Though small in area, the old county of Westmorland was home to numerous nonconformist groups. In this comprehensive account of these movements, reference is made to Quaker origins; to the older Dissent, both Independent and Presbyterian (and thence Unitarian); to the Inghamites and the Sandemanians: to the visits to the county of Fox, Nayler, Ingham, Whitefield, Wesley, and Woolman; to the coming of the Baptists; and to such later developments as Primitive and United Methodism, the Evangelical Union, the Brethren, and the Pentecostals.

Detailed and comprehensive, the first volume of the Venns' directory, in four parts, includes all alumni until 1751.