ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the choices made by the Ferrars in the form and setting of their public worship, made at a time of growing controversy regarding the ways in which church services could and should be undertaken, and when proponents of the avant-garde were experimenting with forms of decoration unknown in English parish churches since the Reformation. The church at Little Gidding was dilapidated on the Ferrars' arrival, and in about 1630 they carried out a thorough refurbishment; as the parish was largely depopulated, they were free to do what they wanted. the sketch plan represents interpretation of a range of evidence for the interior of the chapel in the 1630s, based on contemporary and later descriptions, a good set of drawings of 1798, an accurate watercolour made in 1851 before the Victorian restoration, and careful examination of the surviving fabric and furnishings. The chapter also discusses what is known of Ferrars' general furnishings.
