§ 27. Many monasteries were entirely ruined after the suppression, and of about a third of the number no vestige is left. Of rather less than a third there are substantial remains. In many cases, these are confined to the church, which, if it served the needs of a parish, was granted to the parishioners and partially used by them, the monastic quire being generally allowed to go into decay. More rarely, as at Christchurch priory, the whole church was retained. Secular chapters were founded in the cathedral priories, and six abbey and priory churches, including Westminster, were raised to the rank of cathedrals. Thus, allowing for the inevitable change of use to which the monastic buildings were put, at Canterbury, Chester, Durham, Ely, Gloucester, Norwich, Peterborough, Rochester, Westminster, Winchester and Worcester, the arrangements of a Benedictine monastery can be studied more or less satisfactorily, and at Bristol, Carlisle and Christ Church, Oxford, those of a house of Austin canons may be fairly well seen. Of ruined houses by far the most complete series of remains are those of the Cistercian abbeys, which, generally in remote situations, have been allowed to go to decay with little removal of material. Benedictine, Cluniac and Augustinian houses have suffered more: the remains of Benedictine houses like Reading or St Mary's, York, are not complete; while of Cluniac houses Wenlock, and of Augustinian, Haughmond and Lilleshall are some of the few exceptions to the general rule of destruction. Only three Cistercian churches remain partly in use as parish churches, viz. Dore, Holme Cultram and Margam: they were converted to this use at periods later than the suppression. On the other hand, the remains of nearly half the monasteries enable us to reconstruct the life which was led in them with great completeness. Pre-eminent among these is the magnificent ruin of Fountains. Kirkstall and Tintern are hardly less complete. Beaulieu, Buildwas, Cleeve, Croxden, Ford, Furness, Jervaulx, Neath, Netley, Valle Crucis and Rievaulx have singularly perfect remains of large portions of the cloister buildings, and to these may be added several other instances where churches or other buildings remain or may be traced by foundations. Traces of most of the Premonstratensian houses are left. The most perfect is the splendid abbey of St Agatha at Easby near Richmond. Part of one Premonstratensian church, that of Blanchland in Northumberland, has been converted into a parish church. Of Carthusian plans, as already said, much is known, and for completeness Mount Grace priory is not far behind Fountains. One Gilbertine plan, that of Watton in Yorkshire, has been recovered by excavation. Of houses of nuns the remains are somewhat scanty, but of Benedictine foundations St Radegund's priory at Cambridge, and of Augustinian houses Lacock abbey in Wiltshire deserve special mention; while the great Benedictine church of Romsey abbey remains entire.