Bungay Priory was a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

nunnery A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Comm ...

in the town of

Bungay Bungay () is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . It lies in the Waveney Valley, west of Beccles on the edge of The Broads, and at th ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. It was founded c. 1160-1185 by the Countess Gundreda, wife or widow of

Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1095–1177) was the second son of Roger Bigod (also known as Roger Bigot) (died 1107), sheriff of Norfolk and royal advisor, and Adeliza, daughter of Robert de Todeni. Early years After the death of his eld ...

, upon lands of her '' maritagium'' and was confirmed to her and her second husband Roger de Glanville by King Henry II. It was dissolved in about 1536. At the time of the suppression it consisted of a prioress and 11 nuns. The priory church, the Church of the Holy Cross, became the Church of St Mary, the parish church in Bungay.Church of St Mary (including Ruins of Benedictine Convent), Bungay
British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-04-30. Although ruins of the priory remain to the east of the church, any remaining intact buildings are likely to have been destroyed in the Bungay fire of 1688 which severely damaged the church itself.
Suffolk churches website. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
Retrieved 2011-04-30. The church and the ruins of the priory are a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Date of foundation

The foundation date of c. 1160, proposed in some older authorities, represents an earliest possible date, and is unconfirmed. Gundreda, daughter of

Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick Roger de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Warwick ( 1102 – 12 June 1153) was the elder son of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick and Margaret (d. after 1156), daughter of Geoffroy, Count of Perche Crouch, David"Roger, second earl of Warwick" ''Oxford ...

, was the second wife of Hugh Bigod, and not of his father Roger Bigod. Hugh Bigod died in 1176 or 1177 and Gundreda's marriage to Roger de Glanville followed that. The witnesses to Henry II's charter of confirmation to her include John, Bishop of Norwich who was elected in 1175, and this charter, made at

Geddington Geddington is a village and civil parish on the A4300, previously A43, in North Northamptonshire between Kettering and Corby. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,503, virtually unchanged from 1,504 at the 2001 census. ...

, Northamptonshire, is confidently dated to 1188. The original foundation however could have been based upon lands received in connection with her first marriage settlement and the confirmation prompted by the second marriage.S.J. Bailey, 'The Countess Gundred's lands', ''The Cambridge Law Journal'' Vol. X no. 1 (1948), pp. 84-103.

References

{{Coord, 52.455, 1.439, display=title Monasteries in Suffolk 12th-century establishments in England 1530s disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Benedictine nunneries in England Bungay