Often the deliberate damage to our religious
buildings is ascribed to Cromwell's soldiers, though more often it was
to Thomas Cromwell a hundred years earlier. But between December 1643
and October 1644, one William Dowsing went
through the churches and colleges of Cambridge and the churches of
Cambridgeshire (and Suffolk) like a dose of salts, destroying
"superstitious images", removing crucifixes, "indenting" ie bashing with
a big hammer, obnoxious inscriptions. He particularly disliked
inscriptions of the sort ... Orate pro anima - pray [to St -] for
our souls. It was a regular belief of the Puritans that through the
merits of our Saviour alone, the blessed departed are already with the
Lord and not in a purgatory needing to be prayed for.
He also removed brasses from within their stone setting
leaving only the outline of where it
had been. So next time you have the opportunity, do
have a look around, then, for these deliberate "indents" and settings.
What made Dowsing do this? He didn't do it off his
own bat. He had a warrant from the Earl of Manchester, who then
commanded the Parliamentary army of the Eastern Association (East
Anglia). The Earl, in turn, was responding to an Ordinance (1643) from
Parliament though. Fortunately, no other counties apart from
Cambridgeshire and Suffolk seem to have had, either an Earl, or a
Dowsing of such fanaticism.Dowsing certainly showed up the sinister,
iconoclastic side to Puritanism. However, it must also be remembered
that moving church fittings (or replacing them) had been going on for a
hundred years, since the time of the first reformers and through the
turbulent reigns of Edward and Mary particularly.
A fascinating curiosity is that William Dowsing kept
a diary of where he had been and what he had done (published by the
Cambridgeshire Record Society, 2001, £50).
On the 14th and 15th of March 1644 he was here!
- and this is what he says
March 14th 1644 Litlington We
brake down 6 superstitious pictures and take down a cross from the
steeple.
The angel-borne font was most likely defaced in 1638 by
the parishioners themselves, who were largely of Puritan sympathy anyway
- the incumbent being absent and their preacher being Francis Holcroft
of Clare College, and later vicar of Bassingbourn.
faceless angel on the font at Litlington
March 15th Shengey cum Wendy [ie
Wendy] The cross in the chancel and the steps thereto to be levelled.
The minister here (1625-63) was Seth Parvy and he was
also a Puritan. Steps were levelled and altar rails removed (also at
Tadlow - see later) to accord with the reformers' understanding of the
communion service - it was to be round a communion table not over an
altar.
March 15th Abington Pigotts. We
brake down 16 superstitious pictures and gave orders to take down
crosses off the steeple and to level the steps.
Of the three-decker pulpit with carved wooden panels
including a Virgin & Child dated 1621 this clearly was not there at the
time as it would have certainly been counted as a "superstitious
picture". Left remaining, in fact, were the stone angel corbals.
Probably they said to Dowsing (as did the Foxton people) when he told
them to knock off the heads : "Sorry, we don't seem to have a ladder
handy".
 a
high Angel corbel missed by Dowsing at Abington Pigotts
March 15th Steeple Morden. John
Sissimer, Constable and John Gatward, churchwarden. 9
superstitious pictures. We brake 3
superstitious inscriptions in brass.
Sadly, most of the chancel had in fact been pulled down
in 1625 after the steeple fell on it.
At Shingay ..there was a
crucifix and 3 pictures of Mary with her Children and 12 pictures more.
Shingay no longer exists as a church or a village. The
village lay in and around Rectory Farm where there had earlier been a
Hospitallers' Preceptory. The moat is still plainly visible as are
outlines of the medieval buildings.
March 15th Tadlow 4
superstitious pictures and a cross on the church. Richard Smith was
church warden and Constable
Tadlow had been singled out by Archbishop Laud on
Christmas Day 1638 for not having communion rails: because of
which a dog snatched the communion Bread from the Table.
He was executed in 1645: the Archbishop, that is, the
dog got off scot-free!
March 15th Guilden Morden
The next Lent a cross to be taken down and steps [in the chancel] to be
levelled. Nothing said about the prominent rood screen!
While most of the villagers inclined towards
Puritanism this is not to say that they welcomed the wholesale or even
token destruction of their church decorations - witness the poor people
of Tadlow who were forced first to take down the communion rails then
put them back again and then to take them down again. They probably got
used to taking portable things home with them and bringing them back
after the fuss died down. When told to white-wash out wall frescoes
villagers did so knowing that they could still be recovered.
Incidently, the damage caused by iconoclasts is
considered to be part of history. English Heritage inclines to the view
that the damage ought not be repaired, for instance in the case of
Roxton, Beds where the 12 apostles were left faceless. On the other
hand, what could anyone, Puritan or otherwise, have against the
Apostles?
from a talk by Colin Price to the Local History
Group (c) 2002
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