It was not an easy time to be in such a position. Henry VIII broke with Rome over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon; his daughter Queen Mary I then tried to return the country to Rome; and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I, made the break final. Glastonbury, where Christianity is popularly thought to have started in England, is only a few miles from Charlton Mackrell, and its destruction by Henry VIII and the hanging, drawing, and quartering of its last abbot must surely have made a vivid impression on a small boy thinking of the church as a career.
When Queen Mary came to the throne in 1553, she ordered that all clergy who were married must divorce and conform to the rules of celibacy. This order was obeyed, evaded, and ignored in about equal parts. In 1554, the annual ecclesiastical visitation of Charlton Mackrell recorded that "William Squyre was marryed and doth mynister ageyne, not separated." Children were:
i.
William Squire was born about 1551.
ii.
Andrew Squire was born about 1555.
iii.
Francis Squire was born about 1559.
7706 iv.
Henry Squire.
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