On 29th December 1170 Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by four knights loyal to Henry II who had become incensed by his continual undermining of the power of the King. Becket had once been a loyal friend of Henry II and, as his Lord Chancellor, comrade of Henry's Chief Justiciar, Richard de Luci. This all fell apart when he was appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury to support Henry II in reforming the church. He immediately became opposed to these reforms and his anger with the way they were forced through led to him excommunicating Richard de Luci twice. He became a permanent thorn in the side of Henry II and successfully thwarted his church reforms through continual threats to close down churches in England.

The pope canonised Becket in 1173 and he rapidly achieved a cult-like status throughout England and the rest of Europe. On 11th June 1178, Richard de Luci founded Lesnes Abbey on the land he owned, dedicating it to Saint Mary and Thomas the Martyr, his bid to achieve salvation in the eyes of God for his sins. Nine months later, at the age of around 70, he entered the abbey as a canon and died there on the 14th July 1179.

No expense was spared in building the abbey which was constructed on the solid chalk spur of ground just below the wooded escarpment that had long been a site of habitation. The expanse of flat marshes extending northwards to the river were bequeathed to the abbey along with many other plots of land throughout Kent and Essex. The church, which probably took around 30 years to complete, was one of the largest in the country and its construction was overseen by Richard's son Godfrey who was Bishop of Winchester. Its tower stood 20m high, dominating the area and providing a landmark to ships coming up the Thames. 

The abbey was never the great success that its founder would have wished. There was some gross mismanagement by various abbots in the early years, but this was influenced by famines, plague and especially floods. Ownership of the marshland was only beneficial if the river walls held, and several times they were breached during violent storms. The exorbitant cost of repairing them fell to the abbey and this meant it racked up huge debts. By the 14th century, with no money to repair its own buildings, the abbey had fallen into serious disrepair. This resulted in some investment and the construction of the Lady Chapel to house relics from Thomas Becket to attract donations from pilgrims on their way to Canterbury and the shrine of Thomas Becket. This was still not enough and, in 1402, the abbey was in such a state financially that it had to be bailed out by the church. Things calmed down as the country became wealthier and the abbey became much less newsworthy.

On 13th February 1525 Lesnes Abbey was dissolved on the orders of Cardinal Wolsey who had obtained permission from the pope to close several monasteries that were neither reputable, nor financially viable. This was so that he could build an ecclesiastical college in Oxford. Lesnes Abbey became one of the first twenty religious establishments to be closed and have their money taken, a trick Henry VIII was to exploit nationally later on. All the valuables from the abbey, including structural components such as the lead roof, were removed and over the following years the walls were used as a quarry for building materials, Hall Place reputedly being one recipient. The only building left untouched was the Abbot’s House which became a manor house. It was quite modern and comfortable at that time, but ironically nothing remains of this today as it was demolished in 1845. The ancient mulberry tree you find north of the ruins would have been in its garden.

Having had various owners, the manor house and ruins of the abbey were given to Christ Church School by a benefactor in 1633 and then leased out as a farm until 1930. The ruins we see today were originally excavated by William Clapham between 1909 and 1913 when the area was a working farm with the nave of the church acting as a pig sty! When London County Council took ownership in 1930 they landscaped the area and began to uncover and strengthen the ruins to create a feature for the new park and an important historical legacy for the area. It was during this work that the heart of Roseia of Dover was found and restored to its original resting place in the central northern chapel in 1954. A plaque can be found there, placed to commemorate the great great granddaughter of Richard de Luci who is the only descendant of Richard de Luci buried in his once great church.