Book jacket blurb: This book is concerned with the tensions between continuity and change in the customs, rituals, values and beliefs of artisans, factory workers and sections of the lower middle class in the nineteenth century. Material is drawn from all parts of the British Isles, including Cornwall, where traditional beliefs showed intriguing similarities with Methodism. Arguments adduced to account for changes in custom include the effects of urbanisation, conflict over the use of public land, new conceptions of public order, the decline of
the oral tradition and the growth of a new recreational nexus in the larger cities. The book demonstrates the enormous variety and diversity of popular tradition, which defies any facile categorisation.