This is the first study to consider the meaning of Anglicanism for ordinary people in nineteenth-century England. It is concerned equally with the beliefs of lay people and parish clergy, examining Anglicanism both as a supernatural belief system and as part of English society. It draws extensively on unpublished sources, particularly those for rural areas. Frances Knight argues that in the period up to 1870 the Church retained its popularity among a sizeable proportion of the people.

Frances Knight shows how late Victorian Britain reacted to the bold agendas being set by the thinkers of the fin de siecle