Hilary Mantel tells a great tale but ruined abbeys tell a different one, says expert

Final part of Wolf Hall, now on the West End stage, is under fire from English Heritage for its Tudor bias' in charting history

The staging of the final novel in Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy has, arguably, been the flagship theatrical event as the West End re-opens after lockdown. One critic described The Mirror and the Light, which chronicles the downfall of Thomas Cromwell, as the completion of a magnificent hat-trick".

But Dr Michael Carter, the senior properties historian at English Heritage, will not be buying a ticket. Carter, whose role means he is responsible for curating the stories of the ruined monasteries, abbeys and priories of England, is not exactly a Mantel-sceptic. But he is desperate for another set of stories to be told about the events with which she deals.