"One of the main features of Victorian local history was the balance between the religious denominations, which varied from place to place. The one and only a religious census was taken in the county of Northamptonshire was in 1851. This exercise was undertaken alongside the regular census, taken every ten years from 1801. This Victor Hatley Memorial Volume gives a synopsis of the returns of each place of religious worship in every place in the county. The editor, Graham Ward, explains the problems inherent in the way the census was designed and looks at the issues raised by this one and only attempt to measure religious allegiance with statistical precision." --