An Inspector Calls: The Buckinghamshire church survey of 1637-39 and the Laudian reformation of the parish church

In this seminar we will look at the Buckinghamshire Church Survey of 1637-39 which is currently being transcribed and edited for publication by the Buckinghamshire Record Society.  The Survey recorded the condition of church fabrics, church furniture and the material of parish worship across the county of Buckinghamshire.   A total of 170 churches and chapels were inspected, making it one of the largest surveys to have survived from the 1630s. It is also one of the most detailed, containing a wealth of information, not just on church fabrics but also concerning bells, clocks, books, vestments and parish registers. 

Church surveys of this type were popular with the ecclesiastical authorities in the 1630s. For Laudian churchmen they were a vital tool in a national campaign of church restoration and reform, a reshaping of parish worship that Anthony Milton has described as no less than a ‘Laudian Reformation’.   The Survey allows to examine how these changes were pursued at a parish level. 

Drawing on the work of Kenneth Fincham, Andrew Foster and Trevor Cooper in particular, we will consider what the Survey reveals about the implementation and reception of the altar policy and the accompanying re-orientation and reshaping of church interiors. We will study evidence of Laudian priorities and preferences concerning seating, organs, churchyard crosses, parish books and decoration. 

Along the way we will also think about what the Survey can tell us about the condition of parish churches prior to the advent of Laud and the success or failure of earlier initiatives to reform and reshape the parish church. 

Finally, we will try to trace the impact of the Survey and consider how far the inspector’s orders were implemented.   As we will see, the Survey was one aspect of a wider campaign being run in the local church courts.  It has been suggested by Nicholas McDowell that the Survey helped push erstwhile Buckinghamshire resident, John Milton, into opposition to the church authorities.  We will conclude by thinking about how Milton and others in this future rebel county may have responded.  

– This event is free, but booking is required.