secretary William Burbank.

It was almost exactly twelve years since Tysehurst’s installation.

However, the abbey fell just within the Diocese of Rochester whose bishop John Fisher had an uneasy relationship with the cardinal.

Fisher (the martyr St John Fisher) had been unaware of the announced closure of Lesnes Abbey and so it was more than six weeks before he gave his reluctant agreement.

Only on 1 April did Bishop John Fisher officially consent to a document confirming that he had suppressed and dissolved the monastery of Lesnes. However, the register records that the closure had taken place without consultation.

On Tuesday 1 April the Mayor of Bexley Cllr Sue Gower MBE will mark the 500th anniversary by visiting the abbey.

During the day the Mayor will unveil a plaque commemorating Frank Elliston-Erwood (1883-1968) who led the archaeological excavations beginning in 1909.

In addition to the abbot there were just five remaining canons which is why the community was closed a decade ahead of the suppression of the monasteries.

Lesnes Abbey had been founded in 1178 by Richard de Lucy who helped Henry II to secure the election of Thomas Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury.

Lucy, although once excommunicated by Becket, dedicated the Augustinian abbey to the Virgin Mary and new saint Thomas Becket.

Precious relics held by Lesnes Abbey included Becket’s vestments, his handkerchief and a fragment of the cloth in which his body had been wrapped after the murder.

Richard de Lucy retired as chief justiciar (head of government) in 1179 and joined his community where he died after about three months. His son Godfrey, a future Bishop of Winchester, succeeded his father as abbey patron.

In 1300 Edward I visited Lesnes on his way to Canterbury as did the Bishop of Worcester who stayed the night in 1313. Chaucer, accompanied by The Tabard inn landlord, visited in 1387 when starting to write The Canterbury Tales.

Cardinal Wolsey had obtained Papal permission to convert the Priory of St Frideswide in Oxford into Cardinal College. To assist funding, the Lesnes Abbey property with annual revenues of almost £250 was given to the new college (now known as Christ Church College. )

The community owned property in Erith, Dartford, Eynsford, Canterbury and Newington in Kent.

A year later a disgruntled Bishop Fisher was still examining the accounts. He compensated the ousted abbot by appointing him to the living of Horsmonden in Kent.

Much of the abbey’s stone buildings slowly disappeared leaving today’s outline of the church, cloister, kitchen and refectory.

On the low ground to the north is Thamesmead which the monks knew as drained marshland pasture liable to flooding during Thames spring tides.

The abbey shield featuring the heraldic de Lucy fish is displayed on the ceiling of Canterbury Cathedral cloister (SW corner). The fish also appear on the abbey seal and today are depicted on the stamp available to pilgrims calling at the cafe.

Lesnes Abbey is on the second stage of the Pilgrim’s Way out of London. The nearest station is Abbey Wood on the Elizabeth Line.

***There is a Farmers’ Market every second Sunday 10am-3pm which is the successor to a market known to have been held every Sunday at the abbey gate during 1387 when Chaucer visited.