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England's Abbeys Monastic Buildings And CultureStock informationGeneral Fields
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DescriptionFor almost one thousand years, from the 7th century to the early 16th, there were monasteries in Britain. They did not flourish for this entire period, there were times of decline, for example during the Viking raids of the 9th century, and then there was the sudden and painful end, when Henry VIII closed all the monasteries in the 1530s. However, by the time Henry dissolved them there were already hundreds of abbeys and priories up and down the country and these prospered for long enough to leave one of the most striking and fascinating architectural legacies in Britain. This huge variety of remains can make medieval abbeys difficult to understand. Apart from the fact that most of these buildings are fragments of what they once were, there are other reasons why they can be hard to fathom. The monasteries were dynamic institutions. Life changed as time went on and the buildings changed too; the way of life of the monk or nun is remote from modern experience, and monasteries were among the most complex structures of the Middle Ages. England's Abbeys tries to unravel some of these issues, to help visitors understand the ruins better and enjoy them more. |