Dear Mr. Vincent:
First, I want you to know that I enjoy greatly the “Wood Ditton and Saxon Street” website, and I return to it frequently, especially for the photos.
I am a descendant of Thomas Kilbourne, who in 1632 was a churchwarden at St. Mary’s Church in Wood Ditton. I reside in Washington, DC, USA. I hope you can help me in getting information on two matters.
The following quotation and footnote to it are from: 'Woodditton: Church', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume X: Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (north-eastern Cambridgeshire) (2002), pp. 95-7.
[See URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18801.]
“Several 15th-century benches with poppy heads have been preserved. A matching bench end was apparently taken to America by an emigrant former churchwarden in the 17th century and survives in a museum there. (Footnote 62).”
“Footnote 62 --Inf. from Mr. and Mrs. Cook, including photocopy of cutting from Sunday Times [of New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A.], 27 Nov. 1932.”
The 27 Nov. 1932 New Brunswick NJ Sunday Times, referenced in the above footnote, informs that heirlooms of the Kilmer and Kilburn families are housed at the Buccleuch Mansion, and states that among many listed items there is “1 carved oak pothy [sic] (probably a misprint of “poppy”) head. From St. Mary’s Church, Wood Ditton, England, where Thomas Kilburn, ancestor of Mrs Kilburn Kilmer was a church warden (1632).”
Do you know who may have additional information relating to the taking of the bench end from St. Mary’s Church to New England? I suppose the informants named Mr. and Mrs Cook in the footnote were of Wood Ditton in 1932, and are now deceased. But would there be a record they might have relied on for this information?
The second matter is about the motive that influenced Thoams Kilbourne, the 1632 churchwarden at St. Mary’s, to leave Wood Ditton for New England. He was among the 20,000 in the “great migration” to NE between 1630-1640. These emigrants were led by Puritan divines, but historians have doubted that many of the emigrants were motivated religious sentiments to go to NE. A Kilbourne family genealogist, Payne Kenyon Kilbourne in his “The History and Antiquities of the Name and Family of Kilbourne, in its varied orthography,” publ.1856, suggested that Thomas Kilbourn (1632), being of the Church of England, would not have found the Massachusetts Bay Colony to his liking, presumably because of its theocratic (Puritan) government, so moved to Connecticut Colony. I rather believe Thomas Kilbourn did have “Puritan” sympathies. So, my concern is to find out whether the Vicar(s) of Wood Ditton in 1630-1632 were sympathetic to Puritan or Independent beliefs, or were staunchly Church of England (Laudian, so to speak). I recall that at sometime in the past your website named a Vicar around 1610-1620, but I did not keep a note of his name. It was different from the only other name of a Vicar I have found for that time; viz., Robert Levitt, vicar 1618-58; see 'Woodditton: Church', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume X: Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (north-eastern Cambridgeshire) (2002), pp. 95-7.
URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18801. There it is written:
“Until the Reformation, Woodditton's vicars seem rarely to have served more than a few years. (Footnote 33) Lights in the church were endowed with 2 a. by 1364, (Footnote 34) and there was a guild by 1471. (Footnote 35) During the longer incumbencies from the 1550s into the 18th century, vicars often employed curates. (Footnote 36) Robert Levitt, vicar 1618-58, though ejected from Cheveley in 1644, kept Woodditton despite his apparent unsuitability. (Footnote 37).”Footnote 37 - Walker Revised, ed. A. G. Matthews, 82-3; Bury Classis, ii (Chetham Soc. N.S. xli), 192.”
Also: “During the Civil War Robert Levitt (rector from 1623 [at Chevely Church]) fell foul of political opponents and village gossip and was sequestered in 1644, whereupon he withdrew only as far as Woodditton and hindered the collection of tithes for his successor Abraham Wright, an assiduous presbyterian who was heartily disliked by some of his flock.” See: URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=18784.
I am somewhat ignorant in matters relating to the Church of England during this period; am I correct in understanding that Vicar Levitt was not in sympathy with the Puritans in England. Can you steer me to some one who has knowledge about the religious atmosphere in and around Wood Ditton during the period 1630-1632.
The following may be of interest. The wife of Thomas Kilbourn, the 1632 churchwarden, was Frances Moody, who was the daughter of George and Margaret (Chenery) Moody, of Moulton. A niece of Frances Moody (by her brother Samuel Moody and his wife Mary Boldero) was Margaret Moody of Moulton. Margaret Moody married Thomas Westhorp. Thomas Westthop was an assistant to William Dowsing, the Parliamentary Visitor officially appointed in 1643 to carry out and supervise in Suffolk the destruction of altars, imagery and "superstitious" inscriptions. Following is from The Journal of William Dowsing: iconoclasm in East Anglia during the English Civil War, Trevor Cooper (ed.). : “On the Monday [Feb. 5, 1644?] he [Dowsing] made his way back to Cambridgeshire, journeying to Bury St Edmunds the first night. Whilst there he may have stayed with Moody family, perhaps at the suggestion of Thomas Westhropp (the deputy with whom he probably lodged on 6 January) who married a Moody a few years later.” And, “Wood Ditton, March 22. We brake down 50 superstitious pictures and crucifixes, and the Virgin Mary written, Oh Mother of God have mercy on us.”
I hope that someday I will be able to visit Wood Ditton. In the meantime, I take pleasure in visiting your wonderful website. It keeps getting better and better.
Thanks for any help you can give me in directing me to someone who may have information I seek.
Sincerely, Donald N. Kilburn
Email: dnkilburn@yahoo.com