Many monasteries were endowed with extensive properties to provide sustenance and income for the community. Since they could mantain continuity of ownership in a way that no secular landlord could achieve, they had the opportunity to invest some capital in major modifications to the landscape. By improving agriculture, clearing and managing woodland, building houses, barns and churches, constructing mills and fisheries, re-planning villages and founding new towns, the influence of monastic power can clearly be seen from a close survey of the modern landscape.