Eastminster

The abbey was founded by Edward III in 1350 immediately outside the Roman London Wall{{cite book |editor-first=William |editor-last=Page |editor-link=William Page (historian) |chapter=House of Cistercian monks: 4. Eastminster, New Abbey, or the Abbey of St Mary de Graciis |title=A History of the County of London: Volume 1, London Within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark |series=Victoria County History |location=London |year=1909 |pages=461–464 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/london/vol1/pp461-464 |via=British History Online }} in what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It stood just to the north of an older royal foundation, the Hospital and Collegiate Church of St Katharine by the Tower.

Among the abbey's endowments was the reversion of one of the four manors of Shere in Gomshall, Surrey, given by King Edward III in 1350. This manor acquired the name Towerhill, due to its patronage by the abbey.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42941 |title=Parishes: Shere |editor=H. E. Malden |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1911 |work=A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 3 |accessdate=9 June 2017}}

In 1375, Sir Nicholas de Loveyne bequeathed to the Abbot and Convent the reversion of the mills of Crash Mills, to endow the perpetual singing of masses for the donor.{{cite web|url=http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/Wills/Lbth/Bk24/page%20471.htm|title=Medieval & Tudor Wills at Lambeth |author=Leland L. Duncan |publisher=Kent Archaeological Society |accessdate=9 June 2017}} Crash Mills were situated on the River Thames, near East Smithfield.'Stepney: Economic History', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11: Stepney, Bethnal Green (1998), pp. 52-63. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22735 Date accessed: 9 June 2017.

The Abbey's benefactors were mainly courtiers; it attracted relatively few bequests from the merchants of the City of London.Paul Trio, Marjan de Smet, The Use and Abuse of Sacred Places in Late Medieval Towns (Leuven, 2006), pp. 163–164

The abbey was dissolved in 1538. From 1805 to 1966 the site was the home of the Royal Mint,{{Cite book |title=The Perpendicular Style, 1330–1485 |year=1978 |first=John |last=Harvey |authorlink=John Harvey (historian) |location=London |publisher=Batsford |isbn=9780713416107 }} after which it was renamed as Royal Mint Court and used for offices.

A large-scale excavation of the site of the abbey took place between 1983 and 1988. An analysis of the archaeological and documentary evidence uncovered has been published by Museum of London Archaeology.{{Cite book |first1=Ian |last1=Grainger |first2=Christopher |last2=Phillpotts |title=The Cistercian Abbey of St Mary Graces, East Smithfield, London|publisher=Museum of London Archaeology |location=London |isbn=9781907586026 |year=2011}}

• Sir Nicholas de Loveyne

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Category:Cistercian monasteries in England

Category:Monasteries in London

Category:Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Category:1350 establishments in England

Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1350s

Category:1538 disestablishments in England

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