A major issue in Victorian times was the question of relative support for different religious denominations. There was also concern about whether sufficient accommodation existed for the growing population to attend public worship.
The one and only time a religious census was taken was in 1851. The exercise took place alongside the regular census which had been held every ten years from 1801.
This book gives a summary of the 661 returns submitted from Northamptonshire for places of religious worship across the county. A small number of returns are missing or incomplete, which was inevitable as there were no penalties for failing to complete the religious census forms. The details they requested include the number of sittings available and how many worshippers were present at each service held on Sunday 30 March 1851.
A very thorough introduction unfolds the complicated historical background, problems inherent in the way the census was designed and the issues of interpretation raised by this unique attempt to measure religious allegiance. Statistics and conclusions are clarified with the help of meticulous maps and tables. Separate indexes of persons, subjects, places and denominations help readers navigate the work as a whole.
The book is valuable to local and family historians as well as to readers with only a modest interest in what life was like during the middle of the 19th century in the localities that interest them.