The abbey was suppressed by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525 in his attempt to gain funding for two of his new colleges, before falling into the hands of Henry VIII in 1538. Once Bayham was under the King's control, it was leased to Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, until Queen Elizabeth sold the estate outright. Following various changes in ownership, Bayham was finally sold to Sir John Pratt in 1714, and remained in that family until 1961, when it was donated to English Heritage. A brief archaeological survey was published in "Journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology" 10 (1966:181-182).