What role did the parish play in people's lives in England and Wales between 1700 and the mid-twentieth century? By comparison with globalisation and its dislocating effects, the book stresses how important parochial belonging once was. Professor Snell discusses themes such as settlement law and practice, marriage patterns, cultures of local xenophobia, the continuance of out-door relief in people's own parishes under the new poor law, the many new parishes of the period and their effects upon people's local attachments. The book highlights the continuing vitality of the parish as a unit in people's lives, and the administration associated with it. It employs a variety of historical methods, and makes important contributions to the history of welfare, community identity and belonging. It is highly relevant to the modern themes of globalisation, de-localisation, and the decline of community, helping to set such changes and their consequences into local historical perspective.

A major study of local identities across early modern and modern British history.

About the Author
K. D. M. Snell is Professor of Rural and Cultural History, Centre for English Local History, at the University of Leicester. His previous publications include Annals of the Labouring Poor: Social Change and Agrarian England, 1660-1900 (1985) and Rival Jerusalems: the Geography of Victorian Religion (2000).

Reviews
'Parish and Belonging is a fine work of rural history by a masterful practitioner, rethinking, reconstructing, (gently) challenging, and dazzling at every turn of the page.' Agricultural History Review
'...this ambitious work remains full of fascinating material and provocative insights.' Southern History Society



Book Information
ISBN 9780521110754
Author K. D. M. Snell
Format Paperback
Page Count 556
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 880g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 31mm