As noted, the monastery buildings were frequently demolished for building material, but not necessarily. In many of the richer Benedictine abbeys the Abbot had his own semi-palatial residence apart from the rest of the monks. (This isn't surprising; abbots, like bishops, were great landlords who sat in the House of Lords, and they were expected to offer hospitality to the nobility at an apppropriate standard of living.) In some former abbeys that passed into private hands, the abbot's residence formed the core of the succeeding country house. Battle Abbey, near Hastings, is one example; the man who received it from Henry VIII used stone from the church to enlarge the abbot's residence.