History of York

King Henry VIII's Reformation had threatened the abbey for a while.

Abbeys and other religious orders around the country were accused of corruption by a royal commission.  In the case of St Mary's there was little popular dissent from that view.

By that time the abbots were living in a spacious and luxurious building, which has since become part of King's Manor.

The last abbot, William Thornton, wrote to Henry's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell asking that the abbey be spared.  Or failing that, that he personally be given a house to live in and a good pension.

He surrendered the abbey on 26th November 1539.