. The greater abbeys of England . visits during the progress of the work. Onthe first occasion they announced to the communityand its dependents their impending doom, called forand defaced the seal—the symbol of corporate existence,without which nothing in the way of business could betransacted—desecrated the church, took possession ofthe best plate and church vestments unto the Kingsuse, measured the lead upon the roofs, counted thebells, and appraised the goods and chattels of the com-munity. They then passed on to the scene of their next opera-tions, leaving behind them under-officials and
. The greater abbeys of England . visits during the progress of the work. Onthe first occasion they announced to the communityand its dependents their impending doom, called forand defaced the seal—the symbol of corporate existence,without which nothing in the way of business could betransacted—desecrated the church, took possession ofthe best plate and church vestments unto the Kingsuse, measured the lead upon the roofs, counted thebells, and appraised the goods and chattels of the com-munity. They then passed on to the scene of their next opera-tions, leaving behind them under-officials and work-men to carry out the designed destruction by strippingthe roofs and pulling down the gutters and pipes, melt-ing the lead into pigs, throwing down the bells andbreaking them with sledge-hammers and packing themetal into barrels ready for the coming of the specu-lator. This was followed by the work of collecting thefurniture and selling it by public auction or by privatetender. When all this had been done, the commis- 148. Netley sioners returned to audit the accounts and to satisfythemselves that the work of destruction had been ac-compHshed to the Kings contentment. An instance of this maybe seen in the case of the first arrival of the Royal Commissioners inFebruary 1537 to the final handing over the ruins toa keeper the dissolution of the abbey took ten accounts show that, first, plate to the value ofj(^45 I IS. was sent off to the King. The ornament ofthe beautiful church, when sold piecemeal, fetched^38 19s. 8d. A man named Michael Lister speculatedin all the movables of the house, for which he paida lump sum of ^10 13s. 4d. The same adventurer inpartnership with another got all the cattle, corn, only a little over ^100. When the wreckers hadfinished there were ^21 worth of bell-metal and ^40worth of lead cast into fodders left on the groundto sell. It is not diflicult to understand where the choir-stall wood and the timbers of the roo
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