ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



changes under the Commonwealth. At Dursley * the communion rails which 

 had been set up in 1636 were destroyed, there was again a 'table board,' in 

 the nave ; instead of the surplice, Book of Common Prayer, and double gilt 

 communion cup, there were, in 1643, the Presbyterian directory for public 

 worship, two pewter platters, a salver and bowl. In 1648 a bason was 

 bought and the font was screwed up. No less a sum than 11 $s. 8</. was 

 spent on replacing old glass with plain glass. The windows at Fairford were 

 taken out and hidden to save them from destruction,' but those at Rend- 

 combe, which are said to have resembled the Fairford ones, were broken. 8 

 When Sudeley Castle was captured by the parliamentarians in 1643 they 

 smashed the tombs of the Chandos family in the chapel, turned the tower into 

 a stable, made the chancel their slaughter-house, and used the communion table 

 as a chopping board.* The mayor of Bristol in 1655 caused the lead to be 

 stripped from the cathedral and cloisters, but other members of the corporation 

 intervened, and orders were issued that the lead should be sold for the repair 

 of the building.' When the city was occupied by the soldiers of the parlia- 

 ment in 1 642, Christchurch was used as barracks, and the organs and 

 windows were broken.' At St. Mary Redcliffe images and ornaments were 

 defaced, brasses were torn up, the organ was broken, and a bonfire was made of 

 prayerbooks, homilies, cushions, and cassocks, and even Bibles were burnt. 7 



When Episcopacy was abolished and the use of the Book of Common 

 Prayer was forbidden, dissensions broke out among the Puritans. In 1643, 

 during the occupation of Bristol by the royalist army, the Baptist community 

 dispersed. 8 On their return in 1645 'the heads and minds of many of the 

 members were filled with controversies, insomuch that every meeting almost 

 was filled with disputes and debates.' A number of them chose Mr. Ingello 

 for their teacher, and sat under his ministry for four or five years. However, 

 his ' flaunting apparel ' and love of music offended some of them, and they 

 secured the services of Mr. Ewins of Llanvaches in his stead. An Act for the 

 consolidation of parishes in Bristol, for the better maintenance of the ministers 

 and more frequent preaching, was passed in 1650, and the mayor made 

 Mr. Ewins lecturer for the city. The chief representative of the Presby- 

 terian party was Ralph Farmer, who became the lecturer at St. Nicholas and 

 minister of St. James. 9 In 1659 his friend, a tanner named William Grigge, 

 published a little book for sale at three farthings, in which he inveighed 

 against Cromwell's ' wicked toleration ' and c liberty of conscience,' whereby 

 Bristol was become 'the receptacle of blasphemers.' The Quakers who first 

 appeared in Bristol in 1653 were treated with the utmost severity, but they 

 gave some provocation. On 10 December, Elizabeth Marshall went to 

 ' Nicholas steeple-house ' to deliver a message to Ralph Farmer, and when 

 he was about to administer the holy communion, she cried out, ' Woe, woe, 

 woe from the Lord to them who take the Word of the Lord in their mouths 

 and the Lord never sent them.' 10 They also caused disturbances at services in 

 other churches, and roused much animosity against themselves. Hope Well 

 Fox, who had become minister of Lydney, personally assaulted the Quakers 



Blunt, Chap, of Par. Hist. 59, 60. ' Joyce, The FairforJ Windows, 43. 



Gltue. N. and Q. vi, 49. 4 Dent, Annals ofWinchcombe and SuJtley Castle, 260. 



Britton, Bristol Cathedral, 52. * Nicolls and Taylor, Bristol Past and Present, ii, 177. 



Ibid. 210. ' Bnadmead Rec. (Hanserd Knollys Soc.), 31-39. 



Nicholls and Taylor, op. cit. iii, 35. " Ibid, ii, 285. 



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