The Post Medieval period- 1550 – 1714
The later Tudor, Stuart and Hanoverian monarchs presided over a period characterised by greater wealth and mobility for some, tempered by a further increase in inequality.
Trinity College, Cambridge owned the Manor of Shillington and with the distant power of the pope gone, the role of churchwardens became more important. Fortunately for historians, they started keeping more extensive records.
There is a local story that Queen Elizabeth I passed through Shillington on a royal progress. The villages failed to ring the church bells in her honour. She had the doors of the church nailed closed until a sizeable fine was paid!
Learn more about this time of great change here.