 This religious house became a monastery under the patronage of the Bishop of Worcester.King Offa of Mercia successfully wrested "that most famous monastery at Bath" from the bishop in 781.William of Malmesbury tells that Offa rebuilt the monastic church, which may have occupied the site of an earlier pagan temple, to such a standard that King Eadwig was moved to describe it as being "marvellously built"; little is known about the architecture of this first building on the site.