http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monasteries_dissolved_by_Henry_VIII_of_England
This was another kind of "Big Society" of a kind was it not?
They put us to shame frankly.
The list is by no means exhaustive, since over 800 religious houses existed before the Reformation, and virtually every town, of any size, had at least one abbey, priory, convent or friary in it.
(Often many small houses of monks, nuns, canons or friars.)........
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Still! With so many thousands and thousands of monks and nuns the "unemployment" figures - which of course did not exist - must have been ridiculously HIGH/LOW....