Back across
the road, then, we find the famous Elmsett tithe
wars memorial. This recalls an incident, just one
of many, in which possessions were seized from
the home of a land owner in lieu of payments to
the Church.
It reads: 1934.
To commemorate the Tithe seizure at Elmsett Hall
of furniture including baby's bed and blankets,
herd of dairy cows, eight corn stacks and seed
stacks valued at £1200 for tithe valued at
£385.
The relationship
between churches and their villages is an easier
one today than it has been for generations, since
the abolition of the hated tithe system, by which
landowners had to contribute a proportion of
their income to the church for the upkeep of its
incumbent. This was the case even if they were
not Anglicans, which in Suffolk many were not.
It is salutary for
us to recall that the tithe controversy has
lingered well into the collective memory of
modern Suffolk. George Orwell documented the
struggle in his novel A Clergyman's Daughter;
and, in 1936, massed lines of police confronted
fascist blackshirt thugs protesting outside Wortham Rectory. Hard to imagine, now.
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