A heretic abroad

Christopher Howse's article in last Saturday's Daily Telegraph featured the sad story of Richard Atkins from Ross on Wye and his fairly single-minded determination to come to a sticky end for his heretical ideas in 1581. You can read the story at The man of Ross cheerful to burn.

It is interesting in that it shows the reluctance of the authorities to proceed against a man who appears to have been deranged, and that he was shown kindness by those whose ideas he so clearly rejected.

The author of the book which Christopher Howse is reviewing is Michael Tavinor, the Dean of Hereford, whom I knew slightly when he was Vicar of Tewkesbury. In both of those great churches he has done much to enhanc the appearance of the buildings and their worship, and to reconnect them with their Catholic origins and practices