- Main
-
Related Webpages
- Reconstruction and interactive maps of Shrewsbury c1630
- Holy Cross Church, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury
- St Chad's Church Shrewsbury
- St Romald's Chapel Shrewsbury
- St Nicholas' chapel, Shrewsbury
- St Giles' Church Shrewsbury
- Shrewsbury Friaries
- Shrewsbury Colleges
- Topography of Tudor Shrewsbury in depth
- A Day in the life of John Tomkys a preacher (afternoon)
- Religion in Tudor Shrewsbury in depth
- St Alkmund's Church, Shrewsbury
- St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury
- St Julian's Church, Shrewsbury
- St Michael's chapel, Shrewsbury
- The High Cross, Shrewsbury
- A Day in the life of John Tomkys a preacher (evening)
- A Day in the life of John Tomkys a preacher (morning)
- Prynce's Mansion, Monkmoor Road, Shrewsbury
- Tudor and Stuart Shrewsbury: An interactive map resource for schools
To expand and collapse the navigation please click on the headings
Go to other Related Subject areas
Religion in Tudor Shrewsbury
Church goers at St. Julian's hid valuable items in case the King's men tried to seize them.
As part of Henry VIII’s dispute with the Pope and new Protestant ideas sweeping England, Parliament ordered the closure of monasteries and friaries. It was rumoured that the King was also to have many goods belonging to parish churches. In 1546 St. Julian’s church goers removed their most valuable objects because they were worried the King’s men would take them.
The Augustinian friary was converted into a tannery for producing leather goods. It later fell into ruin.
Monastery and Friary land was sold to local people. In 1544 Roger Pope bought the three Shrewsbury friaries. The Augustinian friary was made into a tannery. Richard Prynce bought what had been the Shrewsbury Abbey’s grange and built his house there using stone from knocked down parts of the abbey.
Richard Prynce, a rich lawyer, bought land that had belonged to Shrewsbury Abbey and built a fine house on it using stone from old monastery buildings. (Image courtesy of Shrewsbury Museums Service and www.darwincountry.org.uk)
These changes were not always welcomed; Catholic religious festivals, like Corpus Christi, were kept going until 1547 and, when the Catholic Mary became Queen, most Shrewsbury people accepted the return of Catholic ways and objects many of which had been hidden during Edward’s reign.
The stone building in the middle of this picture is the Shearman's Hall outside which John Tomkys tried to stop the shearmen from putting up a maypole in 1590.
During the reign of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth the town council paid for preachers like John Tomkys to spread Protestant ideas in churches and homes. In 1590 he made himself unpopular by trying to ban the Shearmen from putting up a Maypole outside their guild hall. There were also attempts to ban the Shrove Tuesday football match. John Tomkys tried to make people stick to Bible teachings more closely. In 1582 he made John Gardener appear in St. Mary’s church wearing a white sheet to show he had behaved in ways the church didn't like.