Friars, Friaries and the Reformation: The Dissolution of the Midlands Friaries in 1538-39

The article examines the history and archaeology of the Dissolution of the mendicant friaries in the Midlands, against the background of changing attitudes to both friary communities and their buildings in the 1530s. There is a range of surviving sources for the process, which record details of friary properties and household contents. As the suppressions progressed, there was some limited discourse about the possible fate of these properties, but the outcome for the majority was the creation of derelict spaces within towns, echoing the redundancy of the former members, who, unlike regular choir monks or Austin canons, had no pensions to support them. There is a very low survival rate of friary buildings, largely because their urban locations made them particularly vulnerable to quarrying for local rebuilding projects. Even the friars, the most visible and popular of the religious orders, at least in towns, raised little support once their fate was decided.