Stepping Back Through History... Beeleigh Abbey

Once home to the White Canons and much later to a library of antique books, Beeleigh Abbey has a history worth reading about, as Hannah Salisbury from the Essex Record Office reveals

BEELEIGH ABBEY sits on the banks of the River Chelmer, just outside Maldon. Today it is a private home, but the buildings incorporate remains of a medieval monastery.

Founded in 1180, Beeleigh Abbey was home to the White Canons, known as such because of their white habits. Like many contemporary monasteries, Beeleigh Abbey was based around a square cloister – an open courtyard surrounded by covered passages. Around the cloister was a church, the chapter house (where the business of the abbey was conducted), a parlour and a warming room or calefactory, the only place where canons were permitted to have a fire to keep warm. There was also a refectory and storerooms. Above the warming room was the dormitory, where the canons slept. An outer court would likely have contained bake and brew houses, barns, stables and visitor accommodation.