The Diggers arrive at St George's Hill | Part Two | English Civil War Radicals

on sunday the 1st of april 1649 a small collection of men and women gathered here at st george's hill spurred on by the words of their leader gerard winstanley they started to dig plank crops and set up a campsite it may not seem especially shocking or revolutionary but the simple act of digging up the land had far reaching consequences the land being dug was common land which belonged to the lord of the manor although tenants were permitted to use it for activities such as pasturing cattle or fishing their access was tightly controlled and subject to the whims of the local lords but the diggers had not sought permission to farm this land and nor are they planning to when suddenly intended to seize the land and use it to build a new community one that did not have to abide by the rule of landlords and where people were free to live off the land equally cultivating st george's hill without permission when stanley and his followers were defying the memorial system a system which dated back to the norman conquest they were challenging the very fabric of english society questioning a system of land ownership and class which has existed for centuries it was a powerful idea even more so in the climate of political uncertainty following the civil war the diggers actively sought to spread their message publishing their famous manifesto the true level is standard advanced while still at st george's hill their efforts paid off and this small community tucked away in a quiet corner of surrey soon became one of the most prominent news stories of their day the movement caught the attention of john bradshaw president of the council that governed england while he didn't believe the diggers at st george's hill posed a threat themselves he was concerned that the example they set could spur on others further destabilizing politics and society general fairfax commander of the army was sent to investigate the issue in june 1649. fairfax met with win stanley who refused to remove his hat in the general's presence arguing that he was but their fellow creature when stanley however convinced the general that the diggers meant no harm escaping was just a warning when stanley and his diggers had directly infringed on the rights of francis drake walton's local mp and lord of the manor but even the minority tenants who stood to benefit the most from his new social order saw the group's actions as a threat [Music] the diggers were disrupting traditionally committed practices such as grazing livestock on the common land and they feared that if the commune continued to grow it would encroach on other sections of menorial land that the tenants held in return for their services to the lord when it became clear that the government and the army were not going to intervene drake took mattis into his own hands gathering hostile villages into gangs and organising a series of violent raids on the diggers encampment [Music] you