Royalty-free Stock Photos from Expressing the Moment

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The Architecture category covers affordable stock photos of architectural features from churches, abbeys, piers, buildings and other structures. Also construction-related images.
This image: Tower of Buckfast Abbey : buckfast-abbey-tower.jpg

Tower of Buckfast Abbey

Image 135

of 152

Image Details

Order code	spidar09
Original width	1024
Original height	768
Colour type	True color (24 bit)
Original file size	325 KB

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The dissolution

By the beginning of the 16th century, the monasteries in England were generally very rich but also in decline.

King Henry VIII had his eyes on their wealth and in 1535, he appointed a new Vicar General with instructions to visit and reform the houses of the religious orders.

As a result, in late 1538 the king's commissioners, led by five distinguished lawyers, began closing the monastries. In four months they closed forty, including Buckfast, whose fateful day arrived in February, 1539. During the visit they would have taken possession of the Abbey's seals, charters, and church plate. After this particular campaign, they delivered 1.5 tons of gold, gilt and silver to the Tower of London, including the treasures of Buckfast Abbey.