Day 222/24. Netley Abbey, and Southampton Water.

In 1536, Netley Abbey was seized by Henry VIII of England during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The abbey was used as a country house until the beginning of the eighteenth century, after which it was abandoned and partially demolished for building materials. Subsequently the ruins became a tourist attraction, and provided inspiration to poets and artists of the Romantic movement. In the early twentieth century the site was given to the nation, and it is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, cared for by English Heritage.
Netley Abbey is one of the best preserved medieval Cistercian monasteries in southern England.