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Page 3 of 10

• 1. Reformation and reform
• 2. The Dissolution
• 3. Church in ruins
• 4. Henrician reform
• 5. Edwardian reform
• 6. Reorganisation
• 7. Laud’s reforms
• 8. Radicalism and reform
• 9. Anglican Church
• 10. Present day
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Church in ruins

In a few cases, such as at Wymondham, or St Bartholomew’s, Smithfield, part of the building was kept for use as a parish church, or, as at Gloucester and Oxford, converted into a new cathedral. However most monasteries, with their altars and shrines, were smashed, the roof was taken down and the church opened to the sky.

The Commissioners usually left the walls of the church standing. Surviving ruins, such as those of Fountains Abbey, provide a vivid illustration of the sophistication of medieval architecture - the walls and arches still support themselves, even though only part of a larger structure now remains.

'... bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.'

Opposition to the destruction of monastic houses was strongest in the northern and eastern shires, where communities were more reliant on monasteries for pastoral care. The only popular protest, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, was forcibly suppressed in 1536, and in general the destruction continued unopposed.

However, by the end of the 16th century there is a discernible feeling of regret over the loss of so many beautiful buildings, expressed by Shakespeare when he writes of the ‘bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang.’ It is perhaps a desire to preserve the few remaining fragments of a lost world that prompted builders such as Stephen Proctor, who constructed Fountains Hall in 1598, to leave the actual church largely untouched whilst taking stone from other parts of the abbey.

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Published: 2005-02-04