Religion, Gender, and Industry: Exploring Church and Methodism in a Local Setting

How did the emerging centers of industrial activity interact with the places in which they sprung up? this can be seen in microcosm in one small area of the English midlands: the parish of Madeley, Shropshire, in which was the "birthplace of the industrial revolution," Coalbrookdale. Here, the evangelical Methodist clergyman John Fletcher ministered between 1760 and 1785, among a population including Catholics and Quakers as well people indifferent to religion. Then, for nearly sixty years after his death, two women, Fletcher's widow and later her protâegâe, had virtual charge of the parish, which became one of the last examples of Methodism remaining within the Church of England. Through examining this specific locality, these essays engage particularlywith areas of broader significance, including: Methodism's roots and growth in relation to the Church of England, religion and gender in eighteenth-century Britain, and religion and emerging industrial society. The last decade has seen substantial growthin studies of John and Mary Fletcher, early Methodism, and its relationship to the Church of England. In addition to furthering knowledge of Madeley parish and its relation to larger themes in eighteenth-century Britain, the impact of the Fletchers in nineteenth-century American Methodism is examined.

Geordan Hammond is Senior Lecturer in Church History and Wesley Studies, Nazarene Theological College and Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre, UK.

Peter S. Forsaith is Research Fellow at The Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History, Oxford Brookes University, UK.


Andrew Hindmarsh is a retired university administrator, having had a long career supporting the work of the Universities of Sheffield and Nottingham. While originally educated in zoology at the University of Oxford, he turned historian when he discovered some interesting characters in his family history. He is currently working on the development of local government in Alnwick, England, including a series of bitter disputes between the Freemen of Alnwick and the Duke of Northumberland which involved a number of his ancestors.