Abbey of St. Mary Graces
The Abbey of St. Mary Graces is a chapel built in around
1350 within the Holy Trinity Churchyard and later a
large monastery controlled by the Cistercian order (Harben). The abbey was
built within the aforementioned churchyard, east of Little Tower Hill and
south of Hog Lane (East Smithfield). Stow tells us that during a
tempest King Edward III, in great peril of drowning,
made a vow to build a Monasterie to the honour of God, and our Ladie of grace, if God would grant him grace to come safe to land(Stow). True to Stow’s word, the abbey was built and named after his spiritual deliverers. The monastery itself was dissolved in 1539 and pulled down by Sir Arthur Darcie (Stow).
St. Mary Graces Abbey, also called New Abbey, is not featured on the
Agas map. Had the Abbey been drawn, it would appear on the
northeast side of Little Tower Hill and south of Hog Lane (East
Smithfield), where there is a cluster of houses.
References
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Citation
Harben, Henry. A Dictionary of London. London: Henry Jenkins, 1918. British History Online. Reprint. Open.This item is cited in the following documents:
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Citation
Stow, John. A Survey of London. Reprinted from the Text of 1603. Ed. Charles Lethbridge Kingsford. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon, 1908. Reprint. British History Online. Subscription. [Kingsford edition, courtesy of The Centre for Metropolitan History. Articles written 2011 or later cite from this searchable transcription. In the in-text parenthetical reference (Stow; BHO), click on BHO to go directly to the page containing the quotation or source.]This item is cited in the following documents:
