The Early Days
The towns name 'Waltham' is a dervied from weald or wald "forest" and ham "homestead" or "enclosure". The name Waltham Abbey has only been in use since the 16th Century, the anceint parish name as whole is Waltham Holy Cross, The former urban district was named Waltham Holy Cross, rather than Waltham Abbey.
Waltham Abbey also has traces of Roman settlement in its town, one of which being Ermine Street which lies 5 km west running through Cheshunt Park. A causeway across the River Lea from Waltham Cross may be a Roman construction. There is even a local legend claiming that Boudica's rebellion against the Romans ended in the neighbourhood.
Records of Waltham Abbey began during the reign of Canute in the early 11th Century bearer Tovi (Tofig) the Proud, founded a church here in Walthma Abbey to house the miraculous cross discovered at Montacute in Somerset.It was this cross |
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that gave Waltham the ealiest suffix to its name (Waltham Cross). In 1045 , after Tovi's death, Waltham was reverted to King Edward (the Confessor), who then gave it the future King, Earl Harold Godwinson. Harold rebuilt the church, this time in stone around 1060. After King Harold's death in the Battle of Hastings in 1066, his body was brought back to Waltham for burial near the High Alter. Today this is marked by a stone slab in the churchyard. In 1177 as part of Henry II remorse for the murder of both Thomas Becket and Archbishop of Canterbury, he refounded Harold's Church as a priory of Augustinian Canons Regular of sixteen canons and a prior. This was altered in 1184 and Waltham became an abbey with the presents of an abbot and twenty-four canons, this then grew to be the richest monastery in Essex. Dependent on the Abbey, the towns to the west and south the town grew up. In 1540 the Abbey was the last monastic house to be dissolved, and for a time afterwards the town went into decline. |
The Later history |
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A gunpowder factory was opened in the town in the 17th Century, then acquired by the Crown in 1787, no doubt due to the good river communications and the empty marshland by the River Lea. In the 19th century around 1863 Frederick Abel began searching for more powerful and reliant explosives, and guncotton. 1891 was the start of Cordite production and the site was enlarged several times. During World War II the site was an obvious target , and a German V2 rocket landed near the factory in Highbridge Street on 7th March 1945, causing major damage to property and large loss of life. In 1983 the factory eventually closed, and the site was developed into an explosives research facility. Around 1777 there was also a fulling mill at Sewardstone and a pin factory by 1805. |
Silk and calico printing were also important industries. The River Lea Navigation was also improved, a new canal cut across the marshes was opened in 1769 bringing more trade to the town. Outside the town the parish is largely rural and agriculture has been an important occupation, in the first half of the 20th century the area was extensively covered in glass-houses and market gardens. Gravel extraction has also long been a major industry in the Lea Valley, leaving a legacy of pits now used for recreation and an important wildlife habitat. In the early 1970's the population of the town increased by the development of housing estates and has developed into a dormitory town with pockets of light industry. |
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