Dorchester’s Sabbath-Breaking Fines

Back in the 1600s, attendance at church on Sundays was compulsory, particularly in Dorchester. Failure to do so could lead to a fine of one shilling (5p) - at a time when the average weekly wage was around six shillings (30p). Costs could also be added to the fine. Legislation on church attendance had been introduced back in 1558. Going to church was not only required on the Sabbath but also on all Holy Days. Both constables and church officers regularly called into the homes of non-attendees. Excuses were varied and those received in Dorchester included:

John Facy and his wife said they were too busy baking to go. While a man who missed an afternoon service claimed that his constitution could not cope with three sermons in a day. Despite this he was still fit enough to walk two miles to fetch a horse. Other excuses made included coming home from Blandford and making a deal at Fordington. Barber-surgeon Gabriel Butler was allowed one absence by pleading he was attending a patient. On a second occasion when he claimed he was visiting a patient in Charminster he was fined and told he should have gone to a church service there. Young Andrew Gillett and Robert Fooke missed church and spent time with their girlfriends ‘eating milk and cream.’ Gallantly, Gillett paid his girlfriend Katherine Goodfellow’s fine. Michael Colliford missed church because he was picking nuts.

Was this approach successful enforcing regular church attendance in Dorchester? Apparently so, if measured by the purchasing of bread and wine by Holy Trinity Church, Dorchester at Easter in 1620 for communion. The quantity of wine was just sufficient for six hundred worshipers at each communion.

(Fire from Heaven by David Underdown.)

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