Malling Abbey

Possibly the first house for women to be established after the Norman conquest, Malling Abbey was founded c1090 by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester. The Benedictine nunnery was generously endowed and building must have commenced almost immediately, although little evidence exists of the first church. A disastrous fire swept through the town and the abbey in 1190 resulting in the church being rebuilt almost from ground level. All that survives of the Norman church today is the great west tower, but some of the conventual buildings remain standing, albeit modified.

After Malling Abbey was dissolved in 1538 it passed through the hands of successive owners, none of whom ever occupied the property, and it eventually fell into a ruinous state. Then in the mid 18th century a gentleman called Frazer Honeywood decided to make Malling Abbey his country seat, and he built a fine Georgian mansion on the site of the south range. Using stones from the ruined church, including early 13th century doorways and windows, Honeywood's house is an interesting architectural feat. About 100 years later the house was restructured, using the old cloister as a corridor to the house, and this aided the preservation of this length of original cloister to the present day. 1850 proved to be a significant year for Malling Abbey as not only did the owners at that time restore the Pilgrim Chapel for public worship, but also a visit by a wealthy young lady was to determine its future as a religious house once again.

Charlotte Boyd was so saddened by the devastated abbey ruins that she offered her life to God in the hope of restoring all church property confiscated by the Crown at the Dissolution. In 1892 she bought Malling Abbey, setting up a trust to ensure that the buildings would be restored and the nunnery re-established on the site. And so, after a few false starts, the community of Anglican Benedictine nuns who had settled in Baltonsborough near Glastonbury, came to live at Malling Abbey. By the 1960s they were able to think about building a new church and in 1966 the modern, simplistic building was consecrated. Although there is no resemblance structurally to the original medieval church, the spiritual life at Malling Abbey has remained relatively unchanged for the enclosed order of nuns.

Today the abbey offers hospitality to many Christians throughout the world, and a place of retreat. There are only a couple of days during the year when the Benedictine community open their doors to the general public and proudly show off their wonderful abbey. What a place of true beauty it is.