Ingatestone: Book of Common Prayer

Book of Common Prayer Anniversary

Up and down the country, the Church of England still holds services using the Book of Common Prayer – sometimes referred to as ‘1662 service’.  In some quarters its words are regarded as central to the liturgy.  But it was an Act of Parliament which ordained its use, effective from St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August) 1662.

Samuel Pepys, a Londoner, wrote in his diary:

“August 17^th. (Lord’s Day).  Up very early, this being the last Sunday that the Presbyterians are to preach, unless they read the Common Prayer and renounce the Covenant, and so I had mind to hear Dr Bates’s farewell sermon, and walked to St Dunstan’s, where, it not being seven o’clock yet, the doors were not open; and so I went and walked an hour in the Temple-garden … . At eight o’clock I went, and crowded in at the back door among others, the church being half-full almost before any doors were open publicly; which is the first time that I have done so these many years since I used to go with my father and mother; and so got into the gallery, beside the pulpit, and heard very well.”

This must have been the last Sunday when John Willis preached in Ingatestone.  Following ejection “he did not move any great distance, but established a conventicle at Brentwood, in conjunction with Thomas Gibson, who had been ejected from Little Baddow.  There they had a licence for a ‘Presbyterian meeting house’ in 1672, and Rector Willis probably remained there until his death in 1679” (EE Wilde, Ingatestone & The Essex Great Road (1913) p176). This was the formation of what became the Congregational Church (more recently Brentwood United Reformed Church).

D W Coller, wrote about the events of 1662 in his book ‘The People’s History of Essex’ (1861)

“Then came the Act of Uniformity, which banished all strange doctrine from the pulpit and restored the liturgy in its completeness; and 2,000 of the clergy, many of them in Essex, with a sincerity which astonished the kingdom, abandoned their snug vicarages and comfortable rectory-houses, and went forth, voluntarily embracing a life of hardship and poverty rather than accept the articles of subscription which were tendered to them as the condition of retaining their cures.  The following is a list of the ejected clergy in this county: it shows at once the extent of the suffering, and the parishes which had been under pastors whose teaching had been most hostile to the system of the Church:

Abbey Hatch: Mr Knightsly

Alphamstone: Mr Samuel Brinsley, St John’s Col. Camb

Arkesden: Richard Pepps. M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Great Baddow: Mr Christopher Wragge

Little Baddow: Thomas Gilson, M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Barking: Benjamin Way M.A., Oriel Col. Oxon

Barnston: John Beadle, M.A.

Belchamp (Walter): Mr Dearsley

Belchamp (Otten): Mr Thomas

Bentley: Mr Thomas Beard

Boreham: Mr John Oates

Boxted: Mr Lax, also Mr Carr

Braintree: Mr John Argor, Camb. Univ

Steeple Bumpstead: Mr Edmund Symmes

Birdbrook: Issac Grandorge, M.A., St John’s Col. Camb

Great Burstead: Mr Samuel Bridges

Chelmsford: Mr Mark Mott

Chickney: Mr Archer

Childerditch: Mr Harris

Chrishall (Little): Mr James Willet

Clavering: Mr John Moore, Peter-house, Camb

Coggeshall: Mr John Sams

Colchester, St Andrews: Owen Stockton, M.A., Christ’s Col. Camb

Colchester, St Peter’s: Mr Edward Warren

Colne Engaine: Mr John Clarke

Copford: Mr Robert Thompson

Cranham: Mr John Yardley

Danbury: Mr John Man

Dedham: Matt Newcomen, M.A., St John’s Col. Camb

High Easter: Mr Martin Holbitch

Eastwood: Mr Phillogers Sacheverel, Ox Univ

Felsted: Mr Nathaniel Ranew, Eman. Col. Camb

Feering: Mr Constable

Finchingfield: Mr Hugh Glover, Eman. Col. Camb

Fingringhoe: Mr Gregg

Fordham: John Bulkley, M.A.

Gestingthorp: Mr Davis

Hawkwell: Mr John Church

Halstead: Mr Wlliam Sparrow, Camb. Univ

Hamstead (West): Mr Green

Hanningfield S: Mr Cardinal

Hatfield Broad Oak: John Warren M.A., Ox. Univ

Hempstead: Mr Thomas Ellis

Henham: Mr Samuel Ely

Hedingham (Castle): Mr John Smith

Henny (Little): Mr Samuel Crossman

Hockley: Mr Farnworth

Hallingbury (Little): Mr Waters

Hornchurch: Mr Wells

Ingatestone: John Willis, M.A.

Inworth: Mr Robert Dodd, Ox Univ, also Mr Jenkins

Laver (Magdalen): Mr Harvey

Laver (High): Mr Samuel Borfet, King’s Col. Camb

Laver (Little): Edward Whiston, M.A., Trin. Col. Camb

Leighs (Little): Mr John Benson

Leyton (Low): Phllip Anderton, M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Lindsell: Mr Clark

Maldon: Thomas Horrockes, M.A., St John’s Col. Camb

Moreton: Edmund Calamay, M.A., Sydney Col. Camb

Nazing: Mr John Brown, Eman. Col. Oxon

Nevendon: Mr Davis Fowles

Norton: Mr Hubbard

Notley: Mr Sparrowhawk

Oakley: Mr John Hubbard

Oakley (near Stansted): Mr Lucas

Ockendon (South): Mr Barnaby

Ongar (Chipping): Mr John Lorkin

Panfield: Mr George Purchas

Parndon (Great): Mr Bastwick

Pattiswick: Mr Ralph Hile

Pebmarsh: Me Blakeley

Pentlow: Mr Henry Esday

Prittlewell: Thomas Peck, M.A.

Radwinter: Mr George Moxon

Rayleigh: Abraham Caley, B.D.

Rettendon: William Clopton, M.A., Eman. Col. Camb

Ridgewell: Daniel Ray, M.A., St John’s Col. Camb

Rivenhall: Mr George Lisle

Roothing: Mr John Wood

Roothing (White): Mr Sandford

Sandon: Mr Samuel Smith

Shalford: Mr Giles Firman, Camb. Univ

Shelley: Mr Zackery Finch

Shenfield: Mr George Bound

Shoebury: Mr Watson

Southchurch: William Ruthband, M.A., Ox. Univ

Springfield: John Reeve, M.A.

Stambourne: Mr Henry Havers, Kath. Hall, Camb

Stanford Rivers: Mr Matthew Ellistone

Stansted: Mr Robert Abbott

Stapleford (Abbots): Mr Lewis Calandrine

Stapleford (Tawney): Mr Ward

Stebbing: Samuel Bantoft, B.D., Jesus Col. Camb

Stisted: Mr Thomas Clark

Stock: Mr Martin Sympson

Stow Mary’s: Mr James Maulden

Tey (Much or Great): Mr Green

Tey (Marks): Mr Richard Rand

Terling: John Stalham, M.A., Ox. Univ

Thaxted: Mr James Parker

Thoyden Mount: Mr Francis Chandler

Toppesfield: Mr John Overhead

Upminster: Mr Hawkes

Wakering: Mr Christopher Scott

Waltham (Little): John Harrison, M.A.

Wanstead: Leonard Hoar, M.D.

Warley (Little): Mr Powel

West Ham: Mr Walton

Wethersfield: John Cole, M.A., Jesus Col. Camb.

White Colne: Mr John Bigley

Wickham Bishops: Mr Robert Billio, Trin. Col. Camb

Witham: Mr Thomas Ludgutter

Weeley: Mr Dowel

Yeldham (Great): Mr Robert Chadsly.

“It appears to have been feared that these nonconformist exiles would in many instances carry their congregations from the parish altars, and leave the churches desolate.  An act was therefore passed prohibiting separate congregations, and forbidding any dissenting teacher to come within five miles of any place at which he had preached.  Dissent prevailed in the county, nevertheless, and to a great extent, - so hard is it to coerce the conscience by human law; and though these restrictions, with occasional modifications, were continued for a century afterwards, conventicles, as they were called, were set up in secure and secret places, precautions being taken to elude the watchful constable and the lurking informer.  An illustration of this existed up to about a year ago in the old chapel in Baddow-lane, Chelmsford.  A sliding panel was to be seen in the wall at the back of the pulpit.  The tradition is, that the original building was a solitary barn, and through this loop-hole, the minister and the people who dared to worship God in what the law called an illegal manner, had a ready means to escape to the wood, which then skirted the rear of the building, and extended to Galleywood Common to the river, while the soldiers employed to hunt the fugitives were thundering the bolted door.”