Returns to the Bishop of Salisbury's Visitation Enquiry 1864, edited by Helen Taylor

In connection with his 1864 visitation, Walter Kerr Hamilton, Bishop of Salisbury, sent to each incumbent in his diocese a questionnaire asking under 52 heads about the state of worship, dissent, education, welfare, charitable giving and religious life generally in each parish. This edition comprises a full transcript of the returns to the visitation enquiry by 249 parish clergy in the Wiltshire portion of Salisbury diocese as then constituted (excluding the north Wiltshire deaneries of Cricklade and Malmesbury, which had been transferred to Gloucester and Bristol). The returns offer not only a parish-by-parish survey of aspects of the religious and social life of much of Wiltshire, but also reflect the character, attitudes and prejudices of Victorian clergy. The volume introduction describes episcopal visitation and enquiry, and analyses the returns. There is an index of persons and places. Published on behalf of the Wiltshire Record Society (volume 76), December 2023, xxviii, 403 pages, hardback, £20.00, ISBN 978-0-901333-53-7.