Turbulent Times

This focus of this panel is on the impact of the Christian and political upheaval in this period. Aspects covered include the following:

• Life in Tudor England.
• Mary Boleyn (d.1543) owned Rochford Hall (Anne Boleyn may or may not have spent time there).
• Richard Rich later owned the Hall. A cunning and resourceful political figure who became Lord Chancellor, supposedly gathered ‘evidence’ that led to Anne’s downfall, changed political/religious allegiance to survive the changes in monarchy, but then left money in his will for Almshouses to be built for the poor.
• Religious change - Protestant persecution (1555 Rochford/Rayleigh martyrs burnt at the stake); Congregationalists meeting in secret at Rochford Hall; Wakering a Puritan stronghold; persecuted Dutch protestants flee to Foulness/Wakering.
• Canewdon witch trials (1580).
• Some local Puritans joined the New England Pilgrims - John Winthrop (from Great Stambridge) became the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629) and a chief figure among the Puritan founders of New England.
• Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (whose family owned Chichester Hall) was a major translator of the King James Bible (1611).