Bermondsey Abbey changed hands several times in its later years.
The monastery itself, with the manor, demesne etc the "court leet, the view of frank-pledge, and the free-warren" were granted by Henry VIII. to Sir Robert Southwell, Master of the Rolls. He sold them to Sir Thomas Hope, the founder of Trinity College, Oxford. Sir Thomas destroyed the fine old Abbey of Bermondsey.
He pulled down the conventual church and most of the other buildings, and erected a mansion on the site; and then, presumably quite pleased with what he had done, reconveyed the mansion with its orchards etc to Sir Robert. He subsequently sold the manor to a London goldsmith.
Bermondsey Priory (converted into an Abbey late in the fourteenth century), was founded in 1082, by Alwin Child, a Londoner, for Cluniac monks from the monastery of La Charitê de Dieu on the Loire, which continued to supply its priors until 1,372.
It is worth noting that between 1082 and 1372, the number of these priors was sixty-eight, nine of whom were promoted, and six resigned, leaving fifty-three to die while holding the office; at times two or three within a single year. The average life in office of the priors of Bermondsey, during the 290 year period, was just four years, three months, and five days.