Eastbury's Manorial plot dates back far beyond the house itself. Discover how the land and its assets were managed, and how it eventually came into Clement Sisley's hands in the mid 1500's.
The known history surrounding Eastbury Manor House begins around 900 years before Clement Sisley build the house you see today.
In 666CE, Erkenwald, Bishop of London founded Barking Abbey. Just over a mile from where Eastbury Manor House now sits, Erkenwald appointed his sister, Ethelburga as Abbess in overall control of the community. By the 10th Century, the Abbey was run entirely by nuns. It quickly gained a reputation and became a site of pilgrimage; numerous gifts, including land were bestowed upon it, allowing Barking Abbey to become one of the wealthiest and most influential Abbeys in the country. When William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, the Anglo-Saxon Abbess at the time, Aelgifu, was allowed to retain their landholding rights, in return for loyalty to the king. William I then introduced the Norman's own manorial system to help manage the country; the Manorial plot of Eastbury was formed, and the demesne farm of Eastbury was established.
