“April 4 (Thursday).—The true Copy of a Letter taken at Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, with some men that were there apprehended for going about to incite people to Digging, and under such pretence gathered money of the well-affected for their assistance.
“These are to certify all that are Friends to Universal Freedom, and that look upon the Digging and Planting of the Commons to be the first springing up of Freedom: To make the Earth a Common Treasury that everyone may enjoy food and raiment freely by his labour upon the Earth, without paying Rents or Homage to any Fellow-creature of his own kind; that everyone may be delivered from the Tyranny of the Conquering Power, and to rise up out of that Bondage to enjoy the benefit of his Creation: This, I say, is to certify all such that those Men that have begun to lay the First Stone in the Foundation of this Freedom (by digging upon Georges Hill on the Common called Little Heath in Cobham) in regard of the great opposition hitherto from the Enemy, by reason whereof they lost the last Summer’s work, yet, through inward faithfulness to advance Freedom, they keep the field still, ... but in regard to poverty their work is like to flag and drop: Therefore if the hearts of any be stirred up to drop anything into this Treasury, to buy victuals to keep the men alive, and to buy Corn to cast into the ground, it will keep alive the Spirit of Public Freedom to the whole Land, which otherwise is ready to die again for want of help. And if you hear hereafter that there was a people appeared to stand up to advance Public Freedom, and struggled with the Opposing Power of the Land, for that they begin to let them alone, and yet these men and their public work were crushed, because they wanted assistance of food and corn to keep them alive: I say, if you hear this, it will be trouble to you when it is too late, that you had monies in your hand, and would not part with any of it to purchase Freedom, therefore you deservedly groan under Tyranny, and no Saviour appears. But let your Reason weigh the excellency of this work, and I am sure you will cast in something.
“And because there were some treacherous persons drew up a note and subscribed our names to it, and by that moved some friends to give money to this work of ours, when as we know of no such note, nor subscribed our names to any, nor ever received any money from such collection. Therefore to prevent such a cheat, I have mentioned a word or two in the end of a printed book against that treachery, that neither we nor our friends may be cheated. And I desire if any be willing to communicate of their substance unto our work, that they would make a collection among themselves, and send that money to Cobham to the Diggers’ own hands, by some trusty friend of your own, and so neither you nor we shall be cheated.
“The Bearers hereof, Thomas Haydon and Adam Knight, can relate by word of mouth more largely the condition of the Diggers and their work, and so we leave this to you to do as you are moved.
“Jacob Heard, Jo. South junior, Henry Barton, Tho. Barnard, Tho. Adams, Will Hitchcocke, Anthony Wren, Robert Draper, William Smith, Robert Coster, Gerrard Winstanley, Jo. South, Tho. Heydon, Jo. Palmer, Tho. South, Henry Handcocke, Jo. Batt, Dan Ireland, Jo. Hayman, Robert Sawyer, Tho. Starre, Tho. Edcer, besides their wives and families, and many more if there were food for them.”
Then follows this detailed account of their travels:
“A Copy of their Travels, that was taken with the four men at Wellingborow.
“Out of Buckinghamshire into Surrey; from Surrey to Middlesex, from thence to Hartfordshire, to Bedfordshire, again to Buckinghamshire, so to Berkshire, and then to Surrey, thence to Middlesex, and so to Hartfordshire, and to Bedfordshire, thence into Huntingdonshire, from thence to Bedfordshire, and so into Northamptonshire, and there they were apprehended.
“They visited these towns to promote the business: Colebrook, Hanworth, Hounslow, Harrowhill, Watford, Redburn, Dunstable, Barton, Amersley, Bedford, Kempson, North Crawley, Cranfield, Newport, Stony Stratford, Winslow, Wendover, Wickham, Windsor, Cobham, London, Whetston, Mine, Wellin, Dunton, Putney, Royston, St. Needs, Godmanchester, Wetne, Stanton, Warbays, Kimolton, from Kimolton to Wellingborrow.”
Before this date, however, some of the inhabitants of Wellingborrow had followed the example of their brothers in Surrey. From a beautifully printed broadsheet,[150:1] bearing date March 12th, 1649 (1650), and issued by Giles Calvert, we find the following account of their doings, which incidentally reveals the terrible state of the rural working population at the time it was written: