of land. In his attempts to unite the country, Henry VIII dissolved the monastery system in the 1530s. Of the 650 monasteries in England and Wales, a third have gone completely, another third were transformed into churches, and the final third were left in ruins. Tinturn Abbey Those responsible for dissolving the individual churches were happy to do so. They helped ?redistribute' the steel, glass and wood to make their own barns and homes. The square blocks disappeared like popcorn. Within twenty miles of all of these monasteries are gorgeous old homes with very sturdy foundations. The designs made for a particular spot, however, the arches, capitals, and pinnacles, would be a dead giveaway if found in a house, and would remind the occupants that a holy site had been desecrated. Many of these were consequently left standing. It is these ruins, scattered across the country, that left a lasting impression on the followers of the Romantic movement. Tintern Abbey alone inspired countless paintings, poems and stories by Romantics as celebrated as Turner, Wordsworth and Tennyson. In describing Tears, Idle Tears, Tennyson said he was inspired by bygone memories. Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns The earliest pipe of half-awaken'd birds To dying ears, when unto dying eyes The casement slowly grows a glimmering square; So sad, so strange, the days that are no more. The settler's of Upper Canada were defenseless against such lyrics. Gothic arches popped up everywhere. Eastern Ontario: Upper Saint Lawrence and Quinte