Along the Pilgrim Trail ~ Stephen Hopkins of Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England

Along the Pilgrim Trail, Part 5

All Saints Church, Upper Clatford, Hampshire, 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.

On our tour we stopped at many small churches in tiny little English villages. One of the first village churches we toured was All Saints in Upper Clatford, Hampshire, where Stephen Hopkins (1581 – 1644) of the Mayflower was baptized on 30 April 1581.  He was the son of John Hopkins and Elizabeth Williams.  He was minister’s clerk, and worked for the Virginia Company.  He left on board the Sea Venture in 1609 for Jamestown, Virginia, but was shipwrecked in Bermuda.  The castaways rebuilt two new boats and reached Jamestown in 1610.  Sometime later Hopkins returned to London, and found that his wife had died.  He remarried to Elizabeth Fisher and in 1620 boarded the Mayflower with his family for the New World a second time.

A copy of the baptism record of Stephen Hopkins
is on display inside All Saints church

The Stephen Hopkins descendants posed for a group photo
in front of the altar with Jane from All Saints church

This rural church was surrounded by grazing cows and sheep, with a tidy little churchyard full of interesting gravestones.  Even those of us who were not Hopkins descendants were enchanted! The church building was originally erected in the 12th century, and today it looks much like it did when Stephen Hopkins attended services here.

Jane, the church historian who gave us a tour, informed us that PBS had been to the church recently with the author and historian Caleb Johnson to film a documentary about the life of Stephen Hopkins.  I can’t wait!  His life story is like an action adventure movie.

Stay tuned for more coming soon!

Yes, those are cows right next to the church gate!

Views of the picturesque churchyard at Upper Clatford

The Upper Clatford welcome committee!

Part 1 of this series "Babworth, Nottinghamshire":

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/10/along-pilgrim-trail-babworth.html  

Part 2 of this series “Scrooby Manor, Nottinghamshire”:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/10/along-pilgrim-trail-scrooby-manor.html  


Part 3 of this series "Gainsborough, Lincolnshire"
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/10/along-pilgrim-trail-gainsborough.html  

Part 4 of this series "Harwich, Essex, home of the Mayflower"
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/10/along-pilgrim-trail-harwich-essex.html   

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Along the Pilgrim Trail ~ Stephen Hopkins of Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 16, 2017, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/10/along-pilgrim-trail-stephen-hopkins-of.html: accessed [access date]).