Valerie Hitchman

Omnia Bene or Ruinosa? Valerie Hitchman

The perceptions that churches were neglected and fell into ruin following the Reformation; then destroyed by Oliver Cromwell and his troops during the civil wars appear to be based on a few exceptional cases. Although the perceptions have been challenged, the question ?What really happened?' is yet to be answered. It is the question that this study will attempt to address Thus, the focus of this study is the repair and maintenance of parish churches between 1603 and 1677. This study represents one of the first systematic studies of this topic to contribute to a variety of debates touching on Jacobean rebuilding programmes, the more famous Laudian initiatives of the 1630s, the notorious iconoclasm of the 1640s, and the impact of the Restoration; debates hitherto all too often approached in isolation from one another. The geographical location is a 30 mile radius of London and Westminster. This study refutes the general perception of the period as one of gross neglect of churches. The study is based heavily on systematic study of churchwardens' accounts, which has enabled the creation of a building cost price index ? a valuable companion to the famous Phelps Brown Hopkins Price