More information on the Stuart period 1603-1714

Shortly after James I ascended the throne, the infamous Gunpowder Plot took place with Catholics attempting to overthrow the monarchy and blow up the Houses of Parliament. There was local involvement with this, as the Wintours of Huddington, who owned shares in Upwich Pit (then in Dodderhill), were among the plotters. They, like many local gentry, were Catholic (like the Pakingtons of Westwood House, who owned most of the west side of the parish).

More general violence descended on Dodderhill a generation later, as during the Civil War the Royalists tried to evict Parliamentarians from St Augustine’s church, causing so much damage that the nave collapsed. Subsequently during the Commonwealth many changes were made to church interiors to remove the ‘Catholic’ ornamentation including statues, wall-paintings, and reliquaries. The vicar of St Augustine’s was turned out and replaced; he returned when Charles II was restored in 1660.

In the 17th century we see rising numbers of wills, sometimes with Inventories of the deceased’s possessions, which give much information on family composition, occupations, lifestyles, standards of living, and customs. Although the majority are made by owners of land or property, there are also wills for labourers.

The life and deeds of local people are also commemorated in local churches:
The rich of the parish gave to the poor.

One such gift is recorded on a board displayed in St Augustine Church, Dodderhill.
In 1624, Thomas Wylde gave certain lands and houses in the parish of Dodderhill, the rent from which was to be used for the repair of the church; the relief of poor people; or for another charitable and Godly use within the parish of Dodderhill.

Important people were commemorated inside churches in the form of detailed and ornate memorials.
The memorial to George Wylde of the Herriots, a Sergeant at Arms who died in 1616 is found in St Peter’s Church, Droitwich. The Herriots was then part of the parish of Dodderhill and an isolated piece of land within the boundary of the Borough of Droitwich.

Non-conformism became more prevalent, that is the establishment of religious groups who disagreed with the Anglican doctrines and way of worship (the Church of England), such as the Baptists from 1609 and the Quakers from the mid 1600s. There are records of Quakers in Dodderhill parish registers and a Quaker burial ground existed in the parish. Non-conformists (and Catholics) frequently refused to attend Church of England services and their names are recorded in the Churchwardens’ Presentments; non-attenders had to pay a fine as it was against the law not to attend services at the local Anglican Church. In 1695, following an Act by the more tolerant William and Mary permitting non-conformists to be exempted from these penalties provided they worshipped at meeting-houses licensed by the local Bishop, William Dugard of Dodderhill built a meeting-house on Crown Lane so the local non-Anglican people could have a place to worship in their own way.

The year 1695 was also when the monopoly, which Droitwich Borough held over the extraction of brine and manufacture of salt, ended due to a legal challenge. This must have had a major effect on neighbouring Dodderhill. There was an immediate decline in the economic status of previous holders of salt-rights and a corresponding rise of new rich who extracted brine from new wells sunk on their own land but did not contribute to the annual rent to the Crown. Almost overnight, the old certainties would have changed and new people gained influence and wealth. This may have changed the appearance of some buildings in the parish; in Droitwich High Street, for instance, there was a spate of rebuilding/refacing in brick over the next 60-70 years.