Aldwyn
Child founded the priory at Bermondsey (derived from the Saxon
name of Beormund, signifying water) in 1082 and it was inhabited
by Benedictine monks from the order of St Clunaic.
During
the medieval period the abbey controlled large amounts of
land in Southwark and Rotherhithe, and the monks also held
a weekly fair at Charlton. One of the priors founded an almonry
for children, this later became St Thomas' Hospital in Southwark.
The
abbey was sold into private hands during the Dissolution
of the Monasteries, and most of the abbey buildings were
demolished to provide stone for Bermondsey House. The view
above shows the gatehouse and several houses that once belonged
to the abbey. These were pulled down shortly after this engraving
was produced. That some few buildings still remained at this
point was explained by the abbey's remoteness in the Georgian
period.
See
a page of images of Bermondsey
Abbey dating from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
century.
