The Diggers

A group of True Levelers occupied St. George's Hill in Surrey, not far from London on April 1, 1649. The idea was that uncultivated wasteland could be claimed by the poor and worked to self-sufficiency. They were led by a former army minister named William Everett who reckoned that at least a third of all the land in England was just sitting around doing nothing while poor families starving to death. By collectively occupying unused land and then collectively working it, the poor would be delivered from their plight and England would move into closer alignment with God's will.