A collegiate church was a church served and administered by a body of canons or prebendaries, similar to a cathedral, although they were not the seat of a bishop. They were supported by (sometimes extensive) lands held by the church. In pre-Reformation England there were usually a number of collegiate churches in each diocese. They were all abolished by Henry VIII in 1547 as part of the Reformation by the Act for the Dissolution of Collegiate Churches and Chantries.