Talk by Murray Seccombe: The experience of Civil conflict 1638-1660

The men and women of Sowerby felt the crisis years of the mid-seventeenth century deeply and not just as a series of events in far away Westminster, dramatic as those were. They argued, they fought, they paid exorbitant taxes, they took up new forms of religious worship. This was a formative time for ideas of governance and accountability, and the township’s leaders responded energetically. Drawing on the unrivalled source material of Sowerby’s constables’ accounts, this talk will ask questions about how deeply republican ideas penetrated and what was the legacy of those heady years.

Murray lived in Hebden Bridge for 38 years (and was President of HBLHS) before his recent move to York.  He completed a PhD at Lancaster University in 2022, researching manorial and township governance of highways in the parish of Halifax, c.1550-1700. Before retirement, he worked in the community-based transport sector. When not reading or walking, he is currently editing the Sowerby constables’ accounts (1628-1714) for the Surtees Society.