A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



than has been supposed. The records of this county bring out this 

 point very clearly. 



In 1577 it was reported by the justices of the peace in Bucking- 

 hamshire that there were none here that refused to come to church. 1 

 But in 1583 in a list of persons noted as ' harbourers of Papists and 

 seminaries,' 2 are found four names belonging to this county, namely, 

 Gifford of Steeple Claydon, Mercer of Middle Claydon, Dormer of 

 Wing, and Peckham (the first two re-appear in the recusant Roll of 

 i 594) ; to these is added in another list 3 which follows the name of 

 Browne * of Boarstall. It was said of all these that they habitually 

 entertained certain priests named, and also offered a refuge to any that 

 might come their way. There is however no record of any proceed- 

 ings instituted against these persons. About 1584 Mistress Isabel 

 Hampden of Stoke Poges and her family withdrew from their parish 

 church, and fell under the suspicion of Paul Wentworth of Burnham. 5 

 In 1585 Sir Robert Dormer, as sheriff of Buckinghamshire, was ordered 

 to draw up a list of recusants for his shire, that they might be com- 

 pelled to pay their fines and provide horses for the queen's service " ; and 

 now twenty-two names were sent in, representing fifteen well-known 

 families, the only one of interest outside this county being that of 

 Thomas Throgmorton. 7 It may be noticed that they do not include 

 any of those suspected in 1583 except William Mercer of East Claydon. 

 Ten of those reported at this time offered to pay certain sums varying 

 from ioj. to 100, as composition for the enormous fines actually due 

 by the law of the land. 8 In 1 587 John Gardiner of Grove Place, Bucks, 

 was imprisoned in the Gatehouse for aiding and sheltering priests ; his 



i S. P. Dom. Eliz. cxviii. 9. 

 Ibid, clxviii. 33. 



3 Ibid. 34. The Dormer here mentioned is Sir Robert, afterwards Baron Dormer of Wing. Letters 

 of Sir Francis Englefield to the Duchess of Feria in 1570 show plainly how Sir William Dormer in his old 

 age was in danger of falling away from the Roman Catholic interest. He is said to be ' beset by heretics ' 

 (such as the Earl of Bedford), so that he breathes their spirit : ' the use of ill company and the lack of all 

 good occasions of reviving a man's slow devotion to good things in time corrupts the very mind, affection 

 and soul.' It was hoped at the same time that his son's marriage with a daughter of Lord Montague 

 would make him ' a pillar to the family that shall succeed in that realm.' Ibid, xviii. 44, 45. This 

 marriage did not however make Sir Robert an open recusant ; but it kept him within the old circle, and 

 he married all his children into Roman Catholic families. 



4 The Brownes of Boarstall were probably related to Anthony Browne, Lord Montague. 

 S. P. Dom. Eliz. cbcvii. 47. 



6 Ibid, clxxxiii. 32. 



* The Throgmortons of Weston Underwood seem to have been another branch of the same family 

 which was mixed up with so many of the suspicious correspondences of this reign. It was probably on 

 account of this connection that they had now and later to pay much larger fines than other people, though 

 not personally concerned, so far as can be yet discovered, in any conspiracy. The same Thomas Throg- 

 morton who now paid 100 a year, had to pay 20 in 1607 instead of two-thirds of his estate. The best 

 known of the other names are Mansfield of Taplow, Penn of Penn, Lee of Pitstone, Hampden of Stoke 

 Poges, Butler and Belson of Brill. 



8 Ibid, clxxxviii. 32. John Butler of Brill, offering .4 a year for his whole family, says that even this 

 amount is almost beyond his power, since his Oxfordshire estates had been seized three years since by the 

 sheriff on a writ of excommunication, and he had been forced to go and live in a cottage on an income 

 of 40 marks a year at the uttermost. Austin Belson of Brill declared he had neither lands, goods 

 nor cattle, and could not even provide a light horse. Avice Lee of Pitstone solved the difficulty by going 

 to church and obtaining a certificate of conformity. Ibid, clxxxiii. 32. The real fine, 240, was beyond 

 the total income of most of the ordinary county gentry ; hence the necessity of these compositions. 



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