Rumburgh Priory

{{Short description|Benedictine priory in Suffolk, England}} [[File:St Michael's church Rumburgh Suffolk (4984050907).jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|St Michael's Church in [[Rumburgh]], Suffolk]] {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} '''Rumburgh Priory''' was a [[Benedictine]] priory located in the village of [[Rumburgh]] in the [[English county]] of [[Suffolk]]. The priory was founded in about 1065 as a cell of [[St Benet's Abbey]] at [[Horning|Hulme]] in Norfolk.<ref name=pagew>Page W (1975) 'Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of Rumburgh' in ''A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2'', pp. 77–79. ([http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37885 Available online] at British History Online. Retrieved 2011-05-02.)</ref><ref name=listchurch>[http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-282076-church-of-st-michael-and-st-felix-rumbur Church of St Michael and St Felix, Rumburgh], British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 2011-05-02.</ref> At the time of the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086 it had 12 monks.<ref name=pagew/> The ownership of the priory was transferred to [[St Mary's Abbey, York|St Mary's Abbey]] in [[York]] towards the end of the 12th century.<ref name=pagew/> The monks of Rumburgh were particularly devoted to [[Saint Bega|St. Bee]], whom they commemorated at [[Michaelmas]].<ref>Middleton-Stewart J (2001) ''Inward Purity and Outward Splendour: Death and Remembrance in the Deanery of Dunwich, Suffolk, 1370-1547'', p.29. Boydell & Brewer. {{ISBN|9780851158204}} ([https://books.google.com/books?id=cvqd6S8zfJUC&dq=Rumburgh+Priory&pg=PA29 Available online]. Retrieved 2021-03-02.)</ref>

The priory had chapels at [[Wissett]] and [[Spexhall]] in Suffolk, but was "suppressed" in 1528 by [[Thomas Wolsey|Cardinal Wolsey]] and used to provide funds for the building of his [[Ipswich School|Cardinal College]] in [[Ipswich]].<ref name=lewis>Lewis S (ed) (1848) 'Rufford - Runwick' in ''A Topographical Dictionary of England'', pp. 711–716. ([http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51249#s10 Available online] at British History Online. Retrieved 2011-05-02.)</ref><ref name=sc>[http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/rumburgh.htm St Michael, Rumburgh], Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 2011-05-02.</ref> 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 [[Listed building|Grade I listed building]].<ref name=listchurch/> It has a number of features dating to the 13th and 15th centuries, including an unusual 13th-century tower.<ref name=listchurch/><ref name=sc/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Monasteries in Suffolk]] [[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]] [[Category:1060s establishments in England]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1060s]] [[Category:1528 disestablishments in England]]