Gerrard Winstanley

The following article is from a museum exhibition on the Diggers.

"This is the lightning that shall spread from East to West. This is the Kingdom of Heaven within you, dwelling and ruling in your flesh" - Gerrard Winstanley

Gerrard Winstanley was the leader and inspiration of the Diggers on St. George's Hill. It is from his writings that we know of the beliefs of the Diggers. These writings, and the establishment of the camp, were inspired by a revelation that Winstanley had at the age of 40, whilst he was living in Walton-on-Thames.

Gerrard Winstanley was born in Wigan in 1609 and later moved to London, where he prospered and became a freeman of the Merchant Taylors Company. He became a victim of the chaos of the Civil War and had to leave London. In 1649 Winstanley was living in Walton-on-Thames and working as a hired labourer herding cows. Perhaps inspired by this drastic change in circumstances he experienced a vision and began to produce a series of pamphlets. In these pamphlets he detailed his beliefs and explained the actions of the Diggers on St. George's Hill.

Central to Winstanley's belief was that the spirit of God, which he called Reason, existed equally in every person and that the earth had been created as a "common treasury for all". The problems that existed in the world, Winstanley believed, had arisen because mankind had turned its back on 'Reason' and treated the earth as property to be bought and sold. By living communally and recognising that the power of 'Reason' made everyone equal people could rectify this situation and live in happiness.

Winstanley believed that the camp on St. George's Hill would be the spark that quickly changed the nature of society. He was wrong and the Diggers soon found themselves opposed by all sections of he local society, and were forced to leave the hill. Local landowners were alarmed by his claims that land belonged equally to everyone. The clergy found his views on religion too liberal, and also threatening to their own position.Even the common people of the locality were suspicious of the Diggers.

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