This chap looks bemused as well he might — an erstwhile Abbot of Cirencester whose image was smashed and buried in the ruins of his once rich and powerful Abbey — his name forgotten.

This was the Dissolution of the Monasteries which was not just about getting rid of King Henry VIII’s infertile wife. Like everything else it had a lot to do with money, and the reformation and getting rid of rich and decadent priests. It was a re-organisation — a re-directing of resources into education and defence — sound familiar?

Cirencester was a town doing well — wealth and opportunity based on farming and the wool trade. One man who benefitted from the demise of the Abbey was John Coxwell.

John was a local entrepreneur, from humble beginnings he was surprisingly socially mobile, rising to the gentry, he had made a lot of money in the wool trade and bought much of the Abbey land. Like many driven men he had a robust constitution living until he was 101.

This was not the rule.

One young man’s three young wives lost in childbirth.

What you needed in those days was a good doctor.

Nothing like a grateful patient!