0:00:08 > 0:00:13On 15th of September 1538, in this church in Suffolk,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15the priest, John Adryan, was performing a mass
0:00:15 > 0:00:18to celebrate the feast of the birth of the Virgin Mary.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23A member of his congregation, Robert Ward, sat down next to him
0:00:23 > 0:00:27and began to heckle, saying, "That is nonsense".
0:00:27 > 0:00:29Adryan responded by emphasising
0:00:29 > 0:00:32various parts of the service that he thought that Ward
0:00:32 > 0:00:36would find the most offensive, saying, "Is that nonsense too?
0:00:36 > 0:00:37"And is that nonsense?"
0:00:37 > 0:00:40The two men, priest and parishioner,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44ended up wrestling with each other for possession of the service book.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51This argument took place in a country that only a few years before had been
0:00:51 > 0:00:54not just Catholic, but famously, sincerely Catholic.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Foreign visitors remarked on the religious devotion of the English,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01with their brightly painted churches packed with images
0:01:01 > 0:01:05of Jesus, Mary and the saints.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07This was the one beautiful place in the village.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Make your church as beautiful as you can.
0:01:10 > 0:01:15The 16th and 17th Centuries were an age of great destruction.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20Someone has come along and poked through the face of God himself.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23But it was also an age of great innovation,
0:01:23 > 0:01:25that still shapes our churches today.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30The altar was swept down into the congregation. It was a dining table.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32I'm Richard Taylor.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35I write books about the messages hidden in Britain's churches.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40I believe that even these damaged and defaced medieval buildings can
0:01:40 > 0:01:43connect us with our ancestors' deepest beliefs.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48They reveal the startling new ideas about sin and salvation that would
0:01:48 > 0:01:51turn the old world upside-down.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07I've come to a church that was brand new when Robert Ward and
0:02:07 > 0:02:09John Adryan came to blows.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14I'm looking for signs of the practice that so outraged Ward -
0:02:14 > 0:02:17the adoration of the Virgin Mary.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33This is the Lady Chapel, actually the size of a small church,
0:02:33 > 0:02:37and its sole purpose was the veneration of the Virgin Mary.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41I wonder if anything's survived from those days.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51Look at this. Here, there's a symbol of Jesus, I-H, and there
0:02:51 > 0:02:56would have been a C here, which are the first letters of Jesus in Greek.
0:02:56 > 0:03:04And then, even above it, there's letters for the name of Mary.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08It's an M and an R joined together for Maria
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Regina, Mary, Queen of Heaven.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17And you are swept through the door into the court
0:03:17 > 0:03:19of the Queen of Heaven.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31These niches are empty but, once there would have been saints standing
0:03:31 > 0:03:38in every one of them, looking down on the priests who are saying mass after
0:03:38 > 0:03:42mass in praise and glory to Mary.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Everywhere is one of the most common symbols of Mary,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50the rose.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Often, it is shown as having a smooth stem.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58Mary is called the 'rose without thorns' because she is thought
0:03:58 > 0:04:00to be without sin.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05And alongside is another flower that represents Mary.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09The lily came to be Mary's symbol from the date of her major feast,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13the Annunciation, when the birth of Jesus was announced to her.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Because people calculated the date as being nine months before Jesus
0:04:17 > 0:04:23was born, 25th of December, back to the 25th of March, the springtime.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25And so the scenes were always portrayed
0:04:25 > 0:04:31surrounded with spring flowers, which over time became the lily.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35And down below it is its heraldic version,
0:04:35 > 0:04:41the fleur de lis, the flower of lily, a symbol taken up by royalty.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44The coat of arms of the British Royal Family
0:04:44 > 0:04:47is covered with symbols of the Virgin Mary.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Medieval images of Mary herself
0:04:51 > 0:04:56are now hard to find, but those that survive were made
0:04:56 > 0:04:58with care and devotion.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17For a remarkable insight into the way that medieval craftsmen
0:05:17 > 0:05:22depicted Mary, I'm with a lady doubly qualified for that task -
0:05:22 > 0:05:26art historian, Sister Wendy Beckett.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31East Harling has a magnificent window that shows scenes from Mary's life.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Many like it were destroyed.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37This one only survived because it was hidden in a house nearby.
0:05:37 > 0:05:42Still full of colour, it tells a powerful story.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46This is Jesus the young man, just before he sets out on his mission
0:05:46 > 0:05:49to teach. He and his mother have gone to a
0:05:49 > 0:05:53wedding party, and the wine runs out and she notices and she tells him.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56And he said, well it wasn't his business,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59and she takes no notice of him.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01She's saying to the stewards, whatever he tells you, do.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05And he has that look of resignation on his face, but he's going to do it
0:06:05 > 0:06:09and turn the water into the most wonderful red wine.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13And it's a gesture of, oh, mother!
0:06:13 > 0:06:15A mother being thoughtful about other
0:06:15 > 0:06:18people, about another young couple.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20It's this kind of event that made
0:06:20 > 0:06:22people feel at home with Mary, you see.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28And then you have the great central image
0:06:28 > 0:06:30of the death, the Crucifixion.
0:06:30 > 0:06:36And she's overcome with sorrow, with St John comforting her.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Often John's shown on the other side but here,
0:06:39 > 0:06:43I like it that he's on her side with her.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45And then you have what I think's the loveliest
0:06:45 > 0:06:47of all these little vignettes,
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Jesus taken down from the cross.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56The image of holding the body of her dead son, that reflection with images
0:06:56 > 0:07:02of Mary holding her baby, it's a powerful pairing.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05And also because she's upright,
0:07:05 > 0:07:06and he's horizontal.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10In a way they're making a cross, the cross of humanity.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Everybody knew theologically that Jesus
0:07:13 > 0:07:16was fully man as well as fully God.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21But somehow they found it difficult to imagine this emotionally.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Whereas Mary was only human, the ordinary woman.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29And does she feel flesh and blood, to you?
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Oh, yes, very much so.
0:07:33 > 0:07:34What else could she be?
0:07:36 > 0:07:39She blessed this window, she does bless it.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45From the middle of the 16th Century, images of Mary
0:07:45 > 0:07:47began to disappear from our churches.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50New ideas were sweeping Europe.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54The catalyst was a German monk named Martin Luther, who argued that
0:07:54 > 0:07:59the Bible showed that we didn't have to earn entry into heaven.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04Jesus had already paid for our sins by his death, and the sacrifice
0:08:04 > 0:08:09meant that Christians were justified before God by their faith alone.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Established church teaching on matters such as praying for the
0:08:12 > 0:08:17dead, praying to saints and the role of a priest, were all challenged.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20This reformation of the church meant
0:08:20 > 0:08:25that the glorious chantry chapels, wall paintings, and venerated statues
0:08:25 > 0:08:29of Mary and the saints, were all under threat.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39In England, these radical ideas first came to the fore under Henry VIII.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Although he ordered some images to be taken down, very little changed
0:08:43 > 0:08:45in his reign.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49It is sometimes said that the destruction of the English
0:08:49 > 0:08:53churches began under Henry VIII, but that's not really true.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58Monasteries, yes, churches, no.
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Henry unlatched the door to change, but the forces of destruction were
0:09:03 > 0:09:08really unleashed under his son, Edward VI.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Edward came to the throne aged only nine.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15But he soon outdid his father and his own advisors when it
0:09:15 > 0:09:18came to Protestant fervour.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21He wanted to create a new English church, free of the influence of the
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Pope, who he called, "The true son of the devil".
0:09:27 > 0:09:32The tools Edward used were two revolutionary books:
0:09:32 > 0:09:34The Bible in English and the Book
0:09:34 > 0:09:39of Common Prayer are now part of the furniture in every Anglican Church.
0:09:39 > 0:09:44But during Edward's reign in the middle of the 16th Century,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48they transformed the interiors of English churches.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54I've come to Ranworth in search of old copies of these books.
0:09:57 > 0:09:57Good grief.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Tudor Bibles and Prayer Books are now mostly
0:10:00 > 0:10:03found in museums and libraries.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05But many churches have some hidden
0:10:05 > 0:10:08away that may not be as old, but are just as evocative.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10- There we are, Richard. - There they are.
0:10:12 > 0:10:13What a pile!
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Are these books all original to the church?
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Yes, they are original. They were bought for the church.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21I see. Oh!
0:10:21 > 0:10:24The Book of Common Prayer. It's the parish book, isn't it?
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Now what else? It's an old...it's a Bible, the Gospel of St Matthew.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32You've had a bit of woodworm getting at these.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33Bookworm.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34Well, bookworms, yes.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41By Edward's reign, almost every church had a Bible in English.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45Today, it's hard to grasp the thrill for people to be able to read the
0:10:45 > 0:10:50prophets, the psalms and the gospels, all in their own language.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Just as striking, though, might have been what they didn't find here.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00There was less than they might have expected for example, about Mary.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03She appears in the early life of Jesus,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05and she appears at the Crucifixion as a witness, but there were none of
0:11:05 > 0:11:11the exciting stories about her life and about her role in the afterlife
0:11:11 > 0:11:14that they might have expected. Which might lead them to conclude
0:11:14 > 0:11:17that Mary didn't deserve quite the position
0:11:17 > 0:11:22that she'd occupied in the church and in their affections to date.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25From then on, scripture came
0:11:25 > 0:11:29to occupy a place in the decoration of churches which it hadn't before.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Images were becoming a thing of the past.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53The Book of Common Prayer was introduced in 1549.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58Its words, so familiar now, were revolutionary,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01as they invited the congregation to take part for the first time in the
0:12:01 > 0:12:05full drama of the church service.
0:12:05 > 0:12:06Here you start the book,
0:12:06 > 0:12:08with morning prayer.
0:12:08 > 0:12:13And it starts with these words, "Dearly beloved brethren",
0:12:13 > 0:12:19this drawing in of all of the people to pray together with the minister,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22not separate from the minister.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24There are so many words and phrases
0:12:24 > 0:12:29in here that came to enter the English language permanently.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Wilt thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?
0:12:32 > 0:12:34To live together after God's ordinance...
0:12:34 > 0:12:40..earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45So how can you 'read' a church that was affected by Edward's reforms?
0:12:58 > 0:13:02The Prayer Book's emphasis on involving the congregation
0:13:02 > 0:13:07in the service brought about a fundamental change in the most sacred
0:13:07 > 0:13:13Christian rite, the Eucharist, which became known as Holy Communion.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Gone was the belief
0:13:15 > 0:13:20that the bread and wine actually became the body and blood of Christ.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Now, the Prayer Book invited the
0:13:22 > 0:13:26people to eat together with the priest, in remembrance.
0:13:26 > 0:13:32Before, you had an altar made of stone at the far end of the sanctuary
0:13:32 > 0:13:37behind a screen, and with the priest having his back to the congregation.
0:13:37 > 0:13:43Now, the altar was swept down into the congregation itself.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46No longer an altar, this was a communion table.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It was made of wood, it was a dining table.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53It was the Prayer Book that brought about this change.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56The 'Dearly beloved brethren,' gathering around the table to
0:13:56 > 0:13:58share in this meal.
0:13:58 > 0:14:04It's always worth keeping an eye out in churches for tables like this one,
0:14:04 > 0:14:09often at the back, forgotten, covered in pamphlets and leaflets.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Because once, these were the most important ceremonial
0:14:13 > 0:14:17site in the church, at the heart of the congregation.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22The priest, now know as a minister, from the Latin for servant,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26moved from his position by the altar, to be closer to the people.
0:14:26 > 0:14:32This desk and seat are modern, but they show how things would have been,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36even with the service book here and a copy of the Bible,
0:14:36 > 0:14:41as the minister stood or sat and led the congregation in prayer.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46As well as being a time of innovation, young Edward's reign
0:14:46 > 0:14:49was a time of great destruction.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Stained glass windows were attacked, which had never happened before.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57These images in glass were of great beauty,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59but no-one actually venerated them.
0:14:59 > 0:15:05The windows were smashed simply because of what they depicted.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09Here there's an image of Jesus crucified and above him,
0:15:09 > 0:15:10God the Father.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16But someone has come along and poked through the face of God himself.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22For centuries, rood screens had divided the sacred
0:15:22 > 0:15:24space of the sanctuary from the nave.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29In Edward's reign, many screens were cut down or disfigured.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32This one is covered with saints.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36In every case, someone has come along with a chisel
0:15:36 > 0:15:40and they have hacked out the faces of each saint.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46You can still recognise who some of them are, from what they're carrying.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49This is St Jude with his boat.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52And this is St Peter carrying the keys of Heaven.
0:15:52 > 0:15:58It's like leaving the headless bodies on a battlefield, a symbol of
0:15:58 > 0:16:01the victory of this new faith.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Not all rood screens were defaced, some were broken up.
0:16:05 > 0:16:11In Needham Market, a minister's chair has been made out of the old screen.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16It sends out a clear message of the triumph of new over old.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24I think you've got a tremendous sense of loss when you look at this.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29The loss of so much art and so much beauty.
0:16:29 > 0:16:34That violence is still telling.
0:16:34 > 0:16:40Hundreds of years later, it's some powerful propaganda that's going on.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42But you also
0:16:42 > 0:16:47get what they were getting at, the Bible is quite clear.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51The second commandment: You shall not make a graven image.
0:16:55 > 0:16:59The upheaval and confusion that faced the 16th Century
0:16:59 > 0:17:01churchgoer wasn't over.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05The Tudor rollercoaster showed no sign of stopping.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09After a reign of just six years, Edward died and was succeeded
0:17:09 > 0:17:13by his half-sister, Mary.
0:17:13 > 0:17:18An ardent Catholic replaced that ardent Protestant.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Mary briefly reinstated the mass, processions
0:17:22 > 0:17:25and veneration of the saints.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Here at Ludham is one of the few surviving
0:17:30 > 0:17:35examples of Mary's vain attempt at a mini counter-reformation,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38this crucifixion scene.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42It's a pale imitation of past triumphs.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45What this shows,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48is that in many ways you couldn't turn the clock back.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53What you've got here is something crude, something half-finished.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59The figures blotted out, legs badly drawn.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03The people of Ludham were doing their best, but it was going to
0:18:03 > 0:18:06be very hard to recapture the glories of the Catholic past.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14When Mary died and Protestant Elizabeth took the throne,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Catholics were finally outlawed.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Driven out of the church, their time-honoured images and
0:18:23 > 0:18:29rituals gone, some families headed into the open fields.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32Traditionally on All Saints Night, a mass had been said with bells
0:18:32 > 0:18:37solemnly rung and prayers for the departed souls in purgatory.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Now, Catholics were reduced to marking their old belief
0:18:41 > 0:18:43with what little came to hand.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48One member of the group would take a pitch fork full of hay and light it,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50and the others would kneel and pray for their
0:18:50 > 0:18:55departed friends and relatives, for as long as the straw burned.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Nothing was going to tell the living not to pray for their dead.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21While Protestant ideas were transforming the interiors
0:19:21 > 0:19:24of English churches, in Scotland they were transforming
0:19:24 > 0:19:26the shape of the building itself.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28But with mixed results.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35John Knox, a former Catholic priest, was a fiery preacher.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39He and his fellow Protestants persuaded almost an entire nation
0:19:39 > 0:19:43to make a clean break with its Papist past.
0:19:43 > 0:19:48What this remarkable national experiment in faith needed
0:19:48 > 0:19:52was a remarkable new kind of church.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Well, it looks like a square,
0:20:10 > 0:20:16with a heavy, stubbed tower in the middle of it.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19It's so solid, this was built to last.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23And if it looks this different on the outside, I wonder what it
0:20:23 > 0:20:26looks like on the inside.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38That square shape just continues.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43It's expressing physically what was so crucial about Knox's new church,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47an organisation from the bottom up.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51The congregation saying how they would be organised, not imposed from
0:20:51 > 0:20:55the top down by bishops and kings.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Also, in the centre of all the people,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02is the Lord's Table, from where the Lord's Supper would be celebrated.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06But the Scots went that much further than the English.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11You have to imagine this space as it was then, without these pews here.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16And on Communion Sunday, they would bring in trestle tables, lay them up
0:21:16 > 0:21:20with stools, and when the Lord's Supper was celebrated, it would be
0:21:20 > 0:21:23celebrated as a communal meal.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27They weren't going to kneel before some priest, they were going to sit
0:21:27 > 0:21:29among equals.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33For 500 years, the pulpit here at Burntisland
0:21:33 > 0:21:38has symbolised the centrality of the Word of God for Knox's church.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42But what's it like to preach here?
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's actually a bit of a nightmare. The pulpit's too high for the size
0:21:45 > 0:21:48of the building, so you're looking down at people
0:21:48 > 0:21:52the whole time, and I don't think people will wear that any more.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55They don't want to be preached at, they want to be spoken to.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59And people will sit on all four sides, so on a Sunday morning you're
0:21:59 > 0:22:03constantly sort of looking round to make sure everyone's still awake.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07It must feel awfully grand being up there, though?
0:22:07 > 0:22:10I suppose some people would find it reinforces the ego in you.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13You're seven foot above contradiction but,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15it doesn't work for me.
0:22:16 > 0:22:21Burntisland is an example of theology dictating design, when really
0:22:21 > 0:22:25if they had just spoken to Alan's 16th Century predecessor, they would
0:22:25 > 0:22:31have found out that a square shaped church can blunt God's message.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38By the 17th Century, England's Puritans matched their Scottish
0:22:38 > 0:22:41neighbours in reformist fervour.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44They were in a hurry.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47They believed that the Second Coming of Jesus was imminent,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51and that they had to build a Godly society to receive Him.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56This meant ridding every last church of any remaining Papist trappings.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08In August 1644, at the height of the Civil War,
0:23:08 > 0:23:12a Puritan by the name of William Dowsing arrived in Suffolk, with
0:23:12 > 0:23:17orders from Parliament to destroy any Catholic imagery that he found.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21He was very thorough, and kept a journal of his efforts.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23In the chancel
0:23:23 > 0:23:27up there, we break down an angel.
0:23:27 > 0:23:34Three orate pro anima, pray for my soul, in the glass.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36And above twenty stars on the roof.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Why would you break down stars?
0:23:39 > 0:23:41Why would that happen?
0:23:41 > 0:23:45And we break down the organ cases,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48and we gave the wood to the poor to be burnt.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51And then he says this.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56There is a vainglorious cover over the font,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59like a Pope's triple crown.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05This 15th Century masterpiece is six metres high.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09Each of these empty niches had its own carved saint.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Dowsing destroyed every one.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Once you'd cleared them out,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18then it was just a bit of wood and,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21here's a proposition, he demolished the organ
0:24:21 > 0:24:25case rather than demolished this, which they were rather fond of,
0:24:25 > 0:24:31and gave the wood to the poor, which was a good Puritan gesture.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Breaking up wood to give it to the poor,
0:24:33 > 0:24:35preserving the font cover once he'd
0:24:35 > 0:24:40done what he felt he needed to do, makes you almost begin to like him.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42Well, at least you don't have
0:24:42 > 0:24:46to say he was a vandal and ruthless, and had no purpose.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49He really believed that doing
0:24:49 > 0:24:55God's Will and Parliament's will would bring all sorts of benefits.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59He would be completing the Reformation, he would be
0:24:59 > 0:25:03producing churches in which it was fit for Puritans to worship.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13In the heart of England, one man, an Anglican Royalist, was about to
0:25:13 > 0:25:18build a church that defied William Dowsing and his fellow Puritans.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21In its style and ornamentation,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23it looks like a retreat to a Catholic past.
0:25:23 > 0:25:29In fact, it was a pointer to an Anglican future.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31This tablet takes up the story.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37In the year 1653, when all things sacred were throughout the nation
0:25:37 > 0:25:41either demolished or profaned, Sir Robert Shirley, Baronet, founded
0:25:41 > 0:25:47this church whose singular praise it is to have done the best things
0:25:47 > 0:25:49in the worst times.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54He was flinging this church in the face of the Government.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07What would have infuriated the Puritans is here in the chancel,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09the holy end of the church.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14This is no longer an ordinary space, it's screened off.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18The altar has moved back to the far end of the church, raised on steps.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24This is not a return to England's Catholic past.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27The walls are whitewashed, the glass is clear,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29there are no images of the saints.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32In some respects, it's taking the best
0:26:32 > 0:26:33of what the Reformation had achieved.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41The ceiling is full of monsters and threatening clouds.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45But as you walk towards the altar, light overcomes the darkness.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47This is an attempt,
0:26:47 > 0:26:53by Robert Shirley at least, to bring God's order to a world in chaos.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58Shirley soon found that he couldn't withstand that chaos.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Oliver Cromwell said that if he could afford to build a church,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06then he could provide him with a regiment of soldiers.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Shirley refused, and died in the Tower of London.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14He never saw his church completed.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19A tragic end, but Shirley's design pointed the way forward,
0:27:19 > 0:27:24with its attempt to reconcile the old expressions of faith with the new.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29A good place to reflect on my Reformation journey.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34When I was looking at our medieval churches, I was finding myself
0:27:34 > 0:27:39falling in love with the drama and the spectacle, and the sheer
0:27:39 > 0:27:42rush of life that fills them.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46And outraged that anyone could want to destroy that and all of those
0:27:46 > 0:27:49images of faith and art.
0:27:49 > 0:27:54But the truth is, that having seen now what it meant to
0:27:54 > 0:27:59pull down those screens, to sweep the clergy into the heart of the
0:27:59 > 0:28:05congregation at a level with them, all of this fuelled by the words of a
0:28:05 > 0:28:11prayer book and the Bible in English, now so embedded in our language,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13you realise that behind all of that
0:28:13 > 0:28:17lies some beauty of thought and ideal.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22In the next episode I'll be looking at what followed -
0:28:22 > 0:28:24an extravagant blossoming of
0:28:24 > 0:28:28church styles as people became free to worship as they wished.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Sometimes with touching simplicity,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35sometimes with elegant sophistication.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:52 > 0:28:54E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk