DENVER (KDVR) — The Denver Broncos have spent the week in London prepping for the game against the New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London on Sunday.
Before they take to the field in the stadium, which will feature tens of thousands of fans, the team has been training in London. When people hear London, they think of Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and Piccadilly Circus, but they never think about Waltham Abbey, the sleepy little town where the Broncos have been living.
So what is Waltham Abbey? A place that is sure to leave you amazed.
Located on the edge of the Epping Forest and near the River Lea, this town of only about 23,000 in Essex seems unassuming, but its role in history is unmatched — without it, you would not be reading the words in this article in a way that is so familiar to you. In fact, even society wouldn’t look the same at all.
The founding of the abbey goes all the way back to the 7th century, when a small Saxon church was built there. It would exist in its tiny capacity for almost four centuries before King Harold II rebuilt and endowed the abbey around 1060.
Harold II is known as the last Anglo-Saxon English king.
The Anglo-Saxon period was established after the end of Roman rule, and saw Germanic people migrate to Britain in the 5th century. During the period, Old English was spoken.
In 1066, Harold II was killed by William the Conqueror’s forces during the Battle of Hastings. Legend says that he was buried at his beloved abbey in the same year. His death would end the Anglo-Saxon period and see the start of Norman rule.
Normans came from Normandy in northern France. They were Vikings who settled in France and took up the language and culture, becoming powerful under Duke William of Normandy. According to Merriam-Webster, the combination of their French and Old English gave us thousands of French-derived words, like mansion, judge, evidence, you name it.
Waltham Abbey represents the physical end of Old English and the Anglo-Saxon rule.
In the following decades, the ruling class spoke Norman French, while the common folk still used Old English. The two would eventually hybridize and lay the groundwork for the language we use today.
Norman rule also brought over feudalism, a system where the king granted land to nobles in exchange for military service. As well as Norman Romanesque architecture, in forms of heavy stone columns, rounded arches and intricate carvings, an influence that can still be seen in the architecture around Britain in the modern day.
Waltham Abbey would continue its quiet little life as the burial ground of the last English king, but would come under threat between 1536 and 1541, when King Henry VIII set into motion the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a period when he disbanded all Catholic monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, according to World History.
He seized their wealth while destroying the libraries, relics and buildings themselves.
Waltham Abbey was considered to be the site of the cathedral of the Diocese of Essex, but was dissolved instead. The structure somehow managed to survive the time and lived on as a parish church, still active today.
During the Middle Ages, pilgrims would flock to Waltham Abbey to see the Holy Cross of Waltham, which was said to possess healing powers, according to Visit Epping Forest.
The town around the church would become home to one of the greatest military production sites for Britain from 1600 to World War II, finishing its life as Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills, which now operates as a museum.
With so much history, it’s no surprise that Waltham Abbey is said to be one of the most haunted places in all of Britain. Ghost hunters and tourists regularly seek the paranormal there.
Broncos coach Sean Payton said he chose the town to stay away from sightseeing.
“It’s going to be exactly like a practice week. Exactly,” Payton said on Sunday. “You want the schedule? We’re staying in the middle of nowhere, no sightseeing.”
But if he simply spun in a circle, he would see one of the most influential places in human history.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
