[3] It is recognisable for its partially restored Grade-II* Listed Curfew Tower,[4] which features on the coat of arms of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

[5] Barking Abbey is also notable because the adjacent St Margaret's Church, a grade I listed building dating back to the 13th century, was built within its grounds.

The Abbey Ruins are used as a venue each May for outdoor classical concerts,[6][7] as well as an annual pilgrimage by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Erkenwald and Ethelburga were of royal ancestry and were born in the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey (roughly located within the modern county of Lincolnshire).

King Edgar the Peaceful fell in love with Wulfhilda at Wilton, but she was committed to pursuing a religious life and spurned his advances, presents and offers of marriage.

[9] King Edgar's eventual queen, Ælfthryth became jealous of Wulfhilda, and following her husband's death deposed her as Abbess of Barking.

[10] Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury changed Barking Abbey to follow the Rule of St. Benedict.

According to medieval scholar Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, Barking Abbey may have been "especially devoted to Martha", the sister of Mary of Bethany and Lazarus in the Gospels of Luke and John.

[11] In c. 1156, Osbert of Clare wrote a letter to Adelzia, who was abbess at the time, requesting that the Barking Abbey nuns pray for him; Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis states that it demonstrates his "confidence in the promptness and solicitude" of their prayers.

King William the Conqueror confirmed Æfgiva's control of the abbey with a royal charter issued in either November or December 1066.

William granted her "my peace and love, and all my rights within and without the burgh as fully as any abbess in that monastery of St.Mary had them in the time of King Edward".

[13] At the time, King William was staying at Barking Abbey whilst he constructed the Tower of London.

[2] Queen Maud/Matilda (c.1080–1 May 1118), wife of King Henry I, financed the construction of two stone bridges and a causeway over the branches of the River Lea in Stratford-by-Bow.

[2] The abbey has been described as "perhaps the longest lived...institutional centre of literary culture for women in British history".

However, following pressure from the Pope, King John allowed the nuns to conduct elections to choose their abbess.

The crown would later, however, claim they had the right to select a nun to join the abbey each time a new monarch acceded to the throne.

Elizabeth de Clare was briefly imprisoned in Barking Abbey in 1322, as part of a campaign to force her to surrender some of her Welsh estates to Hugh Despenser the younger.

When Elizabeth joined the abbey John of Gaunt, a royal prince, paid £51 8s 2d (equivalent to £48,000 in 2023)[14] "for expenses and gifts" for the occasion.

Katherine de la Pole was annoyed at this and instigated work to find an alternative and independent supply from their own spring.

[2] Demolition started in June 1540 and took around 18 months to complete, with only the abbey's north gate and Curfew Tower were left standing.

[2] Following its demolition some of the abbey's building materials were reused: some of the lead was used to repair Greenwich Palace's roof, and some of the stone used to construct King Henry VIII's new Manor at Dartford.

[5] The tower is Grade-II* Listed,[4] and is featured on the coat of arms of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

[5] In 2007, two small stones from remains of the old medieval London Bridge were joined together in a sculpture[23] in front of St Margaret's church facing the Barking Abbey ruins as part of several public artworks placed in Barking Town Centre by artist Joost Van Santen.