Editing Bath Abbey (section)

===Reformation and subsequent decline===
[[File:Bath Abbey, 1875.jpg|thumb|right|The abbey in 1875]]

Prior Holloway surrendered Bath Priory to the crown in January 1539. It was sold to Humphry Colles of [[Taunton]].{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=56}} The abbey was stripped of its [[co-cathedral]] status in the aftermath of the Dissolution when the cathedral was consolidated in Wells. The church was stripped of iron, glass and £4,800 worth of lead and left to decay.<ref name=":0" /> Colles sold it to [[Matthew Colthurst]] of [[Wardour Castle]] in 1543. His son [[Edmund Colthurst]] gave the roofless remains of the building to the corporation of Bath in 1572.{{sfn|Forsyth|2003|p=56}} The corporation had difficulty finding private funds for its restoration.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=3}}

In 1574, [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] promoted the restoration of the church, to serve as the grand parish church of Bath. She ordered that a national fund should be set up to finance the work,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/bath/A25243.html |title=Bath Abbey |access-date=27 September 2007 |work=Frommers Guide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510125130/http://www.frommers.com/destinations/bath/A25243.html |archive-date=10 May 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1583 decreed that it should become the parish church of Bath.{{sfn|Taylor|1999|p=3}} [[James Montague (bishop)|James Montague]], the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608 to 1616, paid £1,000 for a new nave roof of timber lath construction; according to the inscription on his tomb, this was prompted after seeking shelter in the roofless nave during a thunderstorm. He is buried in an [[alabaster]] tomb in the north aisle.{{sfn|Hylson-Smith|2003|p=132}} The restoration work on the Abbey financed by Montague was completed by 1611.<ref name=":0" />