ABSTRACT
Like so many religious institutions, Westminster Abbey witnessed a decisive shift in its fortunes in the sixteenth century as its organization, religious functions and interior decoration all changed profoundly. But the century that followed the Reformation also saw the transformation of the town of Westminster, in which the medieval Abbey had played such an important role. The town of Westminster had never been part of the city of London and the area of its post-Reformation parishes - St Margaret, St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Clement Danes - was set to change radically from the 1530s onwards.1 The new prominence of the royal court in the locality, the expansion of London as a metropolis, and the enormous changes in the population and social structure of Westminster’s parishes could not help but have a major impact on the development and character of the Abbey, and the experience of its dean and chapter. It is this transformation of the Abbey’s environs, and the determined efforts of the collegiate church to maintain its secular pow ers and influence in the developing town of Westminster, which will be the focus of this article.
