Herefordshire Through Time
Herefordshire Through Time
The "Non-conformist conscience" reflected the principles of a wide section of the community and influenced commercial, social and political morality.
Henry VIII's break from the Pope, which began the Reformation in 1537, allowed people to find their own forms of religion that satisfied their own needs and beliefs. To begin with the Reformation caused two major new religious groups to be formed. Puritans wanted to reform the practices of the Church of England from within the institution, whilst Separatists could see no way that change was going to occur without their leaving and setting up on their own.
By 1567 congregations belonging to these Non-conformist groups (also known as Dissenters) began to meet together in private for religious services. These "Independent" units gave rise to the Congregational Churches, with the Baptists emerging later, in 1603. The Presbyterians came into their own during the English Civil War. Presbyterians were part of the Church of England who had tried to modify the way that the Church was governed. In 1662 the Act of Uniformity was passed, which called for all ministers to swear by all that was written in the Book of Common Prayer according to the Church of England. All those who refused to comply were ousted from the Church. Presbyterians split further into two groups: Independents and Unitarians. In 1832 the Congregational Union joined together Presbyterians, Independents and Unitarians. In 1836 they began to set up their own churches.
At first these groups had to meet in relative secret because of the fear of persecution. They would meet in private houses, barns and even in the open fields. In 1637 three Puritans - Messrs. Prynne, Burton and Bastwick - were put on trial for writing pamphlets attacking the church and the monarchy. Archbishop Laud found them guilty and had them severely punished:
"The executioner cut off Mr Burton's ears deep and close, in a cruel manner with much bleeding, an artery being cut. Mr Prynne's cheeks were seared with an iron made exceeding [sic] hot, after which the executioner cut off one of his ears and a piece of his cheek; then hacking the other ear almost off, left it hanging."
The Baptist Movement first appeared around 1603 and originally had two main groups. There were the General Baptists who believed in free will and the Particular Baptists who followed the teaching of John Calvin and believed in predestination. The Baptist movement was present in Leominster by 1656, at this time meeting in private houses in the town.
In Herefordshire one of the earliest meeting houses to be built was the Quaker Meeting House at Almeley in the north-west of the county. It was built by Roger Pritchard as a meeting house in 1672 and given by him to the Society of Friends in 1675. As you pass the building at first glance you would believe that it was nothing more than a simple timber-framed house, and indeed it was designed to appear this way to protect its worshippers from persecution.
Increasingly the Puritans became disillusioned with the government of England as they refused to bring about the changes to the Anglican Church that the Puritans had proposed, except for a new translation of the Bible, now called the King James Version. The Puritans began to gain strength in Parliament and became more and more opposed to the policies of the Crown, until in 1642 war broke out between the king's troops (the Cavaliers) and the Puritans (the Roundheads). This war is known as the English Civil War, or the Puritan Revolution.
The Puritans were led by Oliver Cromwell, and through him they eventually took control of government in 1649. This period of rule was known as the Commonwealth. The Puritans passed a series of unpopular measures designed to imbue better moral conduct in the population, such as the closing of theatres, alehouses and the banning of popular sports and pastimes. Their political power ended in 1658 with the death of Oliver Cromwell and power returned to the monarchy.
In 1664 the Conventicle Act was passed: this decreed that "any Non-conformists attending a religious meeting, or assembling themselves together to the number of more than five persons in addition to members of the family, for any religious purpose not according to the rules of the Church of England, should be punished with a fine of £5, or three months' imprisonment; for the second offence, double; for the third transportation." This broke up Non-conformist congregations everywhere, and they were forced to meet in secret in secluded areas.
A year later, in 1665, the Five Mile Act was passed. This act decreed that "No Non-conformist minister or teacher whatever should, except when passing along the road, come within five miles of any city, or town-corporate, or borough sending member to Parliament, or within the same distance of any parish or place where he had formerly preached or taught, under a penalty of £40 for every offence". This meant that preachers were forced away from the congregations that knew them and would help support them, and were forced to become wanderers struggling to survive and depending on the charity of strangers.
Charles II was at heart a Roman Catholic, but as England at this time was Protestant, Catholicism was a Dissenting religion. In order to favour the Catholic religion without bringing himself under persecution he set out the Declaration of Indulgence in 1672, which granted to all Dissenters, Protestant and Catholic alike, the privilege of worshipping according to their own doctrines, though in order to do so licenses must be obtained, signed by himself. These licenses were for both preachers and places alike. The Declaration was withdrawn the following year but in this time over 4,000 applications were entered. One such license was granted to "The house of John Bond att Bromeyard licensed as a Presbyterian meeting-place".
Members of the Church of England sometimes even had criminal action taken against members of the Non-conformist religions. For example, in the Hereford City Records Miscellaneous Papers for 1673 (stored in Hereford Record Office) we have details of the "Deposition of Thomas Wood, carpenter, concerning a meeting of non-conformists at the house of Thomas Seaborne, ironmonger, for the suppressing of which the mayor and other officers approached the meeting place, whereupon John Butcher and Hugh Phillips, both coopers [barrel makers], who were of the meeting, departed to the deponents house and made comments reviling the mayor's action".
In 1689, during the reign of William of Orange, the Act of Toleration was passed, effectively allowing people to practise different religions free from the fear of prosecution and persecution. However, this did not mean that the religions of the Dissenters were fully accepted by the Church of England as worthy counterparts. Between 1754 and 1857, all Non-conformists still had to marry in an Anglican church, except for Quakers and Jews.
[Original author: Miranda Greene, 2003]