Venning at the Tower of London

There is some confusion as to when and how Venning was ordained, or even if he was. According to Prince, he had already taken ‘Holy Orders’ from a Bishop, ‘there being in his younger time, no other Ordination allowed or practised in England’. In fact the episcopate had been abolished by Parliament in 1646, although it was not until the summer of 1648 that a Provincial Assembly was established in London, devoting much of its time to the ordination of ministers. Even then, many graduates sought out former Bishops for ordination and it was still recognised as legitimate in the parishes throughout the Interregnum, if evidence was provided of a godly life. Baxter did not think that Venning had been ordained by the classis or association, but that he had been ‘truly ordained, by preaching Presbiters’ in accordance with the Act of 4 October 1644.

In whichever case, it was apparently during his studies for an MA that Venning took up his first appointment in London. Although living out of College was unusual, his gravitation towards London certainly wasn't. It was the chief city of England, and, arguably, of Europe; not only in terms of its population, which grew from around two hundred thousand at the beginning to over 375,000 by the end of the seventeenth century. It was the national centre for trade, literature and fashion, and also, in a sense, godliness: around 24 per cent of puritan and 23 per cent of non-puritan clergy held London lectureships as their first appointments. It would be for the sake of London's supply of godly preachers that George Boddington, Venning's future son-in-law, would be reluctant to leave the city even during the plague of 1665/6.

This was no ordinary charge, either. Venning was confirmed as Chaplain at the Tower of London on 16 February 1648 and was still ‘Parson’ at the ‘Chapel in the Tower’ in July 1649, although just ‘for the time being’. The Tower was not only the most important political prison and military stronghold in the country but a garrison and the location of the mint, which suggests that Venning's Parliamentarian credentials were impeccable.