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Waltham Abbey

📍 Essex, England

4.1 ★★★★ 920 reviews

About

Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It lies just outside the administrative boundary of Greater London and is 13.5 miles (21.7 km) north-east of Charing Cross in central London. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and Epping Forest in the east, with large sections of the parish forming part of the Metropolitan Green Belt.

Founded in 1030, the present building dates mainly from the early 12th century and is a masterpiece of Norman architecture. Traditionally the burial place of King Harold Godwinson after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Thomas Tallis served as organist. It was the last abbey to be dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540. The nave survives as the parish church; ruins of the enormous medieval extension lie to the east.