Battle Abbey Becomes a Country Estate

Battle Abbey Becomes a Country Estate. . , On 26 May 1538 Abbot Hamond and the community of 18 monks held their final services in the great church that had stood here for nearly 450 years., Battle was the last abbey to be closed in Sussex. The government had accused monastic houses of poor religious observances and lax practices, and the monks of various unspecified crimes. In reality, the Dissolution of the monasteries was brought about because of the attraction of the vast wealth of the monasteries and their estates., Battle Abbey was given to Sir Anthony Browne and within a short time he demolished the abbey church and other buildings and sold their materials. The west range before you became a country house and his residence. His ornate tomb is in the parish church outside the precinct wall on your right. The area here and the sites of the church and to the south became grazing land., After long periods of neglect, Sir Godfrey Webster spent considerable sums on the abbey buildings in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and even carried out excavations. About 50 years later, the duchess of Cleveland laid out the area as a garden and constructed a circular path around the grounds.