LHS Talk Wednesday 27 November 2024

In Hampshire, in Tudor times, religious tensions ran high.

Recusancy, the refusal to attend Church of England services, was a major issue.

We’ll explore why Catholics chose this path, defying the law and risking fines, imprisonment or even death.

We’ll meet some notable Hampshire recusants, from gentry families like the Wriothesleys and the Tichbornes.

Some families, such as the catholic Philpotts of Compton, were split by their religious differences. Fiercely protestant Archdeacon John Philpott was burned at the stake in Mary’s reign and is commemorated by this window in Winchester Cathedral.

Others, typified in song by the Vicar of Bray, changed their allegiance to suit the time. In real life William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester converted and reconverted several times.

We will also look at how the religious changes impacted Compton and Shawford, including the history of Silkstead Manor and the mystery of what happened to this once illustrious house and Catholic school.

The arms of Doughty-Tichborne on the Tichbourne Arms pub sign

Detail of the 1917 Philpott window, in the south aisle of Winchester cathedral, second bay from the west.
The window was erected in memory of members of the Philpott family, which has been associated with Winchester and specifically Compton since the 14th century.
The most notable was John Philpot, scholar of Winchester College, and Fellow of New College, Oxford, who became Archdeacon of Winchester in the reign of Protestant King Edward VI.
After Edward’s death, and the brief reign of Lady Jane Grey, Edward’s elder half-sister Mary became queen. Mary had remained Catholic and began purging protestants. John Philpot lost his role as Archdeacon, was imprisoned, interrogated and eventually burned at the stake at Smithfield, for refusing to renounce his Protestant beliefs.

William Paulet, first Marquess of Winchester. Image credit Yale Center for British Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons