More information : A church for two priests was founded in the reign of Cnut on the site of the later Waltham Abbey. (1)
The first mention of Waltham Abbey relates to Tovi (Tofig), standard-bearer to Cnut, who c 1030 built there a hunting-lodge and subsequently a shrine to house a crucifix miraculously discovered in Somerset. (2)
A selective assessment of the church foundations by PJ Huggins revealed a burial pre-dating the collegiate church associated with middle Saxon pottery. There may be evidence for an earlier stone church. (3)
TL 38110065 Excavation by PJ Huggins revealed that part of the early 12th century church stands on earlier, presumably pre-conquest foundations. It is tentatively suggested that evidence of three pre-Conquest churches was found. The first was a ground-standing timber structure with a sill-beam resting on packed flints in a shallow trench. There followed an aisled stone church with flanking porticos. A chamfered base course in Barnack stone stands on a wall of herringbone masonry may represent the first aisled cruciform church and be the work of Harold c1057-58. (4)
See TL 30 SE 132 for details of the collegiate church c 1060 and the Abbey Church c 1180 and TL 30 SE 8 for details of the Abbey and plans. (5) |