Facts about Waltham Abbey
General Info
Waltham Abbey is a suburban market town in the Epping Forest District of Essex, the metropolitan area of London, and the Greater London Urban Area. It has a population of about 21,149. Lying on the outskirts of North East London, it is located 15 miles from central London. It is on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and Epping Forest in the east, situated north of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, north-east of the London Borough of Enfield, and east of Waltham Cross in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
History
The recorded history of the town began during the reign of Canute in the early 11th century when his standard-bearer Tovi or Tofig the Proud, founded a church here to house the miraculous cross discovered at Montacute in Somerset. It is this cross that gave Waltham Abbey the earliest suffix to its name. After Tovi’s death around 1045, Waltham reverted to the King, who gave it to the Earl Harold Godwinson. Harold rebuilt Tovi’s church in stone around 1060, in gratitude, it is said for his cure from a paralysis, through praying before the miraculous cross. Waltham Abbey’s people used the abbey as their parish church, and paid their tithes, worked the glebe as well any of their lord’s land, and paid other dues to the canons.
