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| - In a charter dated 25 July 1135, William de Montfichet granted the monks all his lordship of (West) Ham, acres ( m2) of meadow, two mills by the causeway of Stratford, his wood of Buckhurst and the tithe of his pannage. The abbey was dedicated in honour of St Mary. The Abbey was a daughter house of Savigny Abbey, and in 1218 the General Chapter ruled that visiting members of the order could only spend three days at the Abbey's hospitality. The following year, the rule was relaxed and monks and lay brothers could remain longer, as long as they provided their own ale and wine; and oats and hay for their horses.
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| abstract
| - In a charter dated 25 July 1135, William de Montfichet granted the monks all his lordship of (West) Ham, acres ( m2) of meadow, two mills by the causeway of Stratford, his wood of Buckhurst and the tithe of his pannage. The abbey was dedicated in honour of St Mary. The Abbey was a daughter house of Savigny Abbey, and in 1218 the General Chapter ruled that visiting members of the order could only spend three days at the Abbey's hospitality. The following year, the rule was relaxed and monks and lay brothers could remain longer, as long as they provided their own ale and wine; and oats and hay for their horses. The Abbey church expanded from a simple cruciform building, to one with an aisled presbytery, ambulatory and side chapels by the 13th century. The religious house was surrounded by buildings for lay brothers and hospitality. There were also workshops for brewing, shearing, weaving and tannery with farm buildings to service the extensive holdings and mills on the Bow Back Rivers. Some of these were tidal mills, like those at Three Mills. These were owned by the Abbey, but the surviving mill was built much later. In 1267, for a time, the Abbey became the court of Henry III for the visitation of the Papal legates, and it was here that he made peace with the barons under the terms of the Dictum of Kenilworth. Subsequent monarchs visited, and the Abbey came to be both a popular retreat for the nobility and their final resting place. In 1381, the Abbey was invaded by the Peasant's Revolt and its goods removed. It also suffered flooding at the end of the 14th century, after which the Abbey was restored by Richard II. King Edward IV was entertained in 1467, and began an annual endowment of two casks of wine for the celebration of masses, in his honour. A small river port developed at Stratford, mentioned in the 15th century, to serve the needs of West Ham Abbey and the mills at Stratford. There is similar evidence in later centuries with specialist wharves for brick and timber, but by 1920 the dock was filled in and factories built on the site. From 1613, extraction of water for canals and the artificial New River, supplying fresh water to the city from Hertfordshire, had caused water levels to fall in the non-navigable channels, and traditional water milling to cease.
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