In most parish churches in England towards the end of the seventeenth century the music consisted of unaccompanied metrical psalms sung slowly and drearily. As a result of efforts to reform this type of singing in provincial English Anglican and nonconformist churches, a distinctive type of vernacular music grew and flourished, especially in less affluent rural areas. This music was often perforn1ed by groups of singers and instrumentalists. It flourished in Gloucestershire until the middle of the nineteenth century when there was wholesale refurbishment and rebuilding of churches in the county under the influence of the Oxford Movement.
Research from the early part of tl1e twentieth century only covered Sussex. An in-depth study covering Northamptonshire and Rutland was published at the end of the twentieth century, as was a study of church bands in Cornwall. Published research this century explores and analyses psalmody and its performance. In this study, the county (and diocese) of Gloucester is given full consideration. Apart from Gloucester cathedral, the whole of Gloucestershire is considered as rural because the rural style of psalmody also flourished in town churches and even some churches in the city.
This thesis discusses in a systematic manner the available evidence for music in all places of worship, including nonconformist places of worship. To document the performers of this music it has used the considerable resources of the relevant county archives as well as the records left and stored by parish officers or nonconformist stewards and trustees.