Before the 19th century, the Church of England (Anglicanism) was the only religion practiced in the parish. However, change was rapid in the 19th century with the Bible Christian Methodists forming a Society in Bratton Clovelly in 1818. This denomination would grow throughout the 19th century and by 1860 there were three Bible Christian chapels in the parish. In 1906, the Bible Christians merged with the United Methodist Church and the chapel at Boasley remains open for worship today.
See our Places of Worship theme for more information on the built heritage of religion in Bratton Clovelly. In recent years, many more nonconformist records have become available online and we conducted a study where we tried to distinguish Church of England adherents and Methodist adherents in the parish during the census years of 1841 to 1911. Then we compared the two groups to see how they differed. You can read about the Rise of the Methodists in our Nonconformity study where you may find some surprising results.
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