The income from the wool trade made Thame prosperous. In 1509 there is the first mention of the market or ‘moot’ hall, and by 1543 it had a clock (which was very rare at the time).

Henry VIII (1491-1547) stayed at the Red Lion Inn, Thame in 1530. He also visited Rycote Park where Elizabeth I (1533-1603) often stayed.

This was also a time of huge change. The dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s led to changes in land ownership as well as to religious practices. Whilst road improvements were paid for by the sale of church silver, the enclosure of common fields affected many ordinary people, driving them off the land and into the town.