At all the monasteries, great and small, save for the few that were converted into cathedrals or colleges, the business of turning the buildings and their contents into cash was begun as soon as the suppression of a lesser house had been finally ratified, or when a greater house had signed the deed of surrender. When an abbey fell by attainder, or through the disgrace and anticipated condemnation of its abbot, the process often began before the monks were out.

First, all the plate and jewels that had survived the two preliminary combings were sent up either to the royal treasury or temporarily to the local receiver's strong-room, together with a few of the books that might be of value for the royal library. These last were not necessarily those that were richest in illumination, for these were often service books which were now otiose, if not positively distasteful in many quarters.

Next, all the church furniture and domestic stuff was sold by auction on the spot, often in the cloister or chapterhouse. Everything that could be priced was put up for sale: paving-stones, glass, alabaster retables, sets of vestments, missals, candlesticks, censers, cupboards, pans, ladders, organs, pulpits, bricks and tiles. No object was inappropriate, no offer too small. Thus at the Austin friars of Stafford a Mr Stamford picked up an alabaster retable, a door, and the high altar for seven shillings the lot, while Margaret Whytfyld secured a table from the brewhouse at the bargain price of twopence.