Bawtry’s history – original content written by Bawtry Heritage Group, Bawtry census returns, and other material.
Bawtry in the Early Modern period
The Pilgrim Fathers in the East Midlands, their exile in Holland and their journey to America
An original paper by Bawtry Heritage Group
The Pilgrim Fathers were a small group of Protestant Separatists who left England on board the Mayflower in 1620 to found the Plymouth Colony in what is now Massachusetts in the United States. The group had become increasingly disillusioned with the pace of reform of the Established Church of England and sought to re-create what they believed had been the simple life of the earliest Christians, a plainer form of worship centred on the study of the Bible.
This paper looks at some of the leading Separatists in the small market town of Bawtry and the nearby villages. These include William Brewster who became the ruling elder of the group and took them into exile in Leiden, the Netherlands and later to America. Other important figures were Richard Clyfton, curate of St Nicholas Church in Bawtry and John Robinson, the ‘teacher’ of the group. The paper looks in some detail at the life experiences and views of these men who were fleeing persecution by secular and religious authorities and were facing seemingly insurmountable difficulties in their attempts to remain together as a group.
Read this paper by clicking here:
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