Thanks to Susan for her excellent summary of the reasons for people going to a church other than that of their own village to worship and for their wedding and the baptism of their children. May I suggest another reason which was especially significant in the 16th and 17th centuries? They were troubled times for the Church.. Until 1558 everyone had been nurtured as a Roman Catholic, but then successive monarchs changed from Cattholic to Protestant and back again. Some clergy (such as the Vicar of Bray immortalised in the song) adapted, while others carried on as before so far as they could, keeping their heads down. Parishioners with a strong theological viewpoint, one way or the other, would often go to church in a neighbouring parish if they were unhappy with their own. Richard Weller.