This volume seeks to address a relatively neglected subject in the field of English reformation studies: the reformation in its urban context. Drawing on the work of a number of historians, this collection of essays will seek to explore some of the dimensions of that urban stage and to trace, using a mixture of detailed case studies and thematic reflections, some of the ways in which religious change was both effected and affected by the activities of townsmen and women.

Table of contents

This volume examines the growth and development of English towns when the proportion of the population living in towns rose from a sixth to a half. Chalklin surveys the demography, economy and social structure of market and county towns.

An impressively thorough exploration of the changing functions, character and experience of English towns in a key age of transition which includes smaller communities as well as the larger industrialising towns. Among the issues examined are demography, social stratification, manners, religion, gender, dissent, amenities and entertainment, and the resilience of provincial culture in the face of the growing influence of London. At its heart is an authoritative study of urban politics: the structures of authority, the realities of civic administration, and the general movement for reform that climaxed in the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835.

First Published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The process of urbanisation and suburbanisation in Britain from the Victorian period to the twentieth century.