After the execution
of Charles I in 1649 England became a Commonwealth under the command
of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector. He was not satisfied that all
opposition had been completely quashed so he kept his well-trained and
well-supplied New Model Army. A letter from an officer in Colonel
John Okey’s regiment, written in 1650,
stated that for 23 weeks the men were at St Neots and Kimbolton and later in
the year.
At Huntingdon
there was a Committee for Sequestrations. From here troops went out to confiscate
property belonging to the Royalists. They then rented it back to the
landowners at high rates or leased it to those to supported
the Parliamentary cause.
Oliver Cromwell
was a Puritan. He did not like the elaborate rituals and the colourful
decoration in the Church. He ordered that all remaining evidence of the
Roman Catholic influence in the churches should be removed.
His men were
ordered to smash all the stained glass windows. The windows in the three
St Mary’s churches in Priory, Eynesbury and Eaton Socon were replaced with
plain glass.
Any wooden
statues were pulled down and burned. Stone statues were smashed with hammers. Those too high to be
removed were shot at, defacing the faces. All St Mary’s churches show the
damage done during this time.
Stone altar
tables were removed, often placed by the door as a stone step
that people had to walk over. They were replaced with simple wooden tables.
Any paintings
that were not destroyed during the Reformation were whitewashed.
In many parishes
the vicars were replaced by ‘Registers’. John Luke, a gentleman of
Eynesbury, was sworn in as register of the several parishes of St Neots in
October 1653. All births, deaths and marriages had to be recorded in the register.
Christmas Day
celebrations were cancelled.
May Day
festivities were banned.
Maypoles were thought to be pagan symbols, and taken down. Morris
dancing was forbidden.
Drinking
alcohol in public houses
was discouraged. Heavy taxes were put on alehouse landlords
and innkeepers.
Singing and
dancing in public places
was banned.
Theatres were closed down.
Playing sport like
football on Sundays was banned.