Following the English Reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries, the Prior of Bath surrendered the church to the English Crown in 1539. The church was subsequently stripped of iron, lead and glass and left to decay. In 1574, Queen Elizabeth I began to promote the restoration of the church. James Montague, the Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1608 - 1616, after having once sought shelter in the roofless nave during a thunderstorm, paid £1,000 to put a new roof over the nave. He is buried in an alabaster tomb in the north aisle of the church.