Renaissance English History Podcast: A Show About The Tudors

Syon Abbey was founded in 1415 and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. The community refused to scatter. They waited, came back under Mary, went into exile again under Elizabeth, survived a Calvinist mob in Flanders, 200 years in Lisbon, a 9.0 earthquake, and Napoleon. They finally closed in 2011 -- not because anyone shut them down, but because there were three elderly nuns left and they couldn't maintain the building. This is their story, including the nun who grabbed the abbey seal to stop Henry's officers, the abbess who confronted a mob and died six weeks later, and a community that carried the keys to their original home for 366 years.