Henry VIII Dissolution of Monasteries in England

This continues history posts from Roman Roads vast network and local effect, to medieval travels by Richard I and by Samurais.

Inspired by National Archives' story map: Discover the Dissolution of Monasteries by Henry VIII from 1536 to 1540, here is its intro:

 Henry VIII's break from Rome and the creation of the Church of England set in motion a revolutionary chain of events that resulted in the closure of almost 900 religious houses, displacing 12,000 people from their religious orders. While some were allowed to remain or convert, many were given pensions to surrender their churches and many still were simply evicted with no compensation. The dissolution changed the kingdom's schooling, medical care, land ownership and powerful figures - but why did it happen, and how did it affect your local area?

I began with my Roman Roads map; notice the huge amounts of coastal incursion:

click to enlarge, full size

I added the National Archives Monasteries Dissolution data:

click to enlarge, full size

In the first panel, National Archive "Value" refers to the annual income or net worth of monastic properties as recorded in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, a comprehensive survey commissioned by Henry VIII in 1535 and held in The National Archives (reference E 31 National Archives, Perplexity AI). 

Note: The National Archives UK currency converter uses historical data up to 2017 GBP equivalents (internally benchmarked to 2005 values, then adjusted); since the specified tool cannot be directly queried for 2025 and lacks public 1535 multipliers, approximate equivalents use extended UK CPI inflation models (not official National Archives output):

click to enlarge, Perplexity AI

Back to the map, brackets in the legend give you the numbers by income class. Also with numbers, the second panel shows the Monastic Orders at Dissolution.

The third panel combines the first two in a heat map, or a density distribution of the affected areas.

You can find more story maps on Esri and info on Medievalists and Wikipedia.

Footnote: on the way I found another cool story map. In Establishing a Sacral Landscape, University of Manitoba's Meredith Bacola spans from Romans to Dissolution in the East Anglia Fenland near & N of Peterborough. It complements my blogposts more on Cambridge and N to the Wash. She focused on ecclesiastics starting with two saints, I on sea level rise and rural isolation starting with HC Darby's Medieval & later Fenlands.