Structural changes in the rural Church of England: mapping changes and exploring consequences for the clergy

Abstract

During the nineteenth century the Church of England seems to have enjoyed its great strengths in the countryside, with the pattern of rural church, rural rectory and country parson characterising the pastoral and parochial structure at its best. During the twentieth century, and particularly in the years following the second World War, the landscape of rural Anglicanism changed dramatically both as a consequence of shift s in the religious and social climate of England and as a consequence of international Church policy and practice. Th e aims of the present paper are: