William Dowsing – The Arch Vandal.
Iconoclasm in the Churches of the Colne Stour in 1644

The Reformation which swept Europe in the sixteenth century and which in England we tend to lay at the door of Henry VIII and his quarrel with Rome, led to dramatic changes to the appearance of our parish churches. In 1534, when Henry declared himself supreme Head of the Church of England, most church walls, furnishings and rood screens were painted. By 1559 when Elizabeth came to the throne nearly all the colour was gone, murals had been whitewashed and the great Doom painting that decorated the chancel arch had disappeared (to be replaced later in some churches by the Royal Arms). Rood screens, chantries, side altars, reliquaries, statues and shrines had for the most part been swept away, as had a great deal of the stained glass. The average parish church which had been a place of mystery and symbolism, was gradually turned into an austere building in which the emphasis was focussed entirely on proclaiming (in plain English) the word of God. 

The process of destroying anything to do with the old medieval (“superstitious and papist”) practices was long and remorseless and reading about it, one can but be surprised that so much did survive into the seventeenth century. But even greater destruction was to come at the hands of the Puritans and, in the same way that we blame Henry VIII for the Reformation, (a phenomenon which was in fact Europe-wide), we tend to lay all the blame for more than a century of iconoclasm at the door of Puritans during the civil war, even though much of the damage was done in previous decades. 

And it is not without reason that we blame the Puritans; at least in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, for the principal agent of much of the destruction, a certain William Dowsing, detailed with manic enthusiasm, in his famous journal, the damage for which he was responsible. That journal is now our principal source of information about iconoclasm during the civil war.* 

October 1642 saw the indecisive battle of Edgehill, the first major engagement of the Civil War. Marston Moor and Naseby, decisive victories for Cromwell, took place in July 1644 and June 1645 respectively. In August 1643 a Parliamentary Ordinance was published “for the demolishing of monuments of idolatry,” and in December 1643 the Earl of Manchester, the Captain General of the parliamentary armies of East Anglia, appointed William Dowsing as a “commissioner for the destruction of monuments of idolatry and superstition” in the counties of the Eastern Association (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Lincolnshire). 

The 1643 ordinance imposed a duty to remove all fixed altars, altar rails, chancel steps, crucifixes, crosses, images of the Virgin Mary and pictures of saints or superstitious inscriptions. In May 1644 its scope was widened to include representations of angels, rood lofts, holy water stoups, and images in stone, wood and glass and on plate. 

William Dowsing came of yeoman stock and was born at Laxfield in Suffolk in 1596. He was well educated and had been Provost Marshall of the Eastern Association’s army, responsible for providing arms and provisions and dealing with prisoners. Fanatical, pedantic, legalistic and self-righteous, he believed like many extreme puritans that the world had to be reordered in preparation for the second coming of Christ. He was convinced, in the words of one scholar, “that God would build a new Jerusalem, if only the godly would clear the site.” He was also the ultimate bureaucrat and Philistine who carried out his instructions without the slightest consideration for the damage he was doing to his country’s heritage. Having done his damnedest, Dowsing added insult to injury by charging each church a fee of one noble (6s 8p or about 33p) for his work. It is doubtful if he had a sense of humour. 

Dowsing was unique. There are no other examples of Manchester or anyone else appointing a commissioner with Dowsing’s visitorial powers, though Dowsing himself appears to have appointed various deputies. Between December 21st 1643 and October 1st 1644, starting with the chapels of the colleges in Cambridge, Dowsing visited some 100 parishes in Cambridgeshire and 150 in Suffolk, smashing stained glass and other “superstitious” imagery, ripping up monumental brass inscriptions, destroying altar rails and steps, defacing statuary and pulling down crucifixes and crosses. In particular he concentrated on stained glass and no complete window survives in any of the churches he visited. 
 

Altars were very closely connected with the concept of idolatry and sacrifice and hence not only were altars and altar steps destroyed, but chancel steps were also levelled. The thinking behind the destruction of crosses is hard to follow, the cross having been a Christian symbol since the very beginnings of the church. On a practical level Dowsing believed that if all images and symbols were not destroyed, then it could well be that God might stand in the way of victory by Cromwell’s forces over the King. 

Dowsing began his work in Cambridge, Lord Manchester’s headquarters, at the end of December 1643. He dealt first with the University colleges where he met with considerable resistance, but at this stage, if not later, he was accompanied by soldiers to reinforce his demands and the college authorities were no match for him. 

Damage was extensive, although miraculously the famous East window at King’s survived. It is possible that it was taken down, hidden and subsequently reinstated. At any rate its survival is very much the exception – fully two thirds of the churches in the counties of the Eastern Association had their glass smashed during 1643-4. 

After a short period in the Cambridgeshire countryside, Dowsing set off for his home which by then was in Stratford St Mary. On January 6th 1644 he reached Colne-Stour territory, arriving in Clare and set to work with a will. In the magnificent parish church of St Peter and St Paul he created mayhem even by his own standards, “We break down 1000 pictures superstitious. I break down 200, 3 of God the Father, 3 of Christ, and the Holy Lamb, and 3 of the Holy Ghost like a dove with wings.” In purely numerical terms, more “pictures” were broken here than in any other church he visited. The word “picture” was used in the same way as we use the word “image”, i.e. it could mean glass, wood, stone, canvas or any other material. The numbers must be open to doubt, and we have no idea how Dowsing counted the number of images when he erased wall paintings or destroyed an entire window. All the windows at Clare probably had stained glass in them and there would also have been extensive wall paintings.
  

Dowsing also gave orders for the twelve apostles in the roof to be taken down, 20 cherubim and “the sun and moon in the east window.” He would not be at all pleased to see the same sun and moon now restored to the east window together with twelve heraldic panels, all of which have been resurrected from fragments. Otherwise no glass survives. Dowsing was usually extremely punctilious, and it was not within his remit to destroy heraldic glass, so it may be that the destruction got out of control. It is said that there are bullet holes in the roof, presumably caused by soldiers trying to bring down the apostles and the cherubim, but I couldn’t see any and the friendly woman doing the cleaning couldn’t either. Rows of very charming angels in a string course above the arches in the nave have survived intact, overlooked amidst the carnage. (A very similar row of angels survives in Stoke-by-Nayland.) For all the destruction, Clare remains one of the most glorious churches in East Anglia. Today the light streams in through clear glass, giving the church a wonderful feeling of lightness – perhaps we have Dowsing to thank for that. 

Dowsing found time for three other visits that day including Wixoe where “we break a picture and gave order to level the steps.” Then on January 9th he went to work in Sudbury. Why he missed out on Long Melford is a mystery, but the church there had probably suffered much damage in 1642 when a Puritan mob described as “3000 of the scum of Colchester” plundered Melford Hall. The very splendid medieval glass to be found in the north aisle survived because it was originally in the clerestory. Had Dowsing visited, it too would undoubtedly have been destroyed. 

In Sudbury, Dowsing visited all three churches, starting with St Peter’s in the market square where he “broke down a picture of God the Father, 2 crucifixes, and pictures of Christ, about an hundred in all, and gave order to take down a cross off the steeple; and diverse angels, 20 at least, on the roof of the church.” The church has now been declared redundant - a depressing situation for a building that occupies the most prominent site in Sudbury. 
 

Clare – stringcourse angel

At St Gregory’s “We break down 10 mighty great angels in glass, in all, 80,” and in All Saints “we break about 20 superstitious pictures; and took up 30 brazen superstitious inscriptions.” 

Both St Peter’s and All Saints are nowadays pretty bleak, the latter usually locked, and the former used for sundry commercial purposes. Incontrovertible traces of Dowsing are hard to find, but St Peter’s has lost the hood mould stops on both the North and West doors which is symptomatic of his efforts, even if the final blows look more modern. (The moulding round the top of doors frequently ended in carved faces). All Saints lost the crosses on the nave and chancel gables. They were not replaced and empty pedestals remain. 

St Gregory’s is the most remarkable of Sudbury’s churches, in particular because of its magnificent fifteenth century font cover, the purpose of which was to protect the holy water from thieves. St Gregory’s cover is rivalled only by the one at Ufford which Dowsing described as “ a glorious cover over the font, like a pope’s triple crown.” He was being disparaging, but he was fiercely opposed by the people of Ufford who wouldn’t give him the key of the church, and the cover survived. That at St Gregory’s also survived although the eight niches round the base have lost their saints. A notice in the church claims that Dowsing was responsible for destroying them, but it might be that they were stolen later.

Dowsing then left our bit of Suffolk alone from January 9th to February 20th, when he reappeared and tore through a further series of churches over the following week. The first to receive his attentions were Great and Little Cornard. At Little Cornard, a tiny church, isolated and unadorned, there is virtually no sign of Dowsing’s activities, although he destroyed 6 superstitious pictures and a couple of crosses. At Great Cornard the gable crosses on both nave and chancel were broken off and remain so to this day (cf illustration). He also gave orders for the cross to be taken off the steeple and for the chancel steps to be levelled. John Pain, the churchwarden, refused to cooperate or to pay and Dowsing gave orders for him to be taken before the Earl of Manchester, the only known instance of Dowsing using his power of arrest.

The following day Dowsing dealt with Newton and Assington. Although the nave at Newton is now seldom used and it is looked after by the Redundant Churches Fund, much in the church has survived, in particular a remarkable 15th century pulpit (cf illustration). Carved on the pulpit is the invocation “Pray for the soul of Richard Mody and his wife Letitia”. Dowsing must have missed this, as it is exactly the sort of inscription that he would have obliterated. 

At Assington “we break down 40 pictures, one of God the Father, and the other very superstitious; and gave order to level the chancel; and to take a cross off the steeple”. The Gurdon memorials in the chancel are undamaged, but one was erected in 1648, after Dowsing’s visit and although there are two cherubim on the other earlier one, they may have been replaced. Carved figures of animals, birds and angels survive on the south doors, although there are signs of an angel being flattened. In the east wall of the south aisle there is an empty niche whose hood mould stop has lost its head – typical Dowsing damage. Dowsing still had time that day to make a return visit to Nayland, apparently to demand his fee of 6s. 8d. 

Two days later he visited Bures, where he went first to the chapel at Smallbridge Hall owned by the Waldegraves. Here Dowsing met with one of his most significant defeats. Mr Waldegrave was not at home, but his daughter and servants agreed that they would destroy the 20 or so superstitious pictures detected by Dowsing. Mysteriously, however, the key could not be found and to rub things in they also failed to come up with the 6s. 8d. which they had promised him. It is sad that the chapel was later demolished, probably when the house was rebuilt in 1874.

At the parish church in Bures, Dowsing had better luck - over 600 superstitious pictures were “broken down” and a number of inscriptions destroyed. Bures remains a fascinating church and it is extraordinary in the circumstances how much has survived. Many of the corbels which formerly supported the roof are carved with angels and were presumably too high up for Dowsing to get at although the angels on the font were defaced. There is a fine seventeenth century monument to Sir William Waldegrave in front of which he kneels with his wife, six sons and four daughters. All have had their arms knocked off, presumably because their hands were joined together in prayer - considered a “superstitious attitude”. 

The best example of iconoclasm to be found in any of the churches mentioned in this article can be seen in Bures on the north side of the altar where two large battered corbels stick out into the chancel. The corbels formerly supported a canopy above an Easter sepulchre (very similar to the one in Long Melford) and the ends of both were decorated with finely carved angels. These angels have been badly defaced and at first sight this looks like Dowsing’s work. But in fact the damage was done 85 years previously in 1558 when, in a burst of puritan fervour, a group of radical parishioners hacked down the screens, destroyed the Easter sepulchre and damaged the Waldegrave tombs, leading to proceedings in the Star Chamber where they were charged with riot. This underlines the fact that Dowsing came of a long line of iconoclasts dating back to the beginnings of the Reformation and extending to the present day. Vandalism is nothing new. 

On February 26th Dowsing duffed up the church at Glemsford. The beautiful font with its defaced figures bears witness to his visit. This was his last recorded “work” in the Colne-Stour area. He was paid his 6s. 8d. and left for other parts of Suffolk. 

Jeremy Hill *A definitive edition of the journal was published in 2001, edited by Trevor Cooper. ISBN 0 85115 833 1

Battered angels at Bures