Abstract: This book gives a detailed account of the development of the main religious denominations in Ireland between 1770 and 1850, set against the background of the main economic, political, and social developments in Ireland in this period, and the religious history of Ireland between the Reformation and the late 18th century. It makes a comparative analysis of these developments against parallel developments in the other Celtic regions of Britain and Europe: Brittany, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the western highlands and islands of Scotland. The principal arguments of this book are that, on the one hand, it was a period of reform in all the main religious denominations in Ireland, but on the other, it was one which witnessed a serious deterioration of ecumenical relations between the churches, and set the scene for the sectarian violence of the late 19th and 20th centuries. The book is the first major study of Irish religious history to be written from an interdenominational, and in some respects, a clearly non-denominational standpoint. It is based on an extensive analysis of primary source material.

Keywords: Church of Ireland, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, ecumenism, reform