When We Were English, Part XI

by Glenn N. Holliman

More on the Holyman Farm, Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England

In the past few posts, I have been sharing information and photographs of a Holyman farm, described in some English sources as a former 15th century manor house. In the photo below is a contemporary plaque attached to one of the barms, now a residence. This sign celebrates the name of the farm and its most famous namesake, Brother John Holyman (1495 - 1558), a monk and later the Rt. Rev. John Holyman of Bristol. Photo by Barbara Holliman

Below from The Monuments of Buckinghamshire is a description of the 17th century thatched cottage that we have featured in previous posts (see archives). Click twice and the manuscript will enlarge.

The current owner of Holyman Farm, Mrs. Caroline Stonham, has prepared the following family tree of the Holyman family and others that lived on the property. Perhaps it is of some use to those studying deeply into our English past. Through it one may be able to connect the family to our other English ancestors reportedly from Tring and/or Bedford. Where there are no last names, insert Holyman. Again, click twice and the document will enlarge. Photos by Barbara Holliman

Next posting, more research on our English roots....

When We Were English, Part X

by Glenn N. Holliman

Continuing the Search for our Ancestors in England

In the above 17th century thatch cottage lived great nieces and nephews of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman who was born on this farm in 1495. Numerous legal papers and research tell of the family. Below are copies of research from Caroline Stonham, current proprietor of the Holyman Farm in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire. Click on the documents to enlarge them.

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These documents may be of use to any Hollimans who research our English roots....unfortunately the names of John Holyman (1572 - 1650) and Christopher Holliman (1631? - 1691) have not appeared in documents from the Holyman Farm. The search continues for our direct ancestors....

When We Were English, Part IX

by Glenn N. Holliman

Bishop John Holyman's Will, 1558

In my recent postings, I have been chronicling the life and times of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, probably a distant uncle of our Holliman family. During my recent visit to the village of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England, this photograph (below) was taken of Mrs. Caroline Stonham and myself in the back garden of her 17th century thatch cottage.

What is remarkable about this cottage is that it rests on the Holyman farm, and Holymans used to live in the residence in this photograph!

In an earlier posting, I dropped in a photograph of the location of the old 'manor' house where 16th century Holymans lived, approximately 200 yards from where Caroline and I are sitting.

We are reviewing Holyman papers she has collected in the twenty years she has lived on the farm. She is a geography teacher and has a keen appreciation of the history of her home. She kindly shared of her research and gatherings with me, allowing my wife to photograph the many documents. With her permission, I now share them with you.

One of the papers we reviewed is below. It is the 1558 will of Bishop John Holyman. It is a transcription but it does contain a bit of Shakespeare era English. Being celibate, John had no children, but he did have servants whom he remembered and he left funds to colleges and the parish where he is interred. Notice he left funds to pray for the repose of his soul. For one who had been a monk, and had taken a vow of poverty, he left a sizable estate although no land.

If one places the cursor over the document and clicks, the will should enlarge for easier reading.

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This will was transcribed under the direction of Bob Hollyman-Mawson of Wales, for whom we all are indebted.

Next posting, more on the Holyman farm and family documents in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England....

When We Were English, Part VIII

by Glenn N. Holliman

The Turbulent Life of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, Installment 5

The life of John Holyman reached a climax during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, or 'Bloody Mary' as she was termed by Protestants. Nancy Cattell of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England concludes her story of this distant ancestor.

The west entrance to the Bristol Cathedral with a quintessential Royal Post Box in foreground. From 1554 to 1558 The Rt. Rev. John Holyman occupied this Episcopate. Photo by Glenn Holliman

"Upon the accession of the Catholic Mary, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, John Holyman was appointed Bishop of Bristol, obviously as a reward for his support of her mother. Once again Holyman was into the limelight for now the Protestants who had supported Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI were to be tried. Bishop Holyman was included in the commission that tried Latimer, Bishop of Worchester and Ridley, Bishop of London. They were found guilty of heresy. In 1554, Holyman also participated in the disputation of Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer."

All three Protestant bishops were burned at the stake at Canditch in Oxford for their 'heresy'. The above woodcut is of Cranmer's death from the famous Fox's Book of Martyrs. In Bristol from 1554 - 1558, five more Protestants found martyrdom as 'candles' for Protestantism. In fairness to The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, he is reported to have opposed such actions, but they did occur during his episcopate.

"In 1558, Mary died and was succeeded by the Protestant Elizabeth. So once again the tables were turned and the Catholics were now put on trial. Bishop John Holyman avoided a violent death, as he died of natural causes a month after the accession of Queen Elizabeth I. His burial took place at Hanborough Church."

"I am so amazed that anyone born in the 16th century in what must have been at that time the most obscure of little villages should have produced a man who was at the centre of all the important happenings of that tumultuous time." - Nancy Cattell, Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, UK 2005

Paul Bushe, the first Bishop of Bristol received an ornate tomb with effigy (photo below of Cathedral sanctuary).

But the second bishop, much more controversial and in disrepute at his death, lies buried in Long Handborough in his former parish church. John Holyman's remains lie under or near this 16th century memorial (photo below) in the small village parish near Oxford. Photos by Barbara Holliman

Next post, a visit to the Holyman farm in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire....

When We Were English, Part VII

The Turbulent Life of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, Installment 4
by Glenn N. Holliman

During the last years of Henry VIII and the reign of the boy king, Edward VI, our John Holyman served as priest at Long Handborough, near Oxford, and later vicar at Wing, near Tring, Hertfordshire.


The name John Holyman appears (above) on this list of rectors who have served the parish in Handborough. This roster hangs on the church wall. There is an error; John Holyman was the second, not first Bishop of Bristol.

The photo of the book to the left of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer is the latest in many excellent works on this pivotal priest during the Reformation. Some of the activities of our Bishop of Bristol are recorded in Diarmaid MacCulloch's biography which was published Yale University Press in 1996.

During the English Reformation, out went certain Roman traditions and services and in came a more simplist style of worship and church decorations. English, not Latin, became the language of the pulpit and altar. Cranmer wrote the first Anglican Church prayer books, the model and language which survives even into the 21st century in the American Episcopal Church.

Discretion must have been his middle name.

However, one of his distant descendants practices an indiscretion, standing in the 15th century pulpit where John Holyman preached in the 1540s in Long Handborough. Photo by Barbara Holliman, wife of the bogus preacher.

Next posting, we continue with the paper on ancestor John Holyman (1495 - 1558) presented by Peggy Cattell of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England.

When We Were English, Part VI

The Turbulent Life of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, Installment 3
by Glenn N. Holliman

Historian Nancy Cattell continues her paper on Cuddington, Buckingshire resident John Holyman.

"While in London Brother John embroiled himself in not just Reformation issues but also the marriage crisis of King Henry VIII (1581 - 1547). Henry had decided that must ask the Pope to grant him a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. He claimed that because she had been his brother's widow he should not have been given the dispensation to marry her. This 'sin' was smoting him."
This likeness of King Henry VIII is in the Cathedral at Bristol, England, the Cathedral from which Bishop John Holyman presided 1554 to 1558. Photo by Barbara Holliman.

"This after 20 years of marriage, but of course the real reasons for his desire for a divorce were (a) that Catherine had not provided him the son he wanted and (b) much more important - he had fallen desperately in love with Ann Boleyn and wanted to marry her."

"The Pope refused Henry's request and good Catholic that he was Brother Holyman started preaching in favour of the validity of the marriage to Catherine (photo right). This was a very courageous act or if you like, a very foolhardy one for Henry did not approve of criticism."

Catherine is the mother of Queen Mary Tudor.


"Holyman must have made a discreet move from London otherwise he would surely have lost his head - one book I read told me that his abbot did and certainly the Abbey was dissolved during Thomas Cromwell's 'displacement'. "

Anne Boyleyn, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, photo left.

"As we know when the Pope refused to grant the divorce, Henry cut the Church in England off from the Roman Catholic Church and thus the Church of England came into being. Henry declared himself the head of the Church and so obtained his divorce from his new Archbishop Thomas Cranmer."

"Brother John Holyman left London and sought refuge in Long Handborough, near Woodstock where he became the rector (and kept his head and kept it down)."

The parish church in Long Handbourgh stands today between Oxford and the historic town of Woodstock, the home of Blenin Palace and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Next posting, more on the career of Bishop John Holyman....

When We Were English, Part V

The Turbulent Life of The Right Rev. John Holyman, Installment 2
by Glenn N. Holliman

Below we continue the paper of John Holyman that Miss Peggy Cattell presented in 2005 to the Cuddington Historical Society, Buckinghamshire, England.

"John went to school in Winchester (a prestigious school, second only to Eaton), probably at the age of eleven and developed into a fine scholar. From there he entered New College, Oxford and was awarded the Bachelor of Divinity in 1526. For a short time he was rector in Colerne (in Ireland) but this did not suit him. He turned to Oxford, this time to Exeter College, where he acquired a Doctor of Divinity degree.

New College, top right on the above map, is just inside the Old City Wall in Oxford. Not so new, New College was founded in 1379. Center left of the map is Exeter College, a bit older founded in 1314.

"After this second time at Oxford, Dr. Holyman became a monk at St. Mary's Abbey, Reading."
This stained glass window at the Bristol, England Cathedral is of the founder of the abbey which later became the Cathedral where The Rt. Rev. John Holyman presided from 1554 - 1558. Brother John Holyman, when a monk, would have worn a habit such as above and had tonsured hair. Photo by Barbara Holliman.

"By this time, he was known as a brilliant scholar, a man of great piety and most eloquent preacher - fine qualities but not ones to blaze his name over the country, but this was soon to come. "

"The age in which he was living was one of great religious upheaval. Up to 1517 all of Europe belonged to the Roman Catholic Church owing allegiance to the Pope. In Germany, Martin Luther spoke out again the selling of indulgences - that is people being offered the chance to buy themselves absolution from their sins. Luther believed that only through faith in Jesus Christ could sins be absolved. His concerns spread and a wide rift developed in the church. Those who protested again the Pope and Roman Catholic Church came to be known as Protestants."

" Holyman's abbot became concerned at what he described as this Lutheran Heresy spreading to England and he sent his best preacher up to London to speak against these thoughts at St. Paul's Cross. And so Holyman was thrust into the centre of this important conflict!" (Speaking at St. Paul's Cross in the 1500s would be today's equivalent of appearing on all the major television news channels.)

In the next posting, the Reformation and a Royal divorce engulf King Henry VIII, his Queens Catherine and Ann Boleyn, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Sir Thomas More and our own Brother John Holyman.