Saints and sinners: Victorian and Edwardian religion in Oxfordshire

The 1851 religious census came as a great shock to the Victorians, as it showed not only that many people were not attending a place of worship, but that nonconformists were much stronger than many had realised. Simon Wenham will explain how the Victorian period is often seen as a great evangelical age, but that it was also one of waning Anglican influence and simmering tensions between different groups, as seen by the reaction to the Oxford movement and ideas related to agnosticism. This talk examines the varied landscape of belief in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, with a particular emphasis on Oxfordshire.