Bayham

Title

Bayham

Also Known As

Begham, Begeham, Beggueham, Beigham

Dates

Founded ca. 1200; dissolved 1525

Dedication

Mary

Affiliation

Prémontré

Medieval Diocese

Chichester

History

Originally founded at Ottham by father and daughter Raoul de Dane and Ela de Sackville (or Saukville), the Premonstratensian community moved shortly after to Bayham. The Sackville family remained major benefactors of the abbey over the years. The monastic complex underwent expansion in the 15th century.

Bayham Abbey was suppressed at the Reformation. Partial ruins of the monastic complex survive today.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Jordan of St Quintin, 1208-122
Reginald, 1221/35-1243
Benedictus, fl. 1245
Reginald II, 1246-1249
Johannes, 1253-1257
Thomas, fl. 1263
Johannes II, fl. 1272
Reginald III, fl. 1277
Richard I, 1278-1296
Laurentius, bef. 1304-1315
Lucas de Sholdon, 1315-1344
Simon, fl. 1345
William I, 1353-1355
Richard II Worth, fl. 1363
Robert I, ca. 1366-1367
Robert II Frendsbury, 1398-1407
John III Chetham, 1409-1429
Robert III, fl. 1434
William II Maydeston, 1437-1439/40
Thomas II Shorham, 1439-1466
Thomas III Cottingham, 1475-bef. 1478
Robert IV Hertley, fl. 1478
William III, ca. 1481-1487
Robert V Nash, 1488-1491
Richard III Bexley, 1494/1500-1522
William IV Gale (or Galys), 1522-1525
Thomas Towers, 1525

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Cambridge, Cambridge University Library

Add. MS 4156. (ca. 1800, cartulary copy)

Hertford, Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies

DP43/1/3 (leaf at front of volume has copy of inscription concerning Abbot John III Chetham)

London, British Library

Add. MS 5706, p. 47.

Add. MS 6037.

Add. MS 6344.

Cotton Otho A. II. (13th/14th c., cartulary) 

Stowe 924, fols. 75-121.

Bibliography

Cooper, George Miles. “The Premonstratensian Abbey of Bayham; with Some Particulars Relating to Its Origin and History.” Sussex Archaeological Collections 9 (1857): 145–81. https://archive.org/details/sussexarchaeolog09suss/page/n175/mode/2up.
Elvins, Mark Turnham. Bayham Abbey 1182-1982: Its Founder and His Family. Hove: Chichester Diocesan Fund and Board of Finance, 1981.
Goring, Jeremy. “The Riot at Bayham Abbey, June 1525.” Sussex Archæological Collections 116 (1978): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.5284/1085434.
Page, William, ed. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: Abbey of Bayham.” In A History of the County of Sussex, vol. 2, 86–89. London, 1973. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/sussex/vol2/pp86-89.
Rigold, S. E., and J. G. Coad. Bayham Abbey, Sussex. London: English Heritage, 1989.
Shapland, M. Bayham Abbey, East Sussex Historic Buildings Watching Brief. Archaeology South East Unpublished Report Series. 2015. https://doi.org/10.5284/1097041.
Streeten, Anthony. Bayham Abbey: Recent Research, Including a Report on Excavations (1973-76) Directed by the Late Helen Sutermeiser. Lewes: Sussex Archaeological Society, 1983.
Wilson, Eleanor. “Iconography and Origin: A Twelfth-Century Limoges Enamel Plaque from Bayham Abbey in the British Museum.” Archaeologia Cantiana 143 (2022): 158–80.

Image Credit

Ruins of Bayham Abbey, 2006. Wikimedia.

Last Updated

Oct. 2026.

Files

Collection

Southern England

Citation

“Bayham,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/59.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Prémontré
Item: Otteham DependentOn This Item
Item: Brockley DependentOn This Item