This paper sets Jeremiah Horrocks and Much Hoole in the context of Lancashire society on the eve of the English Civil War. It focuses on the complexities of what it was to be a “Puritan” in an environment where religious labels and conflicts mattered a great deal; it examines the economic circumstances of county and locality at the time, pointing out the extent to which (despite widespread and deep poverty) the county's merchants were looking outwards to London, northern Europe and beyond; and it emphasizes that even in the apparently remote and rustic location of Much Hoole it was possible for Horrocks to sustain a scientific correspondence and to keep in touch with, and make his contribution to, developments on a much wider stage.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html