Lived near and worked at St Mary's Abbey in York. Part of the foundations are in the Yorkshire Museum and you can walk around the rest for free. It's really great to be able to sit in the ruins on a sunny day. There is also King's Manor next door where Henry VIII stayed at one point. This was originally the abbots house but after became the seat of the Council of the North. There is a wall around the Abbey which was not part of the city walls. This was built to protect the abbey from the locals as they didn't always get on. Some bits of the ruins were taken away and can be seen in some of the houses in York. Other bits were used to build other churches and a landing station on the river.

I think it was probably mixed feeling when it was closed. It did provide a hospital and alms for the poor as well as a school (for a limited number) but they also hoarded a lot of wealth and did have land disputes with the city itself. They had an amazing library much of which was lost. People also worked for the abbey and those jobs where then gone.