BROCKLEY ABBEY
SUMMARY and LOCATION:
NGR: TQ 3695 7588
Little could the monks of Brockley have foreseen the changes which have taken place since they left their monastic home at Brockley, to seek the fairer lands of Bayham, now nearly seven centuries since ; nor could it have possibly entered into their minds that their cherished gardens would have been bisected by iron roads, traversed by fiery horses ; that inquisitive strangers should lay bare the very foundations of their home, and that a church, protesting against the errors of monastic life, should be planted in the midst of their domain. And yet all this has come to pass, and the last tangible evidence of the existence of the monks at Brockley has been swept away. [Nathan Dews, A History of Deptford. p. 57.]
Brockley Abbey in Kent was colonised by canons from Sulby Abbey in Northamptonshire sometime in the period 1155 – 1182. Colvin suggests it is unlikely to have occurred much before the latter date so a date of c.1180 will be presumed for this account.
The founder was Countess Juliana de Vere. She gifted the canons with all of Brockley manor where they were to build their abbey, and gave them other churches and lands from her holdings. She acted together with Michael Thornham, who might also be considered a founder of Brockley and who gave gifts of land in Kent and Sussex.
Brockley was part of Kent until 1889, but is now in the London Borough of Lewisham. The site of Brockley Abbey is known, and marked on the 1870 O.S. map. It is said to be beneath St Peter’s Church on Wickham Road (SE14 1LT) and parts of Beverley Court and Breakspears Road.
There are no surviving traces of the abbey above ground, but when St Peter’s Church at Brockley was built in the 1860s, a well was discovered during the works which is thought to have belonged to the monastery. Similarly, excavation of some ‘grassy mounds’ at nearby Manor Farm revealed the foundations of a building (c.10,5m x 6.5m), thought to be the abbey’s refectory. These discoveries are reported in Nathan Dews book, History of Deptford published in 1884.
Brockley Abbey was only in use for about 25-30 years – The canons of Brockley moved to Bayham sometime between 1199 and 1208 where they joined with the canons from Otham (also looking for a better location), and built Bayham Abbey. The lands at Brockley stayed in the possession of Bayham until dissolution in 1525.