social mores, to agrarian and urban–industrial change and to the rising tide of popular discontent or, at least, indifference. The Anglican Church, in spite of its hierarchy, was a highly decentralized body with each incumbent to all intents and purposes the arbiter of local policy and practice. By contrast the Church of Scotland, especially during the second half of the eighteenth cen-tury under the leadership of the Moderate party, exercised strong centralized control over its parishes and clergy. The General Assembly, meeting in Edinburgh, governed a tiered system of regional synods, presbyteries and, at the lowest level, kirk sessions, all composed of ministers and elders. By the latter part of the eighteenth century the Anglican Church was beset by practical difficulties which seriously compromised the parochial ideal. The 26 bishops were as much political functionaries operating in the House of Lords as they were spiritual leaders of the clergy in their dioceses. They exhibited the vices and virtues of the eighteenth-century aristocracy with whom they were associated. At the local level many parishes suffered from the loss of all or part of their tithe income while parsonage houses were fre-quently in ruin. As a result of these material deficiencies pluralism and non-residence were rife, with parochial duties entrusted to impecunious stipendiary curates, some of whom were compelled by circumstances to serve more than one parish. Even though the picture is far from uniform and recent work by Mark Smith on the industrializing areas of Oldham and Saddleworth has cast doubt on the conventional picture of a static church served by a neglectful clergy, there were numerous weaknesses in the system.

DOI link for social mores, to agrarian and urban–industrial change and to the rising tide of popular discontent or, at least, indifference. The Anglican Church, in spite of its hierarchy, was a highly decentralized body with each incumbent to all intents and purposes the arbiter of local policy and practice. By contrast the Church of Scotland, especially during the second half of the eighteenth cen-tury under the leadership of the Moderate party, exercised strong centralized control over its parishes and clergy. The General Assembly, meeting in Edinburgh, governed a tiered system of regional synods, presbyteries and, at the lowest level, kirk sessions, all composed of ministers and elders. By the latter part of the eighteenth century the Anglican Church was beset by practical difficulties which seriously compromised the parochial ideal. The 26 bishops were as much political functionaries operating in the House of Lords as they were spiritual leaders of the clergy in their dioceses. They exhibited the vices and virtues of the eighteenth-century aristocracy with whom they were associated. At the local level many parishes suffered from the loss of all or part of their tithe income while parsonage houses were fre-quently in ruin. As a result of these material deficiencies pluralism and non-residence were rife, with parochial duties entrusted to impecunious stipendiary curates, some of whom were compelled by circumstances to serve more than one parish. Even though the picture is far from uniform and recent work by Mark Smith on the industrializing areas of Oldham and Saddleworth has cast doubt on the conventional picture of a static church served by a neglectful clergy, there were numerous weaknesses in the system.

social mores, to agrarian and urban–industrial change and to the rising tide of popular discontent or, at least, indifference. The Anglican Church, in spite of its hierarchy, was a highly decentralized body with each incumbent to all intents and purposes the arbiter of local policy and practice. By contrast the Church of Scotland, especially during the second half of the eighteenth cen-tury under the leadership of the Moderate party, exercised strong centralized control over its parishes and clergy. The General Assembly, meeting in Edinburgh, governed a tiered system of regional synods, presbyteries and, at the lowest level, kirk sessions, all composed of ministers and elders. By the latter part of the eighteenth century the Anglican Church was beset by practical difficulties which seriously compromised the parochial ideal. The 26 bishops were as much political functionaries operating in the House of Lords as they were spiritual leaders of the clergy in their dioceses. They exhibited the vices and virtues of the eighteenth-century aristocracy with whom they were associated. At the local level many parishes suffered from the loss of all or part of their tithe income while parsonage houses were fre-quently in ruin. As a result of these material deficiencies pluralism and non-residence were rife, with parochial duties entrusted to impecunious stipendiary curates, some of whom were compelled by circumstances to serve more than one parish. Even though the picture is far from uniform and recent work by Mark Smith on the industrializing areas of Oldham and Saddleworth has cast doubt on the conventional picture of a static church served by a neglectful clergy, there were numerous weaknesses in the system.