On this day in Tudor history, 23rd March 1540, Waltham Abbey, an Augustinian house in Essex, was surrendered to the Crown. It was the last abbey to be dissolved in Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell's dissolution of the monasteries. 

 

Find out more about this historic abbey, its origins and what's left today, and also who profited from its lands, in today's talk from Claire Ridgway, author of "Tudor Places of Great Britain".

 

You can see this podcast as a video at the following link:

https://youtu.be/O3X4-fZcsvQ

 

Also on this day in Tudor history, 23rd March 1534, the Pope issued a bull proclaiming Catherine of Aragon to be England's true queen and Mary the heir to the throne, while the English Parliament declared Anne Boleyn to be England's rightful queen and her daughter, Elizabeth, the heir. Find out more about this strange situation in last year’s video - https://youtu.be/h_j-UCM8V6E