A happy bench Monday - Roche Abbey ..

England’s monasteries were suppressed by Henry VIII in the late 1530s, and Roche’s monks surrendered the monastery to the king’s commissioners on 23 June 1538. In a brief ceremony in the chapter house they handed over the keys to their buildings and received pensions, and watched the clerks inventory all the monastery’s possessions.
What began, however, as an orderly process degenerated into pillage. Men from the locality descended on the abandoned buildings, carrying away what they could.

Snapped using the Sony Apsc. Ultra Wide Converter VCL-ECU2 - together with the fixed 16mm lens which produces a 12mm focal length... // 18mm equivalent - in 35mm format