The Country Parson

The Country Parson gathers together two centuries of literary evidence concerning that most durable inhabitant of the English countryside: the clergyman who lives in a large, draughty house, knows everybody’s business and is expected to produce a sermon, organise the flower rota, mend the church roof and explain why God has allowed it to rain on the village fête.

Edited by the Reverend Leslie J. Francis, this illustrated anthology draws upon novelists, diarists, poets and parsons themselves to explore rural clerical life at home, in the parish and inside the church. Jane Austen, Anthony Trollope, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy, Flora Thompson, Francis Kilvert and Gilbert White are among those summoned as witnesses. Their evidence suggests that the country parson has variously been saint, scholar, social worker, matchmaker, busybody, sportsman, eccentric and a useful man to invite when the dinner table would otherwise contain thirteen.

The book begins with the parson moving into the countryside, generally filled with faith, purpose and a dangerously picturesque idea of village life. Awaiting him are the vicarage, the churchwardens and a congregation whose families have occupied the same pews since before the Reformation and see no reason why the new incumbent should alter anything now.

At home, the parsonage becomes residence, office, refuge and public waiting room. Parishioners arrive with births, deaths, marriages, theological doubts and occasionally a chicken. The parson’s family learns that the front door belongs collectively to the village, privacy is an urban affectation and Sunday lunch will begin approximately ten minutes after somebody stops discussing the churchyard wall.

At church, matters become more serious, though not necessarily more orderly. There are sermons to preach, hymns to select, bells to ring and ancient disputes concerning flowers, furnishings and the correct moment to stand. The parson may technically possess ecclesiastical authority, but the churchwarden knows where the keys are and Mrs Proggett has organised the harvest decorations since 1954.

Behind the comedy lies a genuine portrait of rural ministry. The country priest accompanies a community through its most important moments, often serving several generations of the same families. He is expected to remain calm amid grief, tactful amid quarrels and spiritually reassuring while wondering whether the boiler will survive another winter. The work may appear peaceful from the lane, but so does a beehive when viewed from a safe distance.

Francis places the romantic literary parson beside the realities of changing rural life. Old certainties fade, congregations decline and one clergyman may be responsible for several scattered villages, each convinced that its service must occur at eleven o’clock. The leisurely incumbent strolling between matins and tea gives way to a driver with six churches, fourteen committees and a glove compartment full of service sheets.

Affectionate, amusing and quietly thoughtful, The Country Parson is not a manual for becoming a vicar so much as a literary portrait of the role and the world surrounding it. It celebrates the churches, parsonages and personalities of rural Britain while acknowledging that the tranquillity of a country parish is largely maintained by people running about behind the scenery.

This 1989 Gracewing edition is in Good condition—a sound copy ready for the study, vestry or bedside table of anyone who appreciates rural life, English literature and clergymen attempting to shepherd a flock which has already formed three subcommittees. Please note that the publisher is Gracewing, rather than Greenwing.

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