Along the Pilgrim Trail, Part 3
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| The Old Hall at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England |
Vincent and I recently
took the General Society of Mayflower Descendants Historic Sites Tour of England,
Wales and The Netherlands along with 41 other enthusiast participants (known as
"The 43"). We traced the
footsteps of the Separatists and the Mayflower passengers and crew all around
these countries with some amazing tour directors, guides, historians and
authors. We were given access to places
off the usual tourist trails, and behind the scenes. We had a wonderful time, and I will be
blogging about it over the next few weeks.
Gainsborough is an old medieval town in the middle of the
area where the Separatists sprang to life in Lincolnshire. There is an Old Hall built in the 1400s,
which probably looks much like Scrooby Manor’s Great Hall when William Brewster
grew up there. This Old Hall still looks much like it did when King Richard III
and King Henry VIII both stayed there.
The very wealthy William Hickman bought the
Old Hall in 1596, and he had non-conformist religious beliefs (Puritan). He let some of the Separatists use the Old
Hall for secret worship ceremonies before leaving for The Netherland in 1609,
lead by Reverends John Smyth and John Robinson.
The United Reformed Church, a block away, was named the John Robinson
Memorial Church in his honor.
We had a fantastic tour of the Old Hall lead by an
enthusiast guide who even dressed up like a Pilgrim for us! She led us through the history of the Hall
from medieval times to the days of the Pilgrims. We learned that the Hall was
used for sleeping, eating, celebrating, and all sorts of ceremonies. King Henry VIII would ride his horse right
into the hall and dismount at the head table for feasts. Visiting the medieval
kitchen was a highlight of the tour.
It was very interesting to see how the Separatists lived in a time that spanned the post medieval world, the Reformation, and the beginnings of American History. What a fascinating time period!
It was very interesting to see how the Separatists lived in a time that spanned the post medieval world, the Reformation, and the beginnings of American History. What a fascinating time period!
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| Inside the Old Hall where feasts and ceremonies took place as well as ordinary sleeping and living |
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| The Old Hall still looks like it did when it was built 600 years ago |
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| Some of the fixings for a nobleman's dinner |
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| We had a tour of the medieval kitchens, fit for feasting! |
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| The young noblemen would learn deference to their lords by serving them at feasts. Here they would pick up the dishes from the kitchens and deliver them to the great Old Hall. |
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| Rev. John Robinson Memorial Church |
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| + TO THE GLORY OF GOD THIS STONE IN MEMORY OF JOHN ROBINSON PASTOR AND EXILE WAS LAID ON JUNE 29TH 1896 BY THE HON. T. F. BAYARD AMBASSADOR IN ENGLAND OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
The Gainsborough Old Hall website: https://www.gainsborougholdhall.com/
My lineage from Rev. John Robinson is at this link:
Part 1 of this series "Babworth, Nottinghamshire":
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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Along the Pilgrim Trail ~ Gainsborough,
Lincolnshire, England”, Nutfield
Genealogy, posted October 9, 2017, (
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