I seem to remember reading somewhere that the chilterns were a hotbed of nonconformity in the 17th century, and that Rickmansworth in particular had a strong nonconformist tradition.
Did this continue into the 18th & 19th centuries, does anyone know?
I am finding that the parish registers hereabouts are very good right back into the 16th century (with the normal disruption during the Commonwealth period) - but every so often one of my Rickmansworth family lines just goes completely cold, with no baptisms at all to help me along the way.
I am assuming (for want of any better working hypothesis) that I am hitting pockets of nonconformity (there are still Baptists in these family lines into the 20th century) ... and that immediately begs the next question: have the nonconformist records from Rickmansworth survived in the RG4 series or elsewhere?
