Bedford Abbey was a short-lived Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

, recorded in 10th century England. Bedford Priory, perhaps representing the same institution two centuries later, was an Augustinian priory

Priory

A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...

 that within two decades of its foundation moved to nearby Newnham

Newnham, Bedford

Newnham is an electoral ward and area within the town of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.The boundaries of Newnham are approximately Goldington Road to the north, the River Great Ouse to the south and east, with Denmark Street and George Street to the west....

.

Bedford Abbey existed in the 10th-century, staffed with Benedictine monks when Oscytel, Archbishop of York

Archbishop of York

The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...

, died in 971. The archbishop was buried in the abbey, after his body was taken there by its abbot, Thurcytel

Thurcytel

Thurcytel was abbot of Crowland and perhaps also of Bedford Abbey.Thurcytel of Crowland is known from the unreliable history of Crowland Abbey attributed to Pseudo-Ingulf, an account full of anachronisms including the claim that Thurcytel was Lord Chancellor of England...

 (who later moved to Crowland Abbey). Thurcytel is the only known abbot of the monastery. Its history after this is obscure, and may have evolved into St Pauls, which became an Augustinian priory c. 1166. Around 1180, the priory moved to Newnham (see Newnham Priory

Newnham Priory

-Foundation:The Augustinian priory of Newnham was not actually built until some time after the accession of Henry II, but it may fairly claim to be the most ancient religious foundation in Bedfordshire, in so far as it still held the church of St. Paul's and succeeded to the endowments of the...

).