Event    From 1536  To 1541

dissolution of the monasteries

In 1534, for reasons not only to do with his marital situation, Henry VIII broke with Rome, the Pope and the Catholic Church. At the time the Catholic monasteries (and abbeys, priories, convents and friaries) owned over a quarter of all the cultivated land in England. Henry declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and as such he had the authority to do what he wanted with all this church estate. He started with the extremely valuable shrines, closing them and taking possession of their assets. On 17 December 1538 the Pope retaliated by excommunicating Henry. Henry continued his plunder and pillage, breaking up over 850 monasteries in total.

Plaques commemorating monasteries often don't mention how they were destroyed but here is a list of those that we have found so far in London: Holy Trinity Priory, Greyfriars Monastery, Hospital of St Anthony, Bermondsey Abbey, Blackfriars Priory, Charterhouse, Holywell Priory, Austin Friars, Stratford Langthorne Abbey, Chapel of St James in the Wall, Order of St John, Clerkenwell, St Mary's, Willesden, Augustinian Priory of St. Mary, Spitalfields, and Hounslow Priory.

The other, less well-known story is that some survived. To quote Dan Cruickshank at Spitalfields Life: "Elsewhere, the Lord Mayor and Corporation were successful in their campaigns to save the former monastic establishments that became St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, St. Thomas’s Hospital and Bedlam. The fact that these medieval institutions survived the Reformations to continue their useful functions is one of the more pleasing tales of sixteenth century London."

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
dissolution of the monasteries

Commemorated ati

All Hallows tower and Lambe's Chapel

This is visually just a modern information board but the information is more ...

Read More

Glaziers Hall

The Glaziers Hall The land in this area formed part of the site of the cloist...

Read More

Kipling House

The wording on the plaque could have been clearer. The first half is giving t...

Read More

Other Subjects

Josiah Charles Stamp

Josiah Charles Stamp

Josiah Charles Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, was an English industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and banker. Born Hampstead/Kilburn (depending on source). 1926 he became the fir...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Thomas Neale MP

Thomas Neale MP

Entrepreneur, the organiser of England's first lottery. Known as 'The Great Projector' although the layout of the Seven Dials area is his only surviving London project. Neal Street and Neal's Yard...

Person, Architecture, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Samuel Jones

Samuel Jones

Churchwarden of St Thomas the Apostle in 1872.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Ealing Council

Ealing Council

Governing body of the London Borough of Ealing, Formed in 1965 by the merging of the Municipal Boroughs of Acton, Ealing and Southall.

Group, Politics & Administration

7 memorials
J. A. Archer, Esq.

J. A. Archer, Esq.

One of the managers of the 1873-75 changes at Aske’s Hospital.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial