Well before the setting up of various relief funds to assist Huguenot refugees fleeing France in the 1680s, English parishioners were being exhorted to contribute towards Church appeals in favour of groups of persecuted Protestants abroad, notably the Waldensians. This proto-Protestant community, driven into the Italian Piedmont valleys by Louis XIV's cousin, the Duke of Savoy, suffered a cruel martyrdom, but their cause was championed by England's Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell....

Well known in the 19th century as a spa resort, Karlshafen, along with its surrounding villages, was initially founded in the late 17th century by Landgrave Karl of Hessen-Kassel as a settlement for Huguenot and Waldensian refugees. Fleeing religious persecution in France and in the Piedmont, the settlers left their mark on local customs and architecture; their heritage is kept alive by their descendants and in museum displays at Karlshafen and Hofgeismar….