Woodbridge Priory was a small Augustine priory in Woodbridge

Woodbridge, Suffolk

Woodbridge is a town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. It is in the East of England, not far from the coast. It lies along the River Deben, with a population of about 7,480. The town is served by Woodbridge railway station on the Ipswich-Lowestoft East Suffolk Line. Woodbridge is twinned with...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county

County

A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

 of Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

. The priory was founded in about 1193 by Ernald Rufus and was dissolved in about 1537 during the dissolution of the monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

. The site was given to the Wingfield family before passing to Thomas Seckford

Thomas Seckford

Thomas Seckford was an official at the court of Queen Queen Elizabeth I.Born near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, Seckford was educated at Cambridge, and in 1540 entered Gray's Inn, Thomas became one of Queen Elizabeth I’s two Masters in Ordinary of the Court of Requests which dealt with poor men’s...

 in 1564. The priory operated a satellite house at Alnesbourne

Alnesbourne Priory

Alnesbourne Priory, also known as Alnesbourn Priory was a small Augustinian monastic house in the English county of Suffolk. It was located near Nacton to the south-east of Ipswich near to the River Orwell and the current route of the A14....

 on the River Orwell

River Orwell

The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England. Its source river, above the tidal limit at Stoke Bridge, is known as the River Gipping. It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich where the Ipswich dock has operated since the 7th century and then flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe...

 until about 1466.

Today the site is used for The Abbey school, the preparatory school attached to Woodbridge School

Woodbridge School

Woodbridge School is an independent school in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, founded in 1577, for the poor of Woodbridge. It was later supported by the Seckford Scheme.Woodbridge School has been co-educational since 1975.-History:...

, part of the Seckford Trust

Seckford Trust

The Seckford Trust is a charitable trust founded in the 16th century by Thomas Seckford that remains active to this day. The trust is based in and operates in the area of Woodbridge, Suffolk. The trust operates the Woodbridge School, a co-educational boarding school founded in 1577 with over 900...

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