Suffolk has always been a county of non-conformists,
iconoclasts, and rebels.
The skull of the decapitated Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon
of Sudbury, remains to this day locked in a cupboard in St Gregory’s Church, keeping
alive memories of the county’s active participation in the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
Post reformation there is considerable evidence that shows
that the puritans were very popular in the county and that iconoclasts such as
Dowsing met little resistance when they wrought havoc in our local churches.
A strong non-conformist tradition persisted after the Civil
War, the family of Sudbury’s greatest son, Thomas Gainsborough, being one of
many that turned their backs on the establishment. In a letter to his Doctor in 1779,
Gainsborough comments that his sister Mrs Gibbon, ‘cares not a farthing for
what Bishops may say’.
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| Gainsborough's brother Humphrey, a famous non-conformist Minister |
This streak of independence and general bolshiness survives
to this day. While generally of a
conservative frame of mind people in Suffolk value their independence and
integrity. We do not like being
bullied or pushed around. It is no coincidence that our newspapers are
called the Free Press, or that another ‘Peasants Revolt’ appears to be in
progress at present.
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| Image courtesy of order-order.com |
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