 The monastery known as Blackfriars, Gloucester of the Dominican Friars, named from the black habits they wore, was founded c. 1239, on a site west of Southgate Street, with the city wall adjacent to the south.Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries Bell and his wife Joan purchased the site in 1539 for £240, including property of Llanthony.The buildings of the cloister, including the scriptorium, he transformed into a factory, while he converted the church itself into a grand mansion, completed by 1545, which he referred to in his will as "My howse called Bell Place".