Tag: Dissolution of the Monasteries

St Peter & St Paul Church - Market Overton

Market Overton: Visiting St Peter & St Paul Church! (28.10.2025)

Culture is an interesting thing – as it often changes and switches. When Henry VIII abolished the Roman Catholic Church in the UK in 1534 (Act of Supremacy) – followed by the Dissolution of the Monasteries – these were tremendous Revolutionary acts that must of shocked the entire population. Even before this, Henry V annulled all foreign-owned abbeys and monasteries (as many English church establishments had been given as gifts to ecclesiastical authorities in other countries) – bringing them into the ownership of the English State. Perhaps the Revolutionary writing was on the wall. Still, out of all this, the “Anglican” (Protestant) movement development – and most of the churches in the UK today are “Protestant” (the Catholic Church was only permitted back into the UK during the early 20th century – but it remains very much a minority religion).

Continue reading

Priest House - Easton-on-the-Hill - Family

Easton-on-the-Hill: Priest House [Chantry] 15th Century! (28.7.2025)

Although we have visited the general area a number of time – we had never seen this exhibit or been told about it. As we are currently staying in the locale – this place came-up in an internet search about something else. Like many such attractions, even at the height of Summer, there is only ever a trickle of visitors – which is a good thing for all concerned. We were handed the key, instructed to be careful on the old spiralling stone staircase, and turn-off all the lights when we are finished. There is even a toilet on site that is accessed with a key. Everything was perfectly clean, tidy, and in good order. Our two-daughters watched a short video film about the area, its history and industry! The photographs will tell the story of what we saw. A truly magnificent historical site that emerged out of the single most important and Revolutionary event (the “Dissolution of the Monasteries”) that forged modern Britain and the world!

Continue reading

Gee & Me - St Albans Abbey - 2024

St Albans Abbey: Interior & Enclosures! (29.5.2024)

Abbot, Abbesses and other Head Monastics were offered a life-long pension from the Crown amounting to 1% of the annual income of the monastery being dissolved. As St Albans made around £1000 per year – the Abbot received a guaranteed £10 per year – a very substantial amount for the time. The idea was to purchase their compliance. Those who resisted were tried for Treason and publicly executed. Henry gave away monastic property to his favourites – or sold it at a cut-price to other interested parties. All the accumulated gold, silver, copper, led and bronze, as well as gemstones – were sold into the public domain and effectively laid the foundation for a modern capitalist economy. This freeing of monastic treasure into the public domain represented a massive injection of wealth into the English economy – stimulating buying, selling and market speculation. When the movable wealth ran-out – the brick-work and foundations of many monasteries were dismantled and used to reinforce Henry’s castles along the coast – or in the case of Merton Abbey – to build Nonsuch Palace in Surrey! Whereas the monks were opposed to greed and grasping – a new secular society emphasised the exact opposite to get on. Now, greed, lying and cheating guaranteed the personal accumulation of wealth that could purchase a place to live, schooling, food, travel and leisure, etc. Of course, supporting Henry often guaranteed social climbing. Modern capitalism was invented in England by Henry VIII.

Continue reading

St Albans Abeey - Grounds

St Albans Abbey: Clock-Tower & Exterior Structure! (29.5.2024)

Ordinary peasants and aristocracy would get out of bed in the morning, work, eat, rest and go to bed at night according to the dictates of the Roman Catholic Church – the monasteries of which usually followed the Rule of St Benedict – or some similar Rule. Ordinary people did not have to learn how to tell the time – as the monastic orders told them what to do and when to d it. Following the “Dissolution” – secular society had to build their own clocks and learn to tell the time for themselves. This is how the measuring of “time” was rescued from the control of the Church. After 1539 – time no longer served God – but rather the lay-society that paid for and possessed the technical skills to construct the clocks! The policies of King Henry VIII – as mad as he may or may not have been (he had around 70,000 men and women hanged during his reign) – ushered the “modern” Britain that we now live within. I doubt, however, that Henry would have envisioned the end of absolute monarchy or the trivialising of the Church!

Continue reading

Buckfast Abbey - Rule of St Benedict!

Buckfast Abbey: The Magnificent Waterwheel! (4.4.2024)

The time of the day and season of the year was defined by the cycles associated with monastic life – with monastic life guided by the various Rules which guided the daily activities of the monks and nuns. Lay-people – or “Oblates” – also followed these rules – which permitted Roman Catholic spirituality to permeate English society. After its abolition – the Church of England was formed – which would eventually represent the capitalistic ideas of the new post-Catholic elites. As a consequence, it was only during the early 20th century that Buckfast Abbey was permitted to be re-built and for a population of monks to once again inhabit its interior.

Continue reading

Henry VIII: St Alban’s the Martyr Church (Cheam) – Constructed from a Nonsuch Royal Stable! (14.5.2023)

The wood used for the roof (and support beams) dates to about 1550 CE – and was originally a very large royal stable used by King Henry VIII and I am told – his daughter – Queen Elizabeth I! It was dismantled from its original site (adjacent to Nonsuch Palace) by Shipwrights – and brought to what was once a remote area of Cheam – and reassembled (with added contemporary brickwork) to form a very large Church! The wood would have been part of a royal forest cultivated in the area – grown to make ships, buildings and other required ‘royal’ structures! Therefore, the wood itself will be far older than the 1550 CE date the barn is believed to have been originally constructed! The beams are held together entirely by wooden-pegs – just as they were originally designned to be – with no ‘modern’ nails or connecting materials! Indeed, Shipwrights reconstructed this building as if they were building a wooden ship!

Continue reading