The essays which appear in this book were all originally given at a conference of the same name held in 2009 at Coalbrookdale in Shropshire, one of the key areas where the Industrial Revolution began in England in the eighteenth century and where, exactly three hundred years before, Abraham Derby had crucially first used coke to smelt iron. Coalbrookdale also had an equally significant place within the history of Methodism, since, together with the similarly notable town of Ironbridge, it was in the parish of Madeley that John Fletcher was vicar from 1760 to 1785. A leading figure in eighteenth-century Methodism, Fletcher's ministry was characterised by outstanding preaching and his tireless efforts to reach the unchurched of this new industrial area. What was remarkable, however, was the way in which his work was continued by his widow Mary (Bosanquet), her adopted daughter Sally Lawrence and her ‘pupil’, Mary Tooth. The latter, incidentally, has a chapter to herself, which is a reflection of the dual thrust of the collection: the examination of various aspects of a gifted pastor's ministry in an unusual area of England, and the significant contribution to that ministry made by women. In a fairly recent edition of the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society, the historian Gareth Lloyd lamented that Mary Fletcher ‘has never been the sole subject of an academic study’. Religion, gender, and industry has, among its other achievements, helped to put that right.

This is quite a specialised book, intended for the serious student. However, it is far from being either dull or heavy-going, and the end result leaves the reader feeling that s/he was present throughout the conference. There are thirteen contributors, and those who fear a decline in British scholarship will be encouraged by the fact that six are from the UK, the others, with one exception, being from the USA. Inevitably, some sections of the book are more arresting than others, but one of the more interesting is David Wilson's contribution, ‘Church and Chapel’, which examines the fluid nature of church extension at Madeley and its ‘paradoxical juxtaposition’ with Methodism and, by showing how this parish witnessed an extending ministry of both church and chapel, demonstrates how unwise it is for historians to arrange movements and trends into patterns that are too neat. Other chapters, such as that by Peter Lineham, which takes a fresh look at Fletcher's connection with mysticism, and Peter Forsaith's excellent concluding piece, remind us how it is only comparatively recently that detailed studies have been undertaken on Fletcher himself and, in doing so, revise some of the popular misconceptions surrounding his ‘ambiguous’ relationship with the Wesleys. There is always a danger, of course, in generalising from the particular, but although these studies focus on a particular area, the contributors allow their research to speak for itself, and therein lies the book's basic integrity and undoubted excellence.