ABSTRACT
A minority of country towns were small regional centres; in comparison with the average market town they had many more different tradesmen and craftsmen, larger markets, and their shops stocked a wider range of goods. Some country towns grew rapidly in the Victorian period; others practically stood still. The numerous corn exchanges created up and down the country are a witness to the fact that market trading in corn remained active and their importance is supported by contemporary evidence. In the early nineteenth century every country town had at least one malthouse to supply the local brewers. The momentous economic and social changes of the Victorian period all left their mark on the country towns. A few, such as Lincoln, Reading, and Swindon, were transformed into important industrial or railway centres while retaining links with the surrounding countryside; a small number, particularly in the Home Counties, were swallowed up by the expansion of a large city.
