Dissolution of the Monasteries
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The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, in Somerset, date from 1184. Legend says that Joseph of Arimathaea built the first church on this site, but the first archaeological evidence is for an abbey built by the Saxons in around 708. This was destroyed by fire in 1184 and rebuilt, but the buildings fell into disrepair as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and are now ruined.
| Closure of the monasteries of England and Wales from 1536 to 1540 and confiscation of their property by Henry VIII; see England: history 1485–1714, Henry VIII and the split with Rome. The operation was organized by Thomas Cromwell and affected about 800 monastic houses with the aim of boosting royal income. Most of the property was later sold off to the gentry. |
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