The story of the Tilly Family of Ringwood, Hampshire, is one set in a context of poverty, riches and extremes of religious thought. They wanted nothing more or less than to live as a family according to their conscience, but society in the 1600's thought differently. We know that the family of one John Tilly lived in this Hampshire town in the seventeenth century with some family members emigrating to Newfoundland. We also know that they were fishermen, attracted to the North Atlantic by rich shoals of cod and other fish. However, we know little about the detail of these people's lives, their homes, work and the social, political pressures affecting them. This book is therefore a story about an historical family with the aim of providing an insight into life at that time.