In the 1630s Robert Place, curate of Torver in Lancashire, was prosecuted in
the local manor court leet for knocking a man's hat off in the church -
there was another incident where he knocked off another man's hat in the
churchyard. In both cases he was found guilty. This suggests that it was
normal for men to wear their hats in church at this period - was this the
case?
Peter Park,
Walton on Thames, Surrey.
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