This book has examined a range of outstanding churches, as well as many more modest ones. It has explored Classical examples as well as those in the Gothic, Romanesque – even occasionally Baroque – styles. It has catalogued half a century of remarkable building projects. It has also considered a range of associated social, economic and legal issues, and has revealed church building often in inauspicious circumstances. There were certainly citizens committed to providing more accommodation, but invariably their endeavours were challenging and often challenged. However, this text has examined a half-century of activity where many of these problems were ameliorated, if not entirely solved, and much was achieved. Church building in 1840 was in an infinitely better place than it had been in 1790; by the mid-1830s construction was taking place at an unprecedented pace and there was a widespread belief that the building of a new church was the responsibility of those who would worship in it, not that of government, the local squire or a group of investors. And the provision of huge numbers of seats for the poor – Anglican worship as an inclusive activity – was another significant achievement in this period. However, it needs to be recognised that the provision of free seats was, with few exceptions, only viable where a church could rely on a healthy income from rented pews to pay stipends and ongoing bills; the social divisiveness inherent in different types of seating was certainly recognised, but was widely seen as unavoidable.

A major theme has been that of architectural design and the way in which architectural decisions were inextricably linked to liturgical imperatives and functional efficiency. And ‘efficiency’ implied two qualities. First, the need to accommodate the congregation – often a very large one – so that all could hear and see the service, and be comfortable. Second, the design needed to convey the ‘right’ sort of messages, ones increasingly associated with Anglicanism's distant past, its traditions, notions of Englishness, and, crucially, ones that clearly differentiated it from anything suggestive of Roman Catholicism on the one hand, and Nonconformity on the other. Worshippers in this half-century recognised the ideal solution for those committed to the Established Church was an ‘Anglican Gothic’ to house its auditory worship, although the Victorians would have very different ideas.