There was some very serious resistance to the Reformation, largely prior to the accession of Elizabeth in 1558.

Firstly though, it must be borne in mind that the Reformation itself was not an immediate switch. The Act of Supremacy of 1534 made Henry VIII 'Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England', which event really signalled the break from Rome. In the same year Henry ordered a visitation of the monasteries, which was the prelude to their dissolution. The 'Great Bible', the first official English translation of the Bible was authorised in 1537, but the rites of the Church of England remained essentially Catholic in nature. In 1547 Henry died while his son was still a child and the Duke of Somerset was appointed Protector. Within months he issued orders for the removal of images and other 'Catholic' features from churches. Henry's will decreed that no changes to church services should be undertaken until his son, Edward VI, reached the age of majority, but in 1549 Protector Somerset oversaw the introduction of Cranmer's English-language Book of Common Prayer, and Latin was removed from services. In 1553 Edward died and Mary Tudor ascended to the throne, re-established the authority of the Pope in England, and undid much of the Reformation. It was short-lived, for in 1558, when Elizabeth became queen, another Act of Supremacy was passed appointing her 'Supreme Governor' of the Church of England, and under her reign Protestantism was reintroduced, this time permanently. This brief summary is necessarily lacking but serves, I hope to show that the Reformation itself was a slow process rather than an immediate switch.

For the common people, the Reformation was not necessarily the solution to their ills that is was supposed to be. For example, the monasteries had served a vital purpose in providing what was sometimes a community's only access to medical care and education, and their dissolution was widely opposed. The monasteries had also been significant land owners, renting their lands to peasant farmers. When they were dissolved, the lands usually fell into the hands of nobles who could afford them, and who often turned out to be less considerate landlords than the religious houses had been. The most significant expression of opposition to the dissolution of the monasteries was the 'Pilgrimage of Grace', which occurred in Yorkshire in October 1536, and to a lesser extent in other counties. 30-40,000 armed rebels gathered to oppose the break with Rome and the dissolution, and forcibly reinstated the monks and nuns in their monasteries. Henry's representatives, led by the Duke of Norfolk, did not have the manpower to crush the revolt by force and were compelled to negotiate by offering pardons and acceding to some of the rebels' demands including a separate northern parliament and a temporary reprieve for the religious houses.

A second rebellion broke out in the border counties of the north under Sir Francis Bigod in early 1537, which was crushed by force and which gave Henry the excuse not to honour the concessions made by Norfolk to the Yorkshire rebels.

The introduction of the Book of Common Prayer heralded a fresh wave of conservative rebellion in 1549, which took strongest root in Devon and Cornwall, where several thousand men formed an army and overran the counties, enforcing the continuation of the Latin liturgy. After some initial successes against St. Michael's Mount and Trematon Castle in Cornwall, they laid siege to Exeter for five weeks. Protector Somerset sent an army under the Earl of Bedford to crush the rebellion and relieve Exeter, but it was met by the rebel force who fought several battles in an attempt to prevent Bedford's advance. Although Bedford was victorious in the battles of Fenny Bridges, Clyst St. Mary, Cary's Windmill, and Clyst Heath, the rebel army remained a viable fighting force, and even after the relief of Exeter retired and reformed at Sampford Courtney. Only after the battle of Sampford Courtney in August was the rebellion defeated. At Clyst Heath there occurred what was probably the worst 'war-crime' ever committed on English soil, when 900 bound prisoners were killed by German mercenaries on Russell's orders. The rebellion was known locally as 'the Commotion Time' for years to come, and although it was the most significant uprising against the Prayer Book, there was also armed resistance in other counties including Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset, and elsewhere.

The Pilgrimage of Grace and the Prayer Book Rebellion were the major outbreaks of resistance against the Reformation, or aspects of it, but there were countless smaller acts of defiance across the country.