In November 1362 the abbot and convent obtained royal licence to rebuild their abbey in a safer place. The existing buildings near the sea faced ruin, having been "destroyed and drowned by flooding of the sea", and could not be repaired because the foundations were compromised. Robert de Ufford was mindful of his family interest as a de Valoines (and de Pecche) descendant: his brother Ralph, of the third Ufford generation to serve as Justiciar of Ireland, was buried at Campsey Priory in 1346. The site now occupied by the abbey ruins at Leiston was chosen (some two-and-a-half miles west of the other), the plan of a new and splendid abbey was laid out, and construction began. Earl Robert died in 1369, and was buried beside his countess at Campsey Priory.