(quote, excerpts)
Tolethorpe Hall
Tolethorpe Hall
Rutland Open Air Theatre
The American Connection
The American Connection
In 1620, some of the Separatists, mostly from East Lincolnshire, were
among those who sailed on the Mayflower seeking religious freedom in
the New World. They were among the first successful settlers later
known as the Pilgrim Fathers. Their first harvest is still celebrated
by the annual American Thanksgiving Day.
Descendants of the Tolethorpe Browne family from Suffolk were among the
early settlers arriving aboard Winthrop's Fleet in 1630 to settle the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, now Boston.
Robert Browne's cousin from Swan Hall in Suffolk, Abraham Browne, and
his older brother, Richard, were aboard. Their nephew John, and his
wife Dorothy, arrived with their first child, one-year-old John, aboard
the Lion. Abraham had helped to found Watertown, Massachusetts, where
his name is on a monument to the early pioneers. His cousin, Edward,
the son of Robert Browne of Tolethorpe, was one of the twenty gentlemen
founders of Maryland under Lord Baltimore.
Richard, ruling elder of the Watertown Church, led a protest of 'no
taxation without representation' against the Colony's own rulers. It
was echoed by the revolutionary colonists of Massachusetts in the next
century.
Abraham's grandson, also Abraham, built the 'Abraham Browne House' at
Watertown in 1695.
He copied the home built by his grandfather at Watertown, later
destroyed by fire. One of the oldest houses in the United States
preserved and open to the public, it displays window panes and a
fireplace brick pattern similar to those still seen today in the
remaining wing of 16th Century Swan Hall, the former Browne home in
Hawkedon, Suffolk.
About this time, the American branch of the family dropped the final
letter in the family name and it became simply 'Brown'.
http://www.stamfordonline.co.uk/pp/gold/viewGold.asp?IDType=Page&ID=1328
..................................................................................................................................................................
The term Brownists was a common designation for early Separatists
before 1620. Brownists, Independents, and Separatists were all used
somewhat interchangeably for those nonconformists who broke with the
Church of England.
The term came to be applied more specifically to those who followed the
writings and teachings of Robert Browne. And to a much lesser extent
those of Robert Harrison (154?-1585?), a college friend and later
companion of Brown to 1583 when they had a parting.
Robert Browne (1550?-1633) was a prominent Elizabethan Separatist. He
was born in Tolethorpe, Rutlandshire, of a wealthy and prominent
Northamptonshire family. Browne attended Cambridge University 1570-73.
He received a B. A. (1572) from Corpus Christi College (Cambridge).
It was while Browne was at Corpus Christi, that he first met Robert
Harrison (154?-1585?). Harrison came from Norwich. He had matriculated
as a pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge in October 1564. He
transferred to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and there received his
B. A.(1567) and his M. A.(1572).
..............................................................................................
Browne came from an old and prosperous family which enjoyed a
privileged station in society. The Browne family were kinsmen to the
Cecil family, i.e. William Cecil, Baron Burghley (1520-1598), Lord
High Treasurer, (1572-1598), and member of the Privy Council. Through
this relation with Lord Burghley, who held pro-protestant leaning
himself, Browne would often find special assistance in high places when
needed. There are indications that Baron Burghley may have had a
personal interest in the welfare of his young kinsman.
..................................................................................................................
Browne and his writings were major contributions in the early
development of Elizabethan English religious dissent, and the
beginnings of the English Separatist movement during the later reign of
Elizabeth I. His light may have shown only briefly, but it lilted the
way for others to follow with other more radical points of view.
Many early puritans would set sail for America to establish
congregations along the lines of basic Brownist theology. Later
generations were usually referred to as Congregational. Browne has
often been called the father of Congregationalism.
http://www.exlibris.org/nonconform/engdis/brownists.html
..............................................................................................
..............................................................................................
..............................................................................................
Post by lyra(quote, excerpts)
1000 Year History of Tolethorpe
The origins of Tolethorpe Hall go back to the late 11th century. It
overlooks classic English parkland and the Rutland village of Little
Casterton just two miles north of Stamford, five minutes off the A1,
and 92 miles north of London.
The countryside of Tolethorpe has changed little in 1000 years. The
first recorded settlement was that of Toli, the Dane in 800 who gave
his name to the site.
For 800 years from around 1088 until 1839 it was the home of three
distinguished dynasties, the de Tolethorpe (1088 - 1316), the Burton
(1316-1503) and the Browne (1503 - 1839) families.
The de Tolethorpes were a Norman family who came over after the 1066
Norman Conquest of England. They built the first manor house on the
site.
The Burtons and the Brownes held positions of high office including
early Members of Parliament and High Sheriffs of Rutland. The Burtons
also fought in France in the armies of Edward III, Richard II and Henry
VI. Sir William Burton was standard bearer to Henry VI and Francis
Browne was a Member of Parliament for Stamford in 1509 and a courtier
of Henry VIII.
................................................................................................
The American Connection
Tolethorpe was the birthplace, circa 1555, of Robert Browne who became
the leading and most active campaigner for the Separatist movement
seeking a separate church from the church of England at the time of
Queen Elizabeth I.
Also known as the Brownists, Shakespeare referred to the movement in a
line in "Twelfth Night" of Sir Andrew Aguecheeck: "I would as lief be a
Brownist as a politician".
It was Browne's followers, mainly from Lincolnshire and East
Nottinghamshire, who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 to become the
Pilgrim Fathers of America. Their first harvest is commemorated on
Thanksgiving Day. Browne could be said to be the Father of the Pilgrim
Fathers linking his is home, Tolethorpe Hall, with the birth of
America.
Descendents of the Browne family of Tolethorpe were among the pioneers
of the early days of America, especially in Baltimore, Maryland, and
Watertown, near Boston, Massachusetts. The names of two of them,
Richard and Abraham, Puritans who arrived with Wintrop's fleet in
1630,are recorded on the monument to the pioneers at Watertown.
Browne's son, Edward, was one of Lord Baltimore's gentlemen who
surveyed Baltimore and the State of Maryland.
The oldest house in America, preserved and open to the public was built
in 1698 at Watertown by Abraham Browne, the grandson of the early
pioneer, mentioned above. The first shot in the American Revolution
which drew British blood was fired by Solomon Browne on Lexington Green
in 1775.
http://www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk/history2.htm
Post by lyra(quote, excerpts)
Stamford Shakespeare Festival
The Stamford Shakespeare Company presents an annual season of plays in
June, July, August and the first week of September at Rutland Open Air
Theatre in the grounds of historic Tolethorpe Hall, Little Casterton,
just off the A1, two miles north of Stamford.
Tolethorpe Hall has origins dating back to the early late 11th century.
It has 17th century links with the birth of America.
See Robert Browne.
http://www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk/default.htm
.................................................................................................................................................................................
Tolethorpe Hall has origins going back 800 years to the early 11th
century when the first manor house was built on the site by a Norman
family who came over from France after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The
setting of the hall overlooking classic English parkland in attractive
Rutland countryside has changed little over centuries.
The gentle River Gwash flows gently by providing water for the historic
mill built in the early 18th century on the site of a previous mill
recorded in the Domesday book. The mill, just 200 yards from the hall,
was part of the Tolethorpe estate until 1967.
Early nineteenth century country poet, John Clare, is said to have
walked with his girlfriend from Great Casterton to Ryhall along the
banks of the river on summer evenings after a day working at the lime
kilns in Pickworth.
.............................................................................................................................................................................
Historic ochre wall decoration found behind a false wall in the
entrance hall during restoration work in 1999. Date uncertain but
believed to be from the 15th or 16th century, but possibly the 14th.
Interestingly, it includes the French Heraldry, the fleur de lys. The
first family to build a house on the site around the late 11th or early
12th century came from Normandy after the Norman Conquest.
http://www.stamfordshakespeare.co.uk/tolethorpe-hall.htm