Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

_Distribution._--A detailed map of the distribution of population in
England and Wales[11] shows certain well-defined areas of very dense
population. First for consideration, though not in geographical
extent, stands the area round London, in Middlesex, Surrey, Kent,
Essex and Hertfordshire. A great proportion of this population is
purely residential, that is to say, its working members do not
practise their professions at home or close to home, but in the
metropolis, travelling a considerable distance between their
residences and their offices. Just as London, in spite of its manifold
industrial interests, is hardly to be termed a manufacturing centre,
so the populous district surrounding it is not to be termed an
industrial district in the sense in which that term is applied to the
remaining regions of dense population which fall for consideration
here. London gained its paramount importance from its favourable
geographical position in respect of the rest of England on the one
hand and the Continent on the other, and the populous district of the
"home counties" owes its existence to that importance; whereas other
populous districts have generally grown up at the point where some
source of natural wealth, as coal or iron, lay to hand. The great
populous area which covers south Lancashire and the West Riding of
Yorkshire, and extends beyond them into Cheshire, Derbyshire,
Staffordshire and Nottinghamshire, is not in reality a unit. The whole
of the lowland in the south of Lancashire has almost the appearance of
one vast town, whereas among the hills of the Pennine Chain the
population crowds the valleys on either flank and leaves in the
high-lying centre some of the largest tracts of practically
uninhabited country in England. Moreover, the industries in different
parts of this area (for it is strictly an industrial area) differ
completely, as will be observed later, though coal-mining is common to
all. The other most extensive centres of dense population are the
coal-mining or manufacturing districts of Northumberland and Durham,
of the midlands (parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and
Leicestershire), and of South Wales and Monmouthshire; and it is in
these districts, and others smaller, but of similar character, that
the greatest increase of population has been recorded, since the
extensive development of their resources during the 19th century.
Thus the preceding counties[12] showed an increase, under normal
conditions, exceeding 10% during the ten years 1891-1901, the
percentage of increase in 1871-1891 being given for comparison.

+---------------------------+-------------------------+
| | Increase per cent. |
| Counties. +------------+------------+
| | 1871-1891. | 1891-1901. |
+---------------------------+------------+------------+
| Middlesex | 47.42 | 45.11 |
| Essex | 31.54 | 39.60 |
| Glamorganshire (S. Wales) | 30.72 | 25.10 |
| Surrey | 25.03 | 24.78 |
| Northumberland | 14.42 | 19.19 |
| Worcestershire | 12.12 | 18.49 |
| Nottinghamshire | 19.30 | 18.09 |
| Durham | 21.67 | 16.62 |
| Leicestershire | 17.43 | 16.46 |
| Kent | 13.15 | 15.95 |
| Hampshire | 12.73 | 15.33 |
| Monmouthshire | 12.08 | 14.97 |
| Yorkshire (E. Riding) | 14.31 | 13.49 |
| Northamptonshire | 11.40 | 13.27 |
| Warwickshire | 12.78 | 12.95 |
| Staffordshire | 12.15 | 12.92 |
| Derbyshire | 15.52 | 12.81 |
| Yorkshire (W. Riding) | 15.36 | 12.70 |
| Cheshire | 14.62 | 12.56 |
| Lancashire | 17.92 | 12.05 |
| Hertfordshire | 5.08 | 10.91 |
+---------------------------+------------+------------+

It will be observed that three of the home counties occur in the first
four in the above list. It is interesting to note, in this connexion,
that the increase of population diminished steadily, in the three
decades under notice, within the area covered by the administrative
county of London, which is only the central part of urban London
(compare the population table of the great urban districts, below).
This was 17.44% in 1871-1881, 10.39 in 1881-1891, and 7.3 in
1891-1901. This illustrates the constant tendency for the residential
districts of a city to radiate away from its centre, which appears,
though in a modified degree, in the case of all the great English
cities.

During the period 1891-1901 five English and five Welsh counties
showed a decrease per cent in the population. The English counties
were:--

+--------------------+-------------------------+------------+
| |Decrease or Increase(+). | Decrease. |
| +------------+------------+ 1891-1901. |
| | 1871-1881. | 1881-1891. | |
+--------------------+------------+------------+------------+
| Huntingdonshire | 8.29 | 5.51 | 7.04 |
| Rutland | 1.55 | 3.73 | 5.59 |
| Westmorland | 1.25 | +2.96 | 2.73 |
| Oxfordshire | +1.27 | +3.64 | 1.70 |
| Herefordshire | 3.26 | 4.02 | 1.62 |
+--------------------+------------+------------+------------+

Urban and rural districts.

The Welsh counties were Montgomeryshire, Cardiganshire, Flintshire,
Merionethshire and Brecknockshire, the first-named showing the highest
decrease, 5.08%, in 1891-1901. These counties are principally
agricultural, and it is in agricultural districts elsewhere that the
increase of population is slightest. But in 1871-1881 a decrease was
found in the case of fifteen counties in all, and in 1881-1891 in the
case of thirteen, whereas in 1891-1901, although Radnorshire, which
returned a decrease previously, now returned an abnormal increase
owing to the temporary employment of workmen on the construction of
the Birmingham waterworks, the number fell to 10, and the average
percentage also fell. This suggested some tendency to return to a
state of equilibrium as between urban and rural districts. This is in
a measure borne out by the movement of population in the districts
classed as purely rural in 1901. In these there was an increase per
cent of 14.2 in 1811-1821, which fell off to 2.8 in 1841-1851. A
decrease then set in and grew from 0.2 in 1851-1861 to 0.67 in
1881-1891, but in 1891-1901 an increase, 1.95, was once more recorded.
But the drain on the rural population continued heavy, for in the same
purely rural area, which had a population in 1901 of 1,330,319, the
excess of births over deaths was 150,437, but the actual increase of
population was only 25,492, leaving a heavy loss (9.6%) to be
accounted for by migration, the term used in this connexion in the
general report of the Census to include movement of population to any
new locality, home or foreign.

_Housing._--The total area of England and Wales covered by urban
districts (a term which coincides pretty nearly with that of towns,
which bears no technical meaning in England) was 3,848,987 acres, and
contained a population of 25,058,355 in 1901, the increase in the
decade 1891-1901 being 15.2%. The number of inhabited houses in the
whole country in 1901, namely 6,260,852, may be compared with the
numbers in 1801 (1,575,923) and 1851 (3,278,039); it gives an average
of 5.2 persons to each house. This average has decreased with some
regularity from a _maximum_ of 5.75 in 1821, but there is no certain
evidence on which to affirm or deny that the average cubic capacity of
dwelling-houses has been maintained. The urban population averaged 5.4
persons to a house, but varied greatly in different towns. Thus, an
average below 4.4 is quoted for Rochdale, Halifax, Huddersfield,
Yarmouth, Bradford and Stockport, while the average for London was
7.93, and for Gateshead, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and South Shields, in the
northern industrial district of the Tyne, and for Devonport, the
average exceeded 8. The average of persons to a house in rural
districts was 4.6.

+-------------+---------------------------+---------------------+
| | Percentage of | Excess of Estimated |
| Year. +-------------+-------------+ over Enumerated |
| | Increase by | Decrease by | Population. |
| | Births. | Deaths. | |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+---------------------+
| 1851-1861 | 36.19 | 23.58 | 122,111 |
| 1861-1871 | 37.56 | 23.98 | 78,968 |
| 1871-1881 | 37.89 | 22.80 | 164,307 |
| 1881-1891 | 34.24 | 20.27 | 601,389 |
| 1891-1901 | 31.57 | 19.18 | 68,330 |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+---------------------+

_Vital Statistics._--"The increase or decrease of population is
governed by two factors: (1) the balance between births and deaths,
and (2) the balance between immigration and emigration."[13] The
following table is therefore given to show (1) the percentage of
increase by births and decrease by deaths in each decade from 1851,
and (2) the difference at the close of each decade (i.e. in the later
year mentioned in each line) between the population which would have
followed upon the natural increase unaffected by migration and the
population as actually enumerated. In the case of (2) the actual
population has always been exceeded by the estimate based on natural
increase, and this demonstrates an excess of emigration over
immigration.

The proportion of males to females is 1000 to 1068, this being a
higher proportion of females than any recorded in the 19th century,
during which the lowest proportion of females was 1036 in 1821. The
proportion rose at each census from 1851. But on the other hand 1000
male children were born against only 965 female, on an average in
1891-1901. This excess of male births, which is usual, has been
ascertained to find its equilibrium, through a higher rate of infant
mortality among the males, about the tenth year of life, and is
finally changed by perilous male occupations and other causes,
including the stronger tendency of males to emigration. The proportion
of females varies much in different localities, being highest in such
districts as London and the home counties, which are residential, and
in which, therefore, many domestic servants are enumerated; and
Somersetshire, Bedfordshire and other seats of industries which
especially occupy women (e.g. the straw-plaiting of the county last
named). It is lowest, naturally, in the mining districts, as
Glamorgan, Monmouth, Durham, Northumberland; but an exception may be
noted in the case of Cornwall, where a high proportion of females is
attributed to the emigration of miners consequent upon the relative
decrease in importance of the tin-mines. In 1901 the proportion of
females to males in urban districts was 1086 to 1000, and in rural
districts 1011 to 1000.

_Urban Districts of England and Wales with Population exceeding
80,000_ (1901).

+---------------------+-----------------------+------------+
| | Population. | Increase |
| +-----------+-----------+ per cent. |
| | 1891. | 1901. | |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| London * | 4,228,317 | 4,536,541 | 7.3 |
| Liverpool | 629,548 | 684,958 | 8.8 |
| Manchester | 505,368 | 543,872 | 7.6 |
| Birmingham | 478,113 | 522,204 | 9.2 |
| Leeds | 367,505 | 428,968 | 16.7 |
| Sheffield | 324,243 | 380,793 | 17.4 |
| Bristol | 289,280 | 328,945 | 13.7 |
| Bradford | 265,728 | 279,767 | 5.3 |
| West Ham ** | 204,903 | 267,358 | 30.5 |
| Hull | 200,472 | 240,259 | 19.8 |
| Nottingham | 213,877 | 239,743 | 12.1 |
| Salford | 198,139 | 220,957 | 11.5 |
| Newcastle-upon-Tyne | 186,300 | 215,328 | 15.6 |
| Leicester | 174,624 | 211,579 | 21.2 |
| Portsmouth | 159,278 | 188,133 | 18.1 |
| Bolton | 146,487 | 168,215 | 14.8 |
| Cardiff (Wales) | 128,915 | 164,333 | 27.5 |
| Sunderland | 131,686 | 146,077 | 10.9 |
| Oldham | 131,463 | 137,246 | 4.4 |
| Croydon ** | 102,695 | 133,895 | 30.4 |
| Blackburn | 120,064 | 127,626 | 6.3 |
| Brighton | 115,873 | 123,478 | 6.6 |
| Willesden ** | 61,265 | 114,811 | 87.4 |
| Rhondda (Wales) | 88,351 | 113,735 | 28.7 |
| Preston | 107,573 | 112,989 | 5.0 |
| Norwich | 100,970 | 111,733 | 10.7 |
| Birkenhead | 99,857 | 110,915 | 11.1 |
| Gateshead | 85,692 | 109,888 | 28.2 |
| Plymouth | 88,931 | 107,636 | 21.0 |
| Derby | 94,146 | 105,912 | 12.5 |
| Halifax | 97,714 | 104,936 | 7.4 |
| Southampton | 82,126 | 104,824 | 27.6 |
| Tottenham ** | 71,343 | 102,541 | 43.7 |
| Leyton ** | 63,106 | 98,912 | 56.7 |
| South Shields | 78,391 | 97,263 | 24.1 |
| Burnley | 87,016 | 97,043 | 11.5 |
| East Ham ** | 32,712 | 96,018 | 193.5 |
| Walthamstow ** | 46,346 | 95,131 | 105.3 |
| Huddersfield | 95,420 | 95,047 | 0.4 decr. |
| Swansea (Wales) | 91,034 | 94,537 | 3.8 |
| Wolverhampton | 82,662 | 94,187 | 13.9 |
| Middlesborough | 75,532 | 91,302 | 20.9 |
| Northampton | 75,075 | 87,021 | 15.9 |
| Walsall | 71,789 | 86,430 | 20.4 |
| St Helens | 72,413 | 84,410 | 16.6 |
| Rochdale | 76,161 | 83,114 | 9.1 |
+---------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
* Administrative county.

** These districts, administratively distinct, belong
topographically to Greater London.

The proportion of married adults (aged twenty and upwards) was found
to decrease from 1881 to 1901, being 630 per thousand in the former
and 604.5 in the latter year. The marriage-rate per thousand has
ranged since 1841 from 14.2 in 1886 to 17.6 in 1873, and is evidently
closely associated with the general prosperity of the country, for in
the latter year the value of the total imports and exports per head of
the population of the United Kingdom was at its highest, and in the
former year at its lowest. The five years 1895-1899 exhibited a
remarkable sequence illustrative of this:--

+---------+---------------+-------------+
| | Marriage- | Value, |
| Years. | Rate. | Exports and |
| | | Imports. |
+---------+---------------+-------------+
| | | L s. d. |
| 1895 | 15.0 | 17 19 3 |
| 1896 | 15.8 | 18 14 1 |
| 1897 | 16.0 | 18 14 3 |
| 1898 | 16.3 | 19 0 5 |
| 1899 | 16.5 | 20 1 8 |
+---------+---------------+-------------+

The marriage-rate declined, subsequently to the year last quoted in
this table, to 15.6 in 1903. (O. J. R. H.)

_Religion._--In attempting to give a concise account of the religious conditions of England we are confronted from the outset with the absence of any trustworthy statistics. A religious census, such as is customary in other countries, has not been taken since 1851; nor is it probable that such a census would be any true indication of the actual religious beliefs of the population. Still less satisfactory, from this standpoint, is the attempt to compile statistics of religious belief from the registrar-general's report on the number of marriages celebrated in the places of worship of the various denominations; for among those who are practically attached to no religious body, and even some Nonconformists, a prejudice survives in favour of having their marriages celebrated and their funerals conducted by the clergy of the Established Church. Nor is the test of "sittings" provided by the various denominations, nor even the number of their communicants, a trustworthy test of the relative number of their adherents. In Wales, for instance, the rivalry of the sects has multiplied chapel accommodation out of all proportion to the population; while everywhere it happens that churches, at one time crowded every Sunday, have been emptied by the shifting of population or other causes. As for the test of communicancy, it is untrustworthy because the insistence on communion as the pledge of membership varies with the different denominations and even with different sections of opinion within those denominations. Any statistics of this nature, then, however useful they may be as a general indication, must not be treated as conclusive.

The Church of England.

Whatever disputes there may be as to the relative strength of the various churches and sects, there can be no questioning the fact that the dominant religion in England is Protestant Christianity. Protestantism, indeed, since the Act of Settlement in 1689, has been of the essence of the Constitution, the sovereign forfeiting his or her crown _ipso facto_ by acknowledging the authority of the pope, by accepting "the Romish religion," or by marrying a Roman Catholic; and though of late years efforts have been made to modify or to abrogate this provision, the fact that such efforts have met with widespread opposition shows that it still represents the general attitude of the British nation. Protestantism, however, is a generic term which in England covers a great variety of opinions, and a large number of rival religious organizations. The state church, the Church of England as by law established, represents the tradition of a time when church and state were regarded as two aspects of one divinely ordered organism. In law every subject of the state is also a member of the Established Church, and can lay claim to its ministrations so long as he or she obeys the ecclesiastical law, which is also the law of the state. No Englishman, whatever his opinions, can be excommunicated without due process of law. The Church of England is thus theoretically coextensive with the English nation, each unit of which is legally assumed to belong to it unless proof be brought to the contrary. To state the theory is, however, to risk giving an entirely false impression of the facts. In practice the Church of England is no longer regarded as coextensive with the state; nor is nonconformity any longer, as it once was, an offence against the law. Since the abolition of the Test Acts and the emancipation of the Catholics no Englishman has suffered any civil disability owing to his religion[14]; and the progress of democracy has given to the great so-called "Free Churches" a political power that rivals that of the Established Church. In the matter of the estimation of their relative strength the main grievance of the Nonconformists is that the law classes as members of the Church of England that enormous floating population which is really conscious of no ecclesiastical allegiance at all.

The Church of England, both in constitution and doctrine, represents in general the mean between Roman Catholicism on the one hand and the more advanced forms of Protestantism on the other (see EPISCOPACY). Though its doctrine was reformed in the 16th century and the spiritual supremacy of the pope was repudiated, the continuity of its organic life was not interrupted, and historically as well as legally it is the same church as that established before the Reformation. The ecclesiastical system is episcopal, the whole of England (including for this purpose Wales) being divided into two provinces, Canterbury and York, and 37 bishoprics (including the primatial sees of Canterbury and York). These again are subdivided into 14,080 parishes (1901), the smallest ecclesiastical units, which are grouped for certain administrative purposes into 810 rural deaneries. The sovereign is by law the supreme governor of the church, both in things spiritual and temporal, and he has the right to nominate to vacant sees. In the case of sees of old foundation this is done by means of the conge d'elire (q.v.), in that of others by letters patent.[15] The bishops hold their temporalities as baronies, for which they do homage in the ancient form, and are spiritual peers of parliament. Only 26, however, have the right to seats in the House of Lords, of whom five--viz. the two archbishops and the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester--always sit, the others taking their seats in order of seniority of consecration. Under the bishops the affairs of the dioceses are managed by archdeacons (q.v.) and rural deans (see ARCHPRIEST and DEAN). The cathedral churches are governed by chapters consisting of a dean, canons and prebendaries (see CATHEDRAL). The deaneries are in the gift of the crown, canonries and prebends sometimes in that of the crown, sometimes in that of the bishops. The parish clergy, with a few rare exceptions (when they are elected by the ratepayers), are appointed by patronage. The right of presentation to some 8500 benefices or "livings" is in the hands of private persons; the right is regarded in law as property and is, under certain restrictions for the avoidance of gross simony, saleable (see ADVOWSON). The patronage of the remaining benefices belongs in the main to the crown, the bishops and cathedral chapters, the lord chancellor, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

In spite of the fact that the Church of England is collectively one of the wealthiest in Christendom, a large proportion of the "livings" are extremely poor. To understand this and other anomalies it is necessary to bear in mind that the church is not, like the established Protestant churches of Germany, an elaborately organized state department, nor is it a single corporation with power to regulate its internal polity. It is a conglomeration of corporations. Even the incumbent of a parish is in law a "corporation sole," his benefice a freehold; and until the establishment in 1836, by act of parliament, of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners (q.v.) nothing could be done to adjust the inequalities in the emoluments of the clergy resulting from the natural rise and fall of the value of property in various parts of the country. Even more extraordinary is the effect of the singular constitution of the church on its discipline. An incumbent, once inducted, can only be disturbed by complicated and extremely costly processes of law; in effect, except in cases of gross misconduct, he is only checked--so far as ecclesiastical order is concerned--by his oath of canonical obedience to the "godly" monitions of his bishop; and, since these monitions are difficult and costly to enforce, while their "godliness" may be a matter of opinion, an incumbent is practically himself the interpreter of the law as applied to the doctrine and ritual of his particular church. The result has been the development within the Established Church of a most startling diversity of doctrine and ritual practice, varying from what closely resembles that of the Church of Rome to the broadest Liberalism and the extremest evangelical Protestantism. This broad comprehensiveness, which to outsiders looks like ecclesiastical anarchy, is the characteristic note of the Church of England; it may be, and has been, defended as consonant with Christian charity and suited to the genius of a people not remarkable for logical consistency; but it makes it all the more difficult to say what the religion of Englishmen actually is, even within the English Church.

The following is a list of the archiepiscopal and episcopal sees of England and Wales--the latter arranged in alphabetical order,--with date of their establishment and amount of emoluments:--

Year of Annual
Foundation. Emoluments.
Province of Canterbury--
Canterbury (archbishopric) 597 L15,000
Bangor c. 550 4,200
Bath and Wells 1139 5,000
Birmingham 1904 3,500
Bristol 1897* 3,000
Chichester 1075 4,200
Ely 1109 5,500
Exeter 1050 4,200
Gloucester 1541 4,300
Hereford 676 4,200
Lichfield 669 4,200
Lincoln 1067 4,500
Llandaff c. 550 4,200
London 605 10,000
Norwich 1094 4,500
Oxford 1542 5,000
Peterborough 1541 4,500
Rochester 604 3,800
St Albans 1877 3,200
St Asaph c. 550 4,200
St David's c. 550 4,500
Salisbury 1075 5,000
Southwark 1904 3,000
Southwell 1884 3,500
Truro 1876 3,000
Winchester c. 650 6,500
Worcester c. 680 4,200
Province of York--
York (archbishopric) 625 10,000
Carlisle 1133 4,500
Chester 1541 4,200
Durham 995 7,000
Liverpool 1880 4,200
Manchester 1847 4,200
Newcastle 1882 3,500
Ripon 1836 4,200
Sodor and Man 1154 1,500
Wakefield 1888 3,000

* Modern refoundation.

The following are suffragan or assistant bishoprics (the names of the dioceses to which each belongs being given in brackets): Dover, Croydon (Canterbury), Beverley, Hull, Sheffield (York), Stepney, Islington, Kensington (London), Jarrow (Durham), Guildford, Southampton, Dorking (Winchester), Barrow-in-Furness (Carlisle), Crediton (Exeter), Grantham (Lincoln), Burnley (Manchester), Thetford, Ipswich (Norwich), Reading (Oxford), Leicester (Peterborough), Richmond, Knaresborough (Ripon), Colchester, Barking (St Albans), Swansea (St David's), Woolwich, Kingston-on-Thames (Southwark), Derby (Southwell), St Germans (Truro). See also ENGLAND, CHURCH OF; ANGLICAN COMMUNION; ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION; VESTMENTS; MASS.

+------------------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
| | Sittings. | Commun- | Ministers | Local | Sunday |
| | | icants.|(Pastoral).| Preachers.| Scholars.|
+------------------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+
| Baptists[16] | 1,421,742 | 424,741 | 2134 | 5,748 | 590,321 |
| Congregationalists (1907) | 1,801,447 | 498,953 | 3197 | 5,603 | 729,347 |
| Presbyterian Church of England[17] | 173,047 | 85,755 | 323 | . . | 98,258 |
| Society of Friends | . . | 17,442 | . . | . . | 62,347 |
| Moravians | 10,100 | 2,999 | 34 | . . | 4,542 |
| Wesleyan Methodists[18] | 2,500,000 | 620,350 | 2658 | 20,119 |1,039,437 |
| Primitive Methodists[16] | 1,017,690 | 205,407 | 1101 | 15,963 | 477,114 |
| United Methodist Church[19] | 738,840 | 158,095 | 833 | 5,577 | 315,993 |
| Wesleyan Reform Union | 47,435 | 8,717 | 19 | 508 | 23,008 |
| Independent Methodists | 33,000 | 9,732 | . . | 375 | 28,387 |
| Welsh Calvinistic Methodist | 472,089 | 185,935 | 900 | 361 | 187,484 |
| Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion | 12,347 | 2,469 | 26 | . . | 3,040 |
| Reformed Episcopal Church | 6,000 | 1,090 | 28 | . . | 2,600 |
| Free Church of England | 8,140 | 1,352 | 24 | . . | 4,196 |
+------------------------------------+-----------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+

Other Protestant communions.

The number of "denominations" by whom buildings were certified for worship up to 1895 was 293 (see list in _Whitaker's Almanack_, 1886, p. 252), but in many instances such "denominations" consisted of two or three congregations only, in some cases of a single congregation. The more important nonconformist churches are fully dealt with under their several headings. The above table, however, based on that in the _Statesman's Year-Book_ for 1908, and giving the comparative statistics of the chief nonconformist churches, may be useful for purposes of comparison. It may be prefaced by stating that, according to returns made in 1905, the Church of England provided sitting accommodation in parish and other churches for 7,177,144 people; had an estimated number of 2,053,455 communicants, 206,873 Sunday-school teachers, and 2,538,240 Sunday scholars. There were 14,029 incumbents (rectors, vicars, and perpetual curates), 7500 curates, i.e. assistant clergy, and some 4000 clergy on the non-active list.

Besides the bodies enumerated in the table there are other churches concerning which similar statistics are lacking, but which, in several cases, have large numbers of adherents. The Unitarians are an important body with (1908) 350 ministers and 345 places of worship. Most numerous, probably, are the adherents of the Salvation Army, which with a semi-military organization has in Great Britain alone over 60,000 officers, and "barracks," i.e. preaching stations, in almost every town. The Brethren, generally known, from their place of origin, as the Plymouth Brethren, have "rooms" and adherents throughout England; the Catholic Apostolic Church ("Irvingites") have some 80 churches; the New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgians) had (1908) 75 "societies"; the Christian Scientists, the Christadelphians, the British Israelites and similar societies, such as the New and Latter House of Israel, the Seventh Day Baptists, deserve mention. The Latter Day Saints (Mormons) had (1908) 82 churches in Great Britain.

Roman Catholics.

Roman Catholicism in England has shown a tendency to advance, especially among the upper and upper-middle classes. The published lists of "converts" are, however, no safe index to actual progress; for no equivalent statistics are available for "leakage" in the opposite direction. The membership of the Roman Catholic Church in England is estimated at about 2,200,000. But though the growth of the church relatively to the population has not been particularly startling, there can be no doubt that, since the restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in 1851, its general political and religious influence has enormously increased. A notable feature in this has been the great development of monastic institutions, due in large measure to the settlement in England of the congregations expelled from France. The Roman Catholic Church in England is organized in 15 dioceses, which are united in a single province under the primacy of the archbishop of Westminster. In December 1907 there were 1736 Roman Catholic churches and stations, and the number of the clergy was returned at 3524 (see ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH).

Jews.

The Jews in Great Britain, chiefly found in London and other great towns, number (1907) about 196,000 and have some 200 synagogues; at the head of their organization is a chief Rabbi resident in London.

Finally it may be mentioned that a small number of Englishmen, chiefly resident in Liverpool and London, have embraced Islam; they have a mosque at Liverpool. Various foreign churches which have numbers of adherents settled in England have also branch churches and organizations in the country, notably the Orthodox Eastern Church,--with a considerable number of adherents in London, Liverpool and Manchester,--the Lutheran, and the Armenian churches. (W. A. P.)

VII. COMMUNICATIONS

_Roads._--In England and Wales the high-roads, or roads on which wheeled vehicles can travel, are of two classes: (1) the main roads, or great arteries along which the main vehicular traffic of the country passes; and (2) ordinary highways, which are by-roads serving only local areas. The length of the main roads is about 22,000 m., and that of ordinary highways about 96,000. The highways of England, the old coaching roads, are among the best in the world, being generally of a beautiful smoothness and well maintained; they vary, naturally, in different districts, but in many even the local roads are superior to some main roads in other countries. The supersession of the stage coach by the railway took a vast amount of traffic away from the main roads, but their proper maintenance did not materially suffer; and a larger accession of traffic took place subsequently on the development of the cycle and the motor-vehicle.

The system of road-building by private enterprise, the undertakers being rewarded by tolls levied from vehicles, persons or animals using the roads, was established in England in 1663, when an act of Charles II. authorized the taking of such tolls at "turnpikes" in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire. A century later, in 1767, the authorization was extended over the whole kingdom by an act of George III. In its fulness the system lasted just sixty years, for the first breach in it was made by an act of George IV., in 1827, by which the chief turnpikes in London were abolished. Further acts followed in the same direction, leading to the gradual extinction, by due compensation of the persons interested, of the old system, the maintenance of the roads being vested in "turnpike trusts and highway boards," empowered to levy local rates. The last turnpike trust ceased to exist on the 5th of November 1895, and the final accounts in connexion with its debt were closed in 1898-1899. Toll-gates are now met with only at certain bridges, where the right to levy tolls is statutory or by prescription. By the Local Government Act of 1888 the duty of maintaining main roads was imposed on the county councils, but these bodies were enabled to make arrangements with the respective highway authorities for their repair. Under the Local Government Act of 1894 the duties of all the highway authorities were transferred to the rural district councils on or before the 31st of March 1899.

It was not until the close of the 18th century, when the period of road-building activity already indicated set in, that English roads were redeemed from an extraordinarily bad condition. The roads were until then, as a rule, merely tracks, deeply worn by ages of traffic into the semblance of ditches, and, under adverse weather conditions, impassable. Travellers also had the risk of assault by robbers and highwaymen. As early as 1285 a law provided for the cutting down of trees and bushes on either side of highways, so as to deprive lawless men of cover. Instances of legislation as regards the upkeep of roads are recorded from time to time after this date, but (to take a single illustration) even in the middle of the 18th century the journey from the village, as it was then, of Paddington to London by stage occupied from 2-1/2 to 3 hours. But from 1784 to 1792 upwards of 300 acts were passed dealing with the construction of new roads and bridges.

_Railways._--The history and development of railways in England, their birthplace, and in Ireland and Scotland, with illustrative statistics, are considered under the heading UNITED KINGDOM. The following list indicates the year of foundation, termini, chief offices and geographical sphere of the chief railways of England and Wales.

1. _Railways with Termini in London._

(a) NORTHERN.

_Great Northern_ (1846).--Terminus and offices, King's Cross. Main
line--Peterborough, Grantham, Newark, Doncaster; forming, with the
North-Eastern and North British lines, the "East Coast" route to
Scotland. Serving also the West Riding of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,
Nottingham and other towns of the midlands, and Manchester (by running
powers over the Great Central metals). This company has so extensive a
system of running powers over other railways, and of lines held
jointly with other companies, that few of its more important express
trains from London complete their journeys entirely on the company's
own lines.

_Midland_ (1844, an amalgamation of the former North Midland, Midland
Counties, Birmingham & Derby, and other lines).--Terminus, St Pancras;
offices, Derby. Main line--Bedford, Leicester, Sheffield, Leeds and
Carlisle, affording the "Midland" route to Scotland. Serving also
Nottingham, Derby, and the principal towns of the midlands and West
Riding, and Manchester. West and North line from Bristol, Gloucester
and Birmingham to Leicester and Derby. Also an Irish section, the
Belfast and Northern Counties system being acquired in 1903. Docks at
Heysham, Lancashire; and steamship services to Belfast, &c.

_London & North-Western_ (1846, an amalgamation of the London &
Birmingham, Grand Junction, and Manchester & Birmingham
lines).--Terminus and offices, Euston. Main line--Rugby, Crewe,
Warrington, Preston, Carlisle; forming, with the Caledonian system,
the "West Coast" route to Scotland. Serves also Manchester, Liverpool
and all parts of the north-west, North Wales, Birmingham and the
neighbouring midland towns, and by joint-lines, the South Welsh
coal-fields. Maintains docks at Garston on the Mersey, a steamship
traffic with Dublin and Greenore from Holyhead, and, jointly with the
Lancashire & Yorkshire Company, a service to Belfast, &c., from
Fleetwood.

_Great Central_ (1846; until 1897, when an extension to London was
undertaken, called the Manchester, Sheffield &
Lincolnshire).--Terminus, Marylebone; offices, Manchester. Main
line--Rugby, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester. The former
main line runs from Manchester and Sheffield east to Retford, thence
serving Grimsby and Hull, with branches to Lincoln, &c. The main line
reached from London by joining the line of the Metropolitan railway
near Aylesbury and following it to Harrow. Subsequently an alternative
route out of London was constructed between Neasden and Northolt,
where it joins another line, of the Great Western railway, from Acton,
and continues as a line held jointly by the two companies through
Beaconsfield and High Wycombe. Here it absorbs the old Great Western
line as far as Prince's Risborough, and continues thence to Grendon
Underwood, effecting a junction with the original main line of the
Great Central system. This line was opened for passenger traffic in
April 1906. The Great Central company owns docks at Grimsby.

(b) EASTERN.

_Great Eastern_ (1862).--Terminus and offices, Liverpool Street.
Serving Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk. Joint-line with Great
Northern from March to Lincoln and Doncaster. Passenger steamship
services from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, Antwerp, Rotterdam, &c.

_London, Tilbury & Southend_ (1852).--Terminus and offices, Fenchurch
Street. Serving places on the Essex shore of the Thames estuary,
terminating at Shoeburyness.

(c) WESTERN.

_Great Western_ (1835, London to Bristol).--Terminus and offices,
Paddington. Main line--Reading, Didcot, Swindon, Bath, Bristol,
Taunton, Exeter, Plymouth, Penzance. Numerous additional main
lines--Reading to Newbury, Weymouth and the west, a new line opened in
1906 between Castle Cary and Langport effecting a great reduction in
mileage between London and Exeter and places beyond; Didcot, Oxford,
Birmingham, Shrewsbury, Chester with connexions northward, and to
North Wales; Oxford to Worcester, and Swindon to Gloucester and the
west of England; South Welsh system (through route from London via
Wootton Bassett or via Bristol, and the Severn tunnel), Newport,
Cardiff, Swansea, Milford. Steamship services to the Channel Islands
from Weymouth to Waterford, Ireland from Milford, and to Rosslare,
Ireland, from Fishguard, the route last named being opened in 1906.
The line constructed jointly with the Great Central company (as
detailed in the description above) was extended in 1910 from Ashendon
to Aynho, to form a short route to the great centres north of Oxford.

_London & South-Western_ (1839, incorporating the London & Southampton
railway of 1835).--Terminus and offices, Waterloo. Main line--Woking,
Basingstoke, Salisbury, Yeovil, Exeter, Plymouth; Woking, Guildford
and Portsmouth; Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth, &c.
Extensive connexions in Surrey, Hampshire and the south-west, as far
as North Cornwall. This company owns the great docks at Southampton,
and maintains passenger services from that port to the Channel
Islands, Havre, St Malo and Cherbourg.

(d) SOUTHERN.

_London, Brighton & South Coast_ (1846).--Termini, Victoria and London
Bridge. Serving all the coast stations from Hastings to Portsmouth,
with various lines in eastern Surrey and in Sussex. Maintains a
service of passenger steamers between Newhaven and Dieppe.

_South Eastern & Chatham_ (under a managing committee, 1899, of the
South-Eastern company, 1836, and the London, Chatham & Dover company,
1853).--Termini--Victoria, Charing Cross, Holborn Viaduct, Cannon
Street. Offices, London Bridge Station. Various lines chiefly in Kent.
Steamship services between Folkestone and Boulogne, Dover and Calais,
&c.

2. _Provincial Railways._

The two most important railway companies not possessing lines to
London are the North-Eastern and the Lancashire & Yorkshire.

_North Eastern_ (1854, amalgamating a number of systems).--Offices,
York. Main line--Leeds, Normanton and York to Darlington, Durham,
Newcastle and Berwick-on-Tweed. Connecting with the Great Northern
between Doncaster and York, and with the North British at Berwick, it
forms part of the "East Coast" route to Scotland. Serving all ports
and coast stations from Hull to Berwick, also Carlisle, &c. Owning
extensive docks at Hull, Middlesbrough, South Shields, the
Hartlepools, Blyth, &c.

_Lancashire & Yorkshire_ (1847, an amalgamation of a number of local
systems).--Offices, Manchester. Main line--Manchester, Rochdale,
Tormorden, Wakefield and Normanton, with branches to Halifax,
Bradford, Leeds, Huddersfield and other centres of the West Riding.
Extensive system in south Lancashire, connecting Manchester with
Preston and Fleetwood (where the docks and steamship services to
Ireland are worked jointly with the London & Northwestern company),
Southport, Liverpool, &c.

Among further provincial systems there should be mentioned:--

_Cambrian._--Offices, Oswestry. Whitchurch, Oswestry, Welshpool to
Barmouth and Pwllheli, Aberystwyth, &c.

_Cheshire Lines_, worked by a committee representative of the Great
Central, Great Northern and Midland Companies, and affording important
connexions between the lines of these systems and south Lancashire and
Cheshire (Godley, Stockport, Warrington, Liverpool; Manchester and
Liverpool; Manchester and Liverpool to Southport; Godley and
Manchester to Northwich and Chester, &c.).

_Furness._--Offices, Barrow-in-Furness. Carnforth, Barrow, Whitehaven,
with branches to Coniston, Windermere (Lakeside), &c. Docks at Barrow.

_North Staffordshire._--Offices, Stoke-upon-Trent. Crewe and the
Potteries, Macclesfield, &c., to Uttoxeter and Derby.

_Cross-Country Connexions._--While London is naturally the principal
focal point of the English railway system, the development of through
connexions between the chief lines by way of the metropolis is very
small. Some through trains are provided between the North-Western and
the London, Brighton & South Coast lines via Willesden Junction,
Addison Road and Clapham Junction; and a through connexion by way of
Ludgate Hill has been arranged between main line trains of the
South-Western and the Great Northern railways, but otherwise
passengers travelling through London have generally to make their own
way from one terminus to another. Certain cross-country routes,
however, are provided to connect the systems of some of the companies,
among which the following may be noticed.

(1) Through connexions with the continental services from Harwich, and
with Yarmouth and other towns of the East coast, are provided from
Yorkshire, Lancashire, &c., by way of the Great Northern and Great
Eastern Joint line from Doncaster and Lincoln to March.

(2) Through connexions between the systems of the South-Eastern &
Chatham and the Great Western companies are provided via Reading.

(3) Through connexions between the systems of the Great Central and
the Great Western companies are provided by the line connecting
Woodford and Banbury.

(4) Through connexions between the Midland and the South-Western
systems are provided (a) by the Midland and South-Western Junction
line connecting Cheltenham on the north-and-west line of the Midland
with Andover Junction on the South-Western line; and (b) by the
Somerset & Dorset line, connecting the same lines between Bath,
Templecombe and Bournemouth.

(5) The line from Shrewsbury to Craven Arms and Hereford, giving
connexion between the north and the south-west, and Wales, is worked
by the North-Western and Great Western companies.

Canals and rivers.

_Inland Navigation._--The English system of inland navigation is
confined principally to the following districts: South Lancashire, the
West Riding of Yorkshire, the Midlands, especially about Birmingham,
the Fen district and the Thames basin (especially the lower part). All
these districts are interconnected. The condition of inland
navigation, as a whole, is not satisfactory. The Fossdyke in
Lincolnshire, connecting the river Trent at Torksey with the Witham
near Lincoln, and now belonging to the Great Northern and Great
Eastern joint railways, is usually indicated as the earliest extant
canal in England, inasmuch as it was constructed by the Romans for the
purpose of drainage or water-supply, and must have been used for
navigation at an early period. But the history of canal-building in
England is usually dated from about 1760, and from the construction,
at the instance of Francis, Duke of Bridgewater, of the Bridgewater
canal in South Lancashire, now belonging to the Manchester Ship Canal
Company. The activity in canal-building which prevailed during the
later years of the 18th century was, in a measure, an earlier
counterpart of the first period of railway development, which,
proceeding subsequently along systematized lines not applied to
canal-construction, and providing obvious advantages in respect of
speed, caused railways to withdraw much traffic from canals. Some
canals and river navigations have consequently become derelict, or are
only maintained with difficulty and in imperfect condition. The inland
navigation system suffers from a want of uniformity in the size of
locks, depth of water, width of channels and other arrangements, so
that direct intercommunication between one canal and another is often
impossible in consequence; moreover, although the canals, like
railways, are owned by many separate bodies, hardly any provision has
been made, as it has in the case of railways, for such facilities as
the working of through traffic over various systems at an inclusive
charge. Lastly, the railway companies themselves have acquired control
of about 30% of the total mileage of canals in England and Wales, and
in many cases this has had a prejudicial effect on the prosperity of
canals. Notwithstanding these disabilities, there has been in modern
times a new development in the trade of some canals, born of a
realization that for certain classes of goods water-transport is
cheaper than the swifter rail-transport. Various proposals have been
made for the establishment of a single control over all inland
waterways.

The lower or estuarine courses of some of the English rivers as the
Thames, Tyne, Humber, Mersey and Bristol Avon, are among the most
important waterways in the world, as giving access for seaborne
traffic to great ports. From the Mersey the Manchester Ship Canal runs
to Manchester. The manufacturing districts of South Lancashire and the
West Riding of Yorkshire are traversed and connected by several canals
following transverse valleys of the Pennine Chain. The main line of
the Aire and Calder navigation runs from Goole by Castleford to Leeds,
whence the Leeds and Liverpool canal, running by Burnley and
Blackburn, completes the connexion between the Humber and the Mersey.
Other canals are numerous, among which may be mentioned the Sheffield
and South Yorkshire, connecting Sheffield with the Trent. The Trent
itself affords an extensive navigation, from which, at Derwent mouth,
the Trent and Mersey Canal runs near Burton and Stafford, and through
the Potteries, to the Bridgewater Canal and so to the Mersey. This
canal is owned by the North Staffordshire railway company. The river
Weaver, a tributary of the Mersey, affords a waterway of importance to
the salt-producing towns of Cheshire. The system of the Shropshire
Union railways and canal company, which is connected by lease with the
London & North-Western railway company, carries considerable traffic,
especially in the neighbourhood of Ellesmere Port. In the Black
Country and neighbourhood the numerous ramifications of the Birmingham
Canal navigations bear a large mineral traffic. This system is
connected with the rivers Severn and Trent and the canal system of the
country at large, and is controlled by the London & North-Western
company. The principal line of navigation from the Thames northward to
the midlands is that of the Grand Junction, which runs from Brentford,
is connected through London with the port of London by the Regent's
Canal, and follows closely the main line of the North-Western railway.
It connects with the Oxford Canal at Braunston in Northamptonshire,
and through this with canals to Birmingham and the midlands, and
continues to Leicester. Both the Severn up to Stourport and the Thames
up to Oxford have a fair traffic, but the Thames and Severn Canal is
not much used. There is some traffic on the navigable drainage cuts
and rivers of the Fens, but beyond these, in a broad consideration of
the waterways of England from the point of view of their commercial
importance, it is unnecessary to go.

See H. R. De Salis, _Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England
and Wales_ (London, 1904); _Report_ of Royal Commission on Canals
(London, 1909).

_Oversea Communications._--The chief ports for continental passenger
traffic are as follows:--

_Harwich_ to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Hook of Holland, Rotterdam
(Great Eastern railway); to Copenhagen and Esbjerg (Royal Danish mail
route).

_Queenborough_ to Flushing; (Zeeland Steamship company).

_Dover_ to Calais (South-Eastern & Chatham railway); to Ostend
(Belgian Royal mail steamers).

_Folkestone_ to Boulogne (South Eastern & Chatham railway).

_Newhaven_ to Dieppe (London, Brighton & South Coast railway).

_Southampton_ to Cherbourg, Havre, St Malo (South-Western railway).

The chief ports for trans-Atlantic traffic are Liverpool and
Southampton, and special trains are worked in connexion with the
steamers to and from London. The great development of harbour
accommodation at Dover early in the 20th century brought
trans-Atlantic traffic to this port also. Southampton and Liverpool
are the two greatest English ports for all oceanic passenger traffic;
but London has also a large traffic, both to European and to foreign
ports. The passenger traffic to the Norwegian ports, always very heavy
in summer, is carried on chiefly from Hull and Newcastle.

VIII. INDUSTRIES

_Agriculture._--In the agricultural returns for Great Britain, issued annually by the government, the area of England (apart from Wales) has been divided into two sections, "arable" and "grass," corresponding with a former division into "corn counties" and "grazing counties," except that Leicestershire is included not in the "grass" but in the "arable" section. Most of the eastern part of England is "arable," while the western and northern part is "grass," the boundary between the sections being the western limit of Hampshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and of the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The division is thus as follows:--

_Grass Counties._ _Arable Counties._

Northumberland. Yorkshire, East Riding.
Cumberland. Lincolnshire.
Durham. Nottingham.
Yorkshire, North and West Ridings. Rutland.
Westmorland. Huntingdonshire.
Lancashire. Warwickshire.
Cheshire. Leicestershire.
Derbyshire. Northamptonshire.
Staffordshire. Cambridgeshire.
Shropshire. Norfolk.
Worcestershire. Suffolk.
Herefordshire. Bedfordshire.
Monmouthshire. Buckinghamshire.
Gloucestershire. Oxfordshire.
Wiltshire. Berkshire.
Dorsetshire. Hampshire.
Somersetshire. Hertfordshire.
Devonshire. Essex.
Cornwall. Middlesex.
Surrey.
Kent.
Sussex.

The average area under cultivation of all the counties is about .76 of
the whole area. The counties having the greatest area under
cultivation (ranging up to about nine-tenths of the whole) may be
taken to be--Leicestershire, the East Riding of Yorkshire,
Lincolnshire, Huntingdonshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire
and Cambridgeshire. Those with the smallest proportional cultivated
area are Westmorland, Middlesex, Northumberland, Surrey, Cumberland,
the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham and
Cornwall. Geographical considerations govern these conditions to a
very great extent; thus the counties first indicated lie almost
entirely within the area of the low-lying and fertile Eastern Plain,
while the smallest areas of cultivation are found in the counties
covering the Pennine hill-system, with its high-lying uncultivated
moors. In the case of Cornwall and Cumberland the physical conditions
are similar to these; but in that of Middlesex and Surrey the
existence of large urban areas belonging or adjacent to London must be
taken into account. These also affect the proportion of cultivated
areas in the other home counties. The presence of a widespread urban
population must also be remembered in the case of Lancashire and the
West Riding of Yorkshire.

Distribution of crops.

The geographical distribution of the principal crops, &c., may now be
followed. The grain crops grown in England consist almost exclusively
of wheat, barley and oats. Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,
Cambridgeshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire are especially
productive in all these; the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire
produce a notable quantity of barley and oats; and the oat-crops in
the following counties deserve mention--Devonshire, Hampshire,
Lancashire, Cumberland, Cornwall, Cheshire and Sussex. There is no
county, however, in which the single crop of wheat or barley stands
pre-eminently above others, and in the case of the upland counties of
Cumberland, Westmorland and Derbyshire, the metropolitan county of
Middlesex, and Monmouthshire, these crops are quite insignificant. In
proportion to their area, the counties specially productive of wheat
are Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and
Essex; and of barley, Norfolk, Suffolk and the East Riding of
Yorkshire. In fruit-growing, Kent takes the first place, but a good
quantity is grown in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Essex, in
Worcestershire and other western counties, where, as in Herefordshire,
Somerset and Devon, the apple is especially cultivated and cider is
largely produced. Kent is again pre-eminent in the growth of hops;
indeed this practice and that of fruit-growing give the scenery of the
county a strongly individual character. Hop-growing extends from Kent
into the neighbouring parts of Sussex and Surrey, where, however, it
is much less important; it is also practised to a considerable degree
in a group of counties of the midlands and west--Herefordshire,
Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Shropshire. Market-gardening is
carried on most extensively on suitable lands in the neighbourhood of
the great areas of urban population; thus the open land remaining in
Middlesex is largely devoted to this industry. From the Channel and
Scilly Islands, vegetables, especially seasonable vegetables, and also
flowers which, owing to the peculiar climatic conditions of these
islands, come early to perfection, are imported to the London market.
Considering the crops not hitherto specified, it may be indicated that
turnips and swedes form the chief green crops in most districts;
potatoes, mangels, beans and peas are also commonly grown, Beyond the
three chief grain crops, only a little rye is grown. The cultivation
of flax is almost extinct, but it is practised in a few districts,
such as the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire.

Livestock.

The counties in which the greatest proportion of the land is devoted
to permanent pasture may be judged roughly from the list of "grass
counties" already given. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, the midland
counties generally, and Somersetshire, have the highest proportion,
and the counties of the East Anglian seaboard the lowest. But with
lands thus classified heath, moor and hill pastures are not included;
and the greatest areas of these are naturally found in the counties of
the Pennines and the Lake District, especially in Northumberland,
Cumberland, Westmorland and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire.
There is also plenty of hill-pasture in the south-western counties
(from Hampshire and Berkshire westward), especially in Devonshire,
Cornwall and Somersetshire, and also in Monmouthshire and along the
Welsh marches, on the Cotteswold Hills, &c. In all these localities
sheep are extensively reared, especially in Northumberland, but on the
other hand in Lincolnshire the numbers of sheep are roughly equal to
those in the northern county. Other counties in which the numbers are
especially large are Devonshire, Kent, Cumberland and the North and
West Ridings of Yorkshire. Cattle are reared in great numbers in
Lincolnshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, Devonshire,
Somersetshire and Cornwall; but the numbers of both cattle and sheep
are in no English county (save Middlesex) to be regarded as
insignificant. Pigs are bred most extensively in Suffolk, Norfolk and
Lincolnshire and in Somersetshire.

Woodlands.

It is often asserted that the scenery of rural England is of its kind
unrivalled. Except in open lands like the Fens, the peculiarly rich
appearance of the country is due to the closely-divided fields with
their high, luxuriant hedges, and especially to the profuse growth of
trees. There is not, however, any large continuous forested tract.
Certain areas still bear the name of forest where there is now none;
the term here possesses an historical significance, in many cases
indicating former royal game-preserves. Great areas of England were
once under forest. The clearing of land for agricultural purposes, the
use of wood for the prosecution of the industries of an increasing
population, and other causes, have led to the gradual disforesting of
large tracts. There are still, however, some small well-defined
woodland areas. The New Forest in Hampshire, the Forest of Dean in
Gloucestershire, and Epping Forest, which is preserved as a public
recreation-ground by the City of London, are the most notable
instances. The counties comprising the greatest proportional amount of
woodland fall into two distinct groups--Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and
Kent, with Berkshire and Buckinghamshire; Monmouth, Herefordshire and
Gloucestershire. Cambridgeshire, lying almost wholly within the area
of the Fens, has the smallest proportional area of woodland of any
English county.