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."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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

Our Lady of Willesden - shrine

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, while not named on the memorial, is allud...

Read More

Other Subjects

Giles Shepard

Giles Shepard

Managing Director of the Savoy Group in 1979 - 1994.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Charles Stenhouse

Charles Stenhouse

Alderman Charles Stenhouse. Mayor of Harrow in February 1969. Our image is a screen grab from a video at London's Screen Archives showing Stenhouse in 1975 officiating at a rather dull presentation...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Rose Pesotta

Rose Pesotta

Anarchist, feminist labour organiser. Born Ukraine. 1913 she emigrated to New York City to avoid an arranged marriage. Died Miami.

Person, Politics & Administration, Ukraine, USA

1 memorial
Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras

Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras

St Pancras was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of r...

Group, Politics & Administration

6 memorials
Hyam Alvarez

Hyam Alvarez

Warden of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews Hospital. 

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Stoker 2nd Class Robert Alfred Delamaine

Stoker 2nd Class Robert Alfred Delamaine

Robert Alfred Delamaine was born in Deptford, London, on 2 January 1916, the sixth of the nine children of John William Delamaine (1879-1951) and Alice Ann Delamaine née Smith (1881-1953). His birt...

Person, Armed Forces, Emergency Services

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Guglielmo Marconi

Guglielmo Marconi

Born Bologna. Arrived in London, with his mother, in 1896 to patent his method of communication without wires. In 1897 he established the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, which survived und...

Person, Science, Seriously Famous, TV & Radio, Italy

4 memorials