Introduction

The difficulties of attempting to divide Anglican clergy into two clear categories according to whether they minister in a rural or an urban parish are well documented. Factors designed to identify ‘rurality’ were presented by Francis (1985) and further developed by Lankshear (2001). Littler (2005) has presented a working definition of the ‘rurality’ of each Church in Wales diocese using figures for population per parish and the number of parishes per diocese. It remains, however, that no official theory or figures are available for the designation of either Church of England or Church in Wales parishes according to whether they may be deemed rural or urban and it has to be accepted that the distinction between ‘rural’ and ‘urban’ remains imprecise (Burton, 2004).

Despite these difficulties there is considerable evidence, both anecdotal and empirical, to suggest that the experience of Anglican clergy in rural parishes differs from the experience of clergy in urban parishes. Osborne (2004), for example, argues that while all Anglican clergy, urban or rural, have to face a clash of myth and reality concerning their role in the community, this is probably more pronounced in respect of the country vicar.