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Lesnes Abbey was founded by Richard de Luci, Chief Justiciar of England, in 1178. This may have been in penance for the murder of Thomas Becket, in which he was involved. In 1179, de Luci resigned his office and retired to the Abbey, where he died three months later. He was buried in the chapter house. In this nearby chapel is the burial place of the heart of his great great grand-daughter, Roesia of Dover. Roesia, as a young girl, was brought up in the Abbey and, apparently, lived a very happy life here. In time, she married and moved away, but on her death her heart was returned to Lesnes Abbey to be buried in the place she held a great affection for. The plaque seen here commemorates this - Link

The monks of Lesnes Abbey took a leading part in draining the marshland to the north, but this and the cost of maintaining river embankments led to chronic financial difficulties for the Abbey. It never became a large community, and was closed by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, under a licence to suppress monasteries of less than seven inmates. The ruins were excavated in 1910 and now, backed by Lesnes Abbey Woods, provide an enormous contrast to Thamesmead which was built to the north on those same marshes which caused the ultimate failure of Lesnes Abbey.