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In 1538 the last Abbot of Leicester surrendered the abbey to the king's commissioners and accepted an annual pension of 200 pounds, a very sizeable sum for the time. He did not have long to enjoy his pension, however, for in 1552 Edward VI suspended all pension payments over 10 pounds.

Most of the monastic buildings were destroyed and robbed for building stone. The abbey site passed through several hands before it was acquired by Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, in 1572. The Earl's brother Sir Edward Hastings bought the property and lived in the abbey gatehouse while the site was developed to become a residence. Sir Edward's son sold the mansion house to Sir William Cavendish in 1613, and as a result, the mansion became known as Cavendish House.
Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire, intended the abbey to become his major residence, and enlarged the mansion still further, but his heirs decided to make Chatsworth House in Derbyshire their main residence, and Cavendish House became a dower house.

During the Civil War Cavendish House was used by King Charles I after his successful siege of Leicester. When the king and his entourage left the house was ransacked and burned by Parliamentary soldiers. It was never restored.

The abbey site was eventually purchased by the Leicester Town Council and transformed into a public park known as Abbey Park.

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