BARKING, a t. of the co. of Essex, England, in a low fiat situation, on the left bank of the Boding, about 2 m. above its junction with the Thames, and 5 in. n.e. of London, on the North Woolwich railway. Pop. '71, 5766, among whom arc many fishermen, who pursue their occupation on the Thames, the tide flowing up the Boding to the town. The mouth of the Boding is often called Barkinn. creek. The neighborhood sends large quantities of potatoes and vegetables to the London market. There is also a transit trade in coal and timber. The church of St. is an edifice of consider able beauty,. in the perpendicular style, and probably of beginning of the 15th c. ; but it contains three columns of the early Norman style, supposed to have been brought from the ruins of the adjacent abbey—Barking Abbey was one of the richest nunneries in England. It was founded about 677 A.D., in the reigns of Sebba and Sighere, kings
of the EastSaxons; by St. Erkenwald, bishop of London, whose sister, StAthelburga, was the first abbess. In 870, it was burned to the ground by the Danes, and the nuns killed or dispersed. It was rebuilt and restored to its former splendor by king Edgar, in the middle of the 10th century. The abbess of Barking was one of four ladies who bad the rank of baroness in right of their office. She lived in great state, and always ftirnished a quota of men to the king in time of war. She was required also to maintain certain embankments on the Thames. Several queens of England, and other ladies of very high birth, assumed the office of abbess of Barking. After the suppression of con vents by Ifenry'VIII., the abbey buildings soon went to ruin, and scarcely any remains exist except the gate-house.