Our History

1090
Bishop Gundulf of Rochester founds Malling Abbey for Benedictine nuns and endows the monastery with the manor of Malling.
1100
Henry I grants the monastery the manor of East Malling, rights to markets and fairs, various woods and pastures and a warfe at Newhythe.
c. 1150
The west front of Gundulf's church is completed.
1190
A disastrous fire on 27 April destroys much of the Abbey and village.
The monastery is rebuilt, including the early 13th century cloister of Abbess Regina.
1320
The Almonry Chapel is built (now known as the Pilgrim Chapel).
1349
The Black Death reduces the Community to 4 professed nuns and 4 novices.
1400
The Guest House is built.
1400
The octagon of the West Front replaces the pitched roof. It supports a spire, probably built as part of the rivalry with the Parish Church.
1500
The fourth and final rebuild of the Gate House. The Southern Gate House on Water Lane is built (After the Dissolution of the Monasteries it is converted into a barn).
1538
On 29th October Malling Abbey is surrendered to the Crown. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer obtains the property from King Henry VIII.
1538 - 1892
Various landlords, many absentee, own the Abbey.
1892
Charlotte Pearson Boyd purchases Malling Abbey for £10,000 and places it in a trust. She invites Anglican nuns of the Community of SS Mary and Scholastica to live there.
1908
The west wing of the Guest House is built.
1911
The Community of SS Mary and Scholastica moves to Milford Haven and becomes Roman Catholic.
1911 - 1916
The Abbey stands empty.
1916
The Trustees invite our Benedictine community to live at the Abbey.
1950's - 1960's
Our community recovers its Anglican roots, moving from a Latin to an English Office and Eucharist, and simplifying its life and customs. From this time we welcome women from Orthodox, Lutheran, Old Catholic and Anglican churches to be trained that they might found monasteries in their home countries.
1966
The Abbey Church, now Grade II* listed, is consecrated. Three Anglican Cistercian monks found Ewell Monastery at the south end of the estate with the early 16th century barn as their chapel. They relocate in 2004.
1973
The Malling Abbey Trust is transfered to the care of the Rochester Diocesan Board of Finance.
1997
The three remaining sisters of the Anglican Community of the Holy Family, a teaching order, come to share their life with us. The last sister dies in 2010.
2004
The Pilsdon-at-Malling Community comes to occupy the Ewell site.
2011
An Alongsider programme begins for women who wish to share the Community's life and prayer for a time.
2016
The St. Benedict's Centre is established as a new charity to provide a non-residential space for quiet days, meetings and formation. The Centre welcomes local Christians and the wider community at the Guest House and Western Range. The St. Augustine's College of Theology also makes its home at Malling Abbey, providing a theological education for ordinands and lay people.