Henry VIII was, to put it bluntly, strapped for cash. As his matrimonial vicissitudes had led to fission with the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, the hundreds of abbeys in this country were a convenient target for nationalisation. First step was to assess the potential: the Act of Supremacy in 1534 organised a commission to visit the monasteries. The Valor Ecclesiasticus, compiled in 1535, revealed the great wealth of monastic estates; the enquiry for St Mary’s Abbey was conducted by Sir Henry Sacheverell, Ralph Sacheverell and Sir Thomas Cokeyn.

The total revenue from St Mary’s Abbey's 24,000 acres of land was £144. 12s.0d per annum. Its most valuable dependent church was Heanor: the Valor Ecclesiasticus assessed Heanor church’s value at £26 13s. 4d, out of which £9 was due to the vicar, 6/8d each to the bishops of Coventry and Lichfield, the chapter of Lichfield and the prior of Coventry as indemnity for their loss of jurisdiction, 20s. to the ‘deacon of Heanor’ and 7/7d. to the archdeacon. The church made an annual profit of £14 5s. 9d. The abbey possessed part of the girdle and milk of the Virgin Mary and the wheel of St Catherine in silver, according to the commissioners.  

On the payments side of the balance sheet, St Mary’s Abbey paid out £37 on stipends and pensions, for example to the abbot of Croxton, the prior of Shelford and the vicar of Spondon. (More details of this can be found in Professor Colvin’s article of 1943). In sum, the value of St Mary’s Abbey was assessed as £140 annually.

Henry VIII was clearly onto a good thing: if just one medium-sized abbey owned 24,000 acres of land, what must be the total value of hundreds of monasteries, many of them much richer? The political machine swept into action: Thomas Cromwell's agents, Drs Legh and Layton, were sent round the midland abbeys in 1536 looking for scandal and superstition. They visited 88 abbeys in a fortnightl They accused Abbot John Staunton and William Brampton of immorality – to be precise, of incontinence with five married women. However, even more revenue could be squeezed by a little delay, so on 30th Jan 1536 or 1537 St Mary’s Abbey, for the fee of £166. 13s. 4d., was granted exemption from suppression. All religious houses with an income of under £200 per annum were suppressed in 1536 but the licence granted exemption from suppression until 24th October 1538, when the abbey surrendered itself to Sir William Cavendish as Commissioner for the Crown. None of the canons applied for release from their vows.