Thrale history

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the Church of England, which is by God’s blessing all his day, even in her ruins the most famous Church In Europe."⁶

The year 1588 was not unlike 1940, for Spain sent the might of her Armada against England. The country was unprepared; the vicar had seen the danger nine years previously when he wrote:

Bee not careless, Plough with weapons by your sides, study with the book in one hand, and a dart in the other: enjoy peace with provision for war: when you have left the sandes behind you, lookwel to the rocks which lye before you: Let not the overcoming one Tempest make you secure, but have an eye to the cloude which comes from the south and threateneth rain.”⁷

The vicar believed in letting "the word and sword be knit together”, and he supported the "home guard" of those days. When in May the clergy of the Archdeaconry provided arms and arm our for the defence of England according to their incomes, Gosson supplied as his share "a calyver furnished,"⁸ that is a musket with flask, touchbox, and murrion or helmet, girdle and leather flask. The man, Gosson also supplied, and he with his equipment was kept ready for service at short notice. Special prayers were offered in the churches three times a week during this time of anxiety, when the fate of England hung in the balance. Even with the defeat of the Armada the danger was not over and the country remained under arms for many years, Gosson keeping his calyver at the ready. In November 1590 there was a home guard parade at Romeland, St Albans, but unfortunately the vicar was sick. He made his will in 1622, leaving "fortye shillinges of lawfull money" to the poor of Sandridge, and died in 1624 aged 69.

Sandridge was fortunate in having two good and learned vicars in succession, for Stephen Gosson was quickly followed by William, brother of John Westerman, schoolmaster of St Albans. When chosen for Sandridge he was not even ordained, but was made a deacon, instituted to Sandridge and ordained priest, all within thirty-three days. In 1593 it was reported that the vicar is "of good learning: he hath served the cure in his own person and preacheth there and catechizeth diligently ever since his induction: of good life and conversation: never detected of any notorious crime". As the country was still under arms, Mr. Westerman followed the custom of his predecessor in providing a calyver for the home guard. In 1595 this weapon was not in use, as no one could be found to fire it ⁹ The same year the vicar provided a piece of armour called a corslet.¹⁰ Mr. Westerman received a certain amount of fame for his sermons at London. Two sermons were published in 1608. They defended the use of the ancient churches and cathedrals in spite of their defilement by popish abuses in earlier times, and they taught about reverent behaviour in church. On the former point, it seems that one of the excuses for not going to church was the complaint that the churches had formerly been abused by popish idolatry. Mr. Westerman agreed that they had been, but he states: "behold the Gospel preached hath pulled idols out of their hearts, and our discipline hath abolished them out of houses and churches." With regard to reverence, he said that men’s hats should be removed on entering church, and that a gesture of reverence to God should be made, and a prayer should be said kneeling down. To ignore these courtesies, and to decline to listen to the sermon, he described as barbarous behaviour.

In 1609 Westerman became vicar of Bushey, but he stayed on at Sandridge and provided Bushey with curates, an arrangement which would not now be permitted. In 1612 he was invited to preach at the beginning of James I’s summer progress. There was a large congregation at St Albans Abbey[^11], and they heard a sermon containing eleven thousand words, which must have taken an hour and a quarter to deliver, perhaps even longer, It is dull reading nowadays, but with some points of interest. One of the objects of the sermon seems to have been to obtain a royal grant towards the restoration of St Albans Abbey, which through neglect was in a bad state of repair. There was a brief reference to the recent Gunpowder Plot, and the preacher denied the claim of the Roman Catholics that they alone were the Catholic Church. A royal grant for the Abbey was made, and a public subscription was opened. Being now a Doctor of Divinity he was in a more fortunate position than his neighbouring clergy, and the bishop suggested that he should provide the home guard with a horse.¹¹ This he did not do, but he continued to supply the calyver until he died In 1622, after thirty years in the parish. He also subscribed to a fund for the maintenance of ex-popish missionaries who had been converted to the Faith of the English Church and so found their income from Italy cut off.

Sandridge did not always have a good vicar. William Westerman had nine children, one of whom, Richard, was twenty-four when his father died In 1622, an age just old enough to be a priest, so it was probably he who became the next vicar. He followed the example of his two

Footnotes

6. The Trumpet of Warre, P.F.3.↩︎
7. School of Abuse, pp.49, 50, ed.1868.↩︎
8. Records Of The Old Archdeaconry 1575-1637. Compiled by H.R. Wilton-Hall, published by The St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society. 1908, No.761.↩︎
9. Records Of The Old Archdeaconry 1575-1637. Compiled by H.R. Wilton-Hall, published by The St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society. 1908, No.135.↩︎
10. Records Of The Old Archdeaconry 1575-1637. Compiled by H.R. Wilton-Hall, published by The St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society. 1908, No.139.↩︎
11. Records Of The Old Archdeaconry 1575-1637. Compiled by H.R. Wilton-Hall, published by The St Albans and Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society. 1908, No.213.↩︎