A.L. Rowse 
Reflections on the Puritan Revolution [EPUB ebook] 

Reflections on the Puritan Revolution (1986) examines the damage done by the Puritans during the English Civil War, and the enormous artistic losses England suffered from their activities. The Puritans smashed stained glass, monuments, sculpture, brasses in cathedrals and churches; they destroyed organs, dispersed the choirs and the music. They sold the King’s art collections, pictures, statues, plate, gems and jewels abroad, and broke up the Coronation regalia. They closed down the theatres and ended Caroline poetry. The greatest composer and most promising scientist of the age were among the many lives lost; and this all besides the ruin of palaces, castles and mansions.