Rumburgh Priory was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

priory located in the village of

Rumburgh Rumburgh is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is north-west of the market town of Halesworth in the East Suffolk District. The population of the parish at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 327. The village is ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. The priory was founded in about 1065 as a cell of

St Benet's Abbey St Benet's Abbey was a medieval monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict, also known as St Benet's at Holme or Hulme. It was situated on the River Bure within the Broads in Norfolk, England. St Benet is a medieval English version of the name of ...

Hulme Hulme () is an inner city area and Ward (politics), electoral ward of Manchester, England, immediately south of Manchester city centre. It has a significant industrial heritage. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, the nam ...

in Norfolk.Page W (1975) 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Rumburgh' in ''A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2'', pp. 77–79.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2011-05-02.)Church of St Michael and St Felix, Rumburgh
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-05-02. At the time of the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086 it had 12 monks. The ownership of the priory was transferred to St Mary's Abbey in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

towards the end of the 12th century. The monks of Rumburgh were particularly devoted to St. Bee, whom they commemorated at

Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, a ...

.Middleton-Stewart J (2001) ''Inward Purity and Outward Splendour: Death and Remembrance in the Deanery of Dunwich, Suffolk, 1370-1547'', p.29. Boydell & Brewer.
Available online
Retrieved 2021-03-02.) The priory had chapels at

Wissett Wissett is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is north-east of the market town of Halesworth in the East Suffolk district. Historically, it was in the Blything Hundred.Spexhall Spexhall is a village and civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or ...

in Suffolk, but was "suppressed" in 1528 by

Cardinal Wolsey Thomas Wolsey ( – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic bishop. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling figur ...

and used to provide funds for the building of his

Cardinal College Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

.Lewis S (ed) (1848) 'Rufford - Runwick' in ''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', pp. 711–716.
Available online
at British History Online. Retrieved 2011-05-02.)
Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 2011-05-02. The monks were directed to join other monasteries of the same order. The priory church survives as the parish church of Rumburgh, dedicated to St Michael and St Felix, and is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It has a number of features dating to the 13th and 15th centuries, including an unusual 13th-century tower.

References

Monasteries in Suffolk Benedictine monasteries in England 1060s establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 11th century 1528 disestablishments in England {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub