page_title: West Bergholt
section_title: Trouble at the church
hierarchical_section_title: West Bergholt / History / Trouble at the church
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal coat of arms from James I (England) painted at St. Mary's Church (CoE), West Bergholt, Colchester, Essex, UK
context_page_description: West Bergholt, formerly known as Bergholt Sackville, is a large rural village and civil parish in Essex, England, lying near the border with Suffolk, close to the ancient town of Colchester. With a history going back to medieval times the village is now part of the Colchester Borough Council seat of West Bergholt and Eight Ash Green. In 2008 the village won the Class 2 category, and was placed third overall in the RCCE Best Kept Village in Essex competition.
context_section_description: Queen Elizabeth I had to step in twice to sort out problems with the village vicars. The first troublesome vicar was Reverend Edmund Tarrell, who was noted for spending too much time in the public houses and not enough time in the Church. The Queen had to intervene after it was reported that the vicar had failed to attend evensong and failing to give the last rites to a woman as he was in a Colchester pub and could not be found. His most serious offence, which he managed to escape, was not reading out King Henry VIII's latest religious doctrine, which carried the penalty of death. Later in 1581 the it was reported to the Queen by a member of the congregation that the village's vicar, Reverend Richard Kyrby, refused to conduct the service in English after the introduction of her new Prayer Book, which he claimed should remain in Latin and that the Queen's reforms were "politically incorrect". Kyrby was tried for treason, which he denied. The case was dropped after the accuser backed down. Sixteen years later the Queen stepped in and had him removed.
  Later on, to remind all the villagers who was king, King James I had his royal coat of arms painted in the Church. This coat of arms can still be seen to this day if one stands in the gallery and looks towards the altar. The motto on the arms reads "Exurgat Deus Dissipenter Ininice", this is the opening line of Psalm 68 (Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered). Opposite James's arms is a set of Hanoverian arms acquired in 1816.
  There is evidence that the village was sympathetic towards the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War as Gregory Holland, inducted as vicar in 1613, was threatened with removal in 1644 as a royalist and conformist, and for ungodly behaviour. He was allowed to retain the living. However, in 1650, Reverend Gregory Holland was called before the Committee for Scandalous Ministers for preaching Royalist sermons during the Civil War, along with drunkenness and swearing in Church. His main offence was preaching royalist sermons and claiming that it was "not fir got farmers and tradesmen to know the mystery of their salvation, but only for himself and such as he." The result of this hearing was that he was allowed to continue in his post as vicar at Bergholt, but that the parishioners elect him a curate, who would pay him the majority of his stipend. The curate chosen was nonconformist, Robert Billio. However, a group of parishioners were still not happy with the Rector's views and in 1655 Samuel Skillingham, Mary Cooke and Jonathan Bundock, all waited until the end of the sermon before standing up and giving their view of what he preached and continued afterwards to talk about their own religious experiences, which was typical of Quakers of the time. They were imprisoned in Colchester Castle. Skillingham was also sued for Tithes along with Stephen Davy, John Child, John Crofier, Moses Davy and Daniel Bicknall, but the charges were dropped following the death of their prosecutors. However, Skillingham was later beaten with Zacky Child for attending a meeting at Wethersfield, while John Child had his horse taken from him.
  During the Civil War, the Lord of Bergholt Manor was Sir John Denham, a poet and Royalist spy. He was exiled to Holland, along with the rest of the Royal Family, and because of his large gambling debts his property was sold to his political enemy Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet, Recorder and MP for Colchester.
   It was not only the vicars that were in trouble:a parishioner who in 1520 abused the rector in the pulpit, calling him a false, forsworn man, may have held Protestant views. In 1556 a member of the parish, Agnes George, part of the Stratford Martyrs, was out of favour with Queen Mary, for refusing to attend church until the service was no longer conducted in the Roman Catholic tradition. She was then tried before the Bishop of London, Reverend Edmund Bonner, along with 12 others. During her time at Newgate Prison she wrote a letter attacking the Pope for being the Anti-Christ, saying that she was baptised in Christ's C
caption: James I's Coat of Arms in Old St Mary's Church
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