Waltham Abbey Church
Local highlightNorman church said to hold King Harold's grave.
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Standing remainssubstantial fabric survives to stand in front of
What you walk into here is the nave of a much larger Norman church. Everything east of the crossing came down after 1540, when Waltham was the last monastery in England to surrender, but the nave carried on as the parish church and still is one. Burges rebuilt the east end in the 1860s and painted the nave ceiling with the zodiac; the glass is early Burne-Jones. A stone in the grass behind marks the high altar’s site, where Harold II is said to lie. Free, open on set days through the week, with the ruined gatehouse out in the gardens and the Lea Valley Walk a few minutes west.
