He took part in the Oxford disputes against Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley; but he was ill at ease with the brutality of some measures put in force against the Church of England.

Feckenham employed his influence with Mary "to procure pardon of the faults or mitigation of the punishment for poor Protestants".

[2] In May 1556, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by the University of Oxford, and when Westminster Abbey was revived, Feckenham was appointed abbot.

Under his guidance traditional monastic life began again on 21 November 1556, Westminster School was reopened and the shrine of St Edward the Confessor was restored.

[2] The abbey was dissolved again on 12 July 1560, and within a year Feckenham was sent by Archbishop Matthew Parker to the Tower (20 May 1560), according to Jewel, "for having obstinately refused attendance on public worship and everywhere declaiming and railing against that religion which we now profess.

After fourteen years' confinement, he was released on bail and lived in Holborn, where his benevolence was shown by all manner of works of charity.

[6] He set up a public aqueduct in Holborn, and a hospice for the poor at Bath; he distributed every day to the sick the milk of twelve cows, took care of orphans, and encouraged sports on Sundays among the youth of London by giving prizes.