Yes I was hoping for a list within a county that just had recusants and not those who signed allegiance. I have seen the 'book' that they have for Sussex with all and sundry on it.
I have no idea whether they were Catholic or not.
Mine were all in Lancashire (the county with the largest proportion of Catholics) which was in the diocese of Chester. Protestation returns for that county are split into parishes. Each parish list begins with those men who took the oath followed by a shorter list of those who didn't. Proportions in each category and many surnames in a parish where a line of my R.C. ancestors lived until 1800's were similar to those on Return of Papists 1767.
Catholic Family History Society
catholicfhs.online
https://www.facebook.com/CatholicFHSReturns of Papists 1680-1781
https://archives.parliament.uk/research-guides/family-history/family-history-roman-catholics/Click on link "papist returns" in section 4 "How to get started" for catalogue contents.
1767 Return is the most detailed.
Return of Papists 1767 was transcribed by E.S. Worrall and was published by the Catholic Record Society in 2 volumes. Vol. 1 is "Returns of Papists 1767 Dioceses of England and Wales except Chester". Vol. 2 is "Returns of Papists 1767 Diocese of Chester". Catholic Record Society publications are now on the Catholic Family History Society website. Some were previously digitised on other sites.
"The Catholic Family Historian's Handbook" by A.J. Mitchison (published 1999) is a short introduction. Sources in some lists in it are out of date. It's online.
Do you think they were Catholics (note not all recusants were always Catholic, it could refer to non conformists)?
To add: Not all Catholics were recusants. Some conformed outwardly ("supping with the parson" referring to taking Holy Communion) and some did the bare minimum (attending church when required but taking no part in the service) to avoid fines. A man may have been a recusant on one occasion but not on another, depending on circumstances, e.g. how harsh the penalty was or the wording of an oath or the political situation at the time.
Some lists of recusants included only adult men. An Anglican man may have had a wife and/or children who weren't Anglican.
There were also "non-jurors" who refused to take the oath of allegiance to William & Mary in 1688. Some non-jurors in England were Anglican.
