Ecclesfield Church and a mill in the village were in the possession of St Wandrille's Abbey in Normandy by 1142, when this was confirmed by a papal bull of Pope Innocent II.

[1] There is no written evidence of any building on the site before 1273, but an 1161 agreement between Richard de Lovetot and the abbey mentions "the monks of Ecclesfield".

[1] The names of most priors from the early 14th century are known: In 1357, the abbey sent two armed messengers to bring Gullielmi back because he had ignored a summons questioning his "evil life and embezzlement of the priory's goods".

St Anne's was dissolved in 1539, and in 1542 the right to present vicars and collect tithes in Ecclesfield was purchased by Francis Talbot, 5th Earl of Shrewsbury; it then passed through several hands to the Shirecliffe family.

[1] In 1637, John Harrison described "The scite of the mannor, or mansion house called Ecclesfield-hall with all the Out-houses there to belonginge some of them being in decay and some fallen downe.

Jonathan Eastwood wrote extensively about the Priory in his History of the Parish of Ecclesfield of 1862, and the surviving building was restored in 1866 by M. E. Hadfield.