31 May Remains of medieval Bermondsey Abbey Gatehouse revealed

It is well documented that between William the Conqueror in the 11^th century and Henry VIIIth in the 16^th century, there was an important church priory and then Abbey around Bermondsey Square. Henry VIII closed these Catholic religious houses in the 1520s and by the 1540s, the buildings were being sold to courtiers and used for other purposes. Sir Thomas Pope built himself a 100-room mansion using one wall of Bermondsey Abbey.

Parts of the Abbey foundations can in principle be viewed through glass floor tiles in the Lokma restaurant, though these are in poor repair, sadly, and there are other remains below the surface in Bermondsey Square. The only remaining substantial part of the Abbey buildings that still exists above ground is part of the East gatehouse, now numbered  7 Grange Walk. The crooks for the hinges of the gate can still be seen protruding from the façade. Due to building works, part of the grey render that covered the façade has been removed, revealing stonework in remarkably good condition.’

The Grange was the name for the farmland that the Abbey cultivated, and so this gatepost, with the gates opening to the south east, would have been the gate where the labourers were coming in and out and wagons were bringing in produce. Smart visitors used a more elaborate gatehouse near the junction of Bermondsey Street and Long Lane. More here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermondsey_Abbey