After the dissolution of the monasteries When the Abbey was surrendered in 1539, the King first looked to retain Elstow Abbey as a Cathedral for Bedfordshire, but nothing came of this project.. In 1541 he conferred it upon Edmund Hervey of Ickworth, and then in 1553 upon Hervey's son-in-law, Sir Humphrey Radclyff, brother of the Earl of Sussex, who resided in the Convent buildings until his death in 1566. In 1616 his heirs sold the property to Sir Thomas Hillersden, who built a fine mansion out of the material of the Abbey, using the buildings standing on the west side of the cloister. The ruins of this house are to be seen on the South side of the Abbey.
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Ruins of Mansion House, Elstow Abbey
