Thames Valley Papists from Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829

Thames Valley Papists From Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829 Tony Hadland Copyright © 1992 & 2004 by Tony Hadland All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior permission in writing from the publisher and author. The moral right of Tony Hadland to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 0 9547547 0 0 First edition published as a hardback by Tony Hadland in 1992. This new edition published in soft cover in April 2004 by The Mapledurham 1997 Trust, Mapledurham HOUSE, Reading, RG4 7TR. Pre-press and design by Tony Hadland E-mail: [email protected] Printed by Antony Rowe Limited, 2 Whittle Drive, Highfield Industrial Estate, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QT. E-mail: [email protected] While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, neither the author nor the publisher can be held responsible for any loss or inconvenience arising from errors contained in this work. Feedback from readers on points of accuracy will be welcomed and should be e-mailed to [email protected] or mailed to the author via the publisher. Front cover: Mapledurham House, front elevation. Back cover: Mapledurham House, as seen from the Thames. A high gable end, clad in reflective oyster shells, indicated a safe house for Catholics. Photos by Tony Hadland. CONTENTS FOREWORD......................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 2 MAPS ..................................................................................................................... 4 HOW CHRISTIANITY CAME TO THE THAMES VALLEY ............................. 9 LOLLARD INFLUENCE ..................................................................................... 12 THE THAMES HIGHWAY .................................................................................. 14 THE EARLY CATHOLIC MARTYRS ................................................................ 16 THE RELIGIOUS CHANGES ............................................................................. 24 THE ELIZABETHAN SETTLEMENT ............................................................... 31 THE FIRST POST-REFORMATION MISSIONARIES ...................................... 38 THE PRESS AT STONOR ................................................................................... 44 THE MISSION BECOMES ESTABLISHED ...................................................... 53 THOMAS BELSON ............................................................................................. 65 ELIZABETH’S LATER YEARS .......................................................................... 70 THE GUNPOWDER PLOT ................................................................................. 82 THE JACOBEAN PERIOD ................................................................................. 87 CHARLES I .......................................................................................................... 98 THE CIVIL WAR ............................................................................................... 109 THE COMMONWEALTH ................................................................................. 115 THE RESTORATION......................................................................................... 121 THE END OF A DREAM................................................................................... 132 WHEN POPE LIVED IN BERKSHIRE ............................................................ 139 TWIXT FIFTEEN AND FORTY-FIVE .............................................................. 148 LOW EBB ........................................................................................................... 159 A LITTLE RELIEF ............................................................................................. 174 THE FRENCH EXILED CLERGY .................................................................... 181 EMANCIPATION ............................................................................................... 188 APPENDICES (A) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................... 196 (B) BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 199 (C) SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING ............................................ 206 (D) USEFUL ADDRESSES ............................................................................... 208 (E) ADDITIONAL NOTES ................................................................................ 212 INDEX ................................................................................................................ 213 FOREWORD his book is one that many have considered writing but were daunted by the Ttask, so it is a great triumph for Tony Hadland that he has drawn together the recusant history of the Thames Valley. It is a story about people and the sacrifices that they were prepared to make. Today it is interesting to reflect on just how many of us would be willing to make a similar stand. This is the age of protest and demonstration, when rights are regarded as all important, but the story of those difficult times illustrates that loyalty and acceptance of hardships are courageous qualities, worthy of our admiration. In future, local history will be incomplete without some reference to, or under- standing of, the basic facts that Tony Hadland has brought together for the first time in this book. It is interesting too to realise that, due to the need for secrecy, it was impossible to record much of the early history in writing. Indeed, what was recorded was usually the high drama of discovery, which leads us to imagine how much similar activity was never detected. I was very pleased to be asked to write this foreword and I have been fascinated by the wealth of information that has been collected and so well presented in this book. Although I was familiar with much of the detail, I have learnt the answer to other queries that have puzzled me in the past. I feel sure that the book will intrigue many in the Thames Valley, including of course those who live in the houses and villages that are featured. Those to whom this is a new and strange tale will surely be struck by the toler- ance that was shown throughout by good neighbours – no matter on which side fate decreed that the participants found themselves. John Eyston Mapledurham House May 1991 1 INTRODUCTION his book tells the story of the Catholics of the Thames Valley from Henry TVIII’s break with Rome until Catholic Emancipation nearly three hundred years later. There are many definitions of the vague term ‘Thames Valley’, some wider and some more limited than that used in this book. The principal area covered here comprises old Berkshire, South Oxfordshire, adjoining parts of Buckinghamshire and the city of Oxford. It includes the valleys of Thames tributaries such as the Kennet, Pang, Ock, Loddon and Thame, the former great forests of Windsor and Bernwood, the southern Chiltern Hills, the Berkshire Downs, the Vale of White Horse and Ot Moor. It does not cover in any detail west or north Oxfordshire, Surrey, Middlesex or London. Before the Reformation, virtually all English people were Catholics. Although most eventually abandoned Catholicism, a tiny minority remained loyal to the old faith, despite social pressures and the attempts of the authorities to make them conform to Anglicanism. In the Thames Valley, the proportion that remained Catholic eventually dropped to about one in a hundred. However, among the gentry the proportion was very much higher. Indeed, it is said that in the south Oxfordshire Chilterns almost one in three of the gentry remained Catholic. After the Reformation, the Thames Valley was neither one of the strongest nor weakest areas of Catholic survival. There were generally too few Catholics to have much influence on their Protestant neighbours, but in some locations there were enough Catholics with good leadership to constitute effective communities. That leadership was usually provided by a Catholic squire, from whose manor house a Catholic priest could exercise his ministry, sometimes at great personal risk. In Tudor times, just as today, the Thames Valley straddled the great routes from London to the West. It was already becoming a commuter area. Merchants and professionals from London and other parts of the country found the many small estates ideal as country residences, within easy reach of the capital. But the Thames Valley was also home to families who had lived there for centuries. The people who remained loyal to Catholicism were drawn from both groups. Their little-known story is full of interest and often closely mirrors events of national significance. Many of the places they knew still exist. The first three chapters of this book set the scene by explaining how Christianity came to the Thames Valley, by briefly examining the Lollard legacy of religious dissent and by describing the importance of the Thames as a transport route. The remainder of the book tells the story of the Thames Valley Catholics chronologi- cally, from 1534 to 1829. The

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