Buckden - a Huntingdonshire Village

A HISTORY OF ST MARY’S, THE PARISH CHURCH 115 But, in the 1550s, with influential Presbyterians ‘openly preaching against bells, affirming the use of them to be superstitious and abominable’, it was only a matter of time before Buckden was left with one bell, the rest gone to make the king’s cannon. This is a list of the current bells with their dates, makers, tone and inscriptions: c. 1510. Thomas Bullisdon (London). Treble. ‘Sca Katherina Ora Pro Nobis’ and a shield ‘TB’. 1627. Wm Haulsey (St. Ives). No 5. ‘John Bardar, Michel Jarmand 1627’ [wardens]. Please also note the reference to this bell in the Churchwardens’ Accounts appendix. 1654. Miles Graye (of Colchester. However, there are references to this bell being cast in Gamlingay). No 4. ‘Miles Graye Fecit 1654’ 1779. Edward Arnold. No 3. ‘John Green Esq and Robt Burder Churchwardens 1779 + Edwd Arnold St Neots fecit’ c. 1790. Robert Taylor. No 2. ‘John Green Esq. John Waller Churchwardens. Robt Taylor St Neots Fecit’ 1997. Whitechapel Foundry (London). No 6. ‘Ely Diocesan Bellringers Association – Centenary Bell - 1897-1997 – Whites of Appleton – Whitechapel Bell Founders – To the Glory of God’ In the mid-1990s it was realised that the old oak bell frame installed in the tower in 1637, while still strong, was moving in its mountings. So, it was decided as a Millennium project to raise funds for a new bell frame and for modern facilities for church and village use (i.e. a small kitchen, a meeting hall and toilets). Sufficient funds were soon generously raised and the bell frame took precedence as a tangible sign of the church’s commitment. Indeed the new bell, with its five companions hanging in their new steel frame, helped ring in the third millennium after Christ’s birth. The 1637 oak frame remains in situ in the tower, with its replacement two floors below. Fund-raising for the other facilities in a purpose-built extension actively continues in 2009 and the church welcomes support in any manner to assist with this venture. The Reformation of the Church in England (and Buckden) Many excellent and large volumes have been written about the Reformation and about what it meant to those in power, the churchmen and the common man. But for the purposes of this chapter we offer a simplified, rather informal synopsis of how this period affected Buckden church. Henry VIII partially adopted Protestantism to suit his divorce and personal life as well as to benefit by the confiscation of the Catholic Church’s wealth. When he died in 1547, his young son Edward VI carried on his work. Then on his death in 1553, Edward’s half-sister, Catholic Queen Mary, tried to reverse the church- stripping process. Finally, when Mary died in 1558, her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth went back to her father’s ways. It would be tedious to read of how frequently Buckden’s altar was moved and rotated, and of how the bishops fared (not well) under the differing edicts of each monarch. Bishop Longland of Lincoln (1521-47), although active in the king’s divorce and happy to renounce the pope as head of the English church, had most of his land and manors seized, but was permitted to keep Buckden or what was left of it. As a wealthy church, Buckden had its silver, vestments and other valuables confiscated, and no doubt the palace was plundered too. In 1547 Bishop Holbeche, a much-disliked man, followed Longland. He sold off major parts of the diocese, ‘stripped bare’ Lincoln Cathedral (and no doubt Buckden church) and, as Commissioner for Oxford, stripped the university there. He was the first Bishop of Lincoln to be married. The ‘superstitious’ Lady Chapel, Guild Chapel, rood screen, loft, imagery, statues and five of the six bells had all gone. And now that the rood screen had been scrapped, rails had to be placed around the altar to protect it from the dogs in the church. Fortunately, the heavenly choir and musicians came through unscathed. Following two Catholic bishops in Mary I’s reign (1553-8), the Protestant Bishop Nicholas Bullingham in 1566 ordered the destruction of all remaining ‘Popish stuff’. The following year, his wife died and was buried in Buckden church. The ‘English Sweat’ and the Guinness Book of Records Buckden used to be in the Guinness Book of Records, and the reason for this related to an obscure disease in the Middle Ages.