 The Reformation in Cumbria, in the sense of the drive towards church reform, was ineffectual compared to elsewhere in England.The baronies were in the hands of religious conservatives such as the Dacres, the Howards, and the Cliffords.The bishops (usually Royal nominees based in Richmond and then Chester administering the south of what was to become Cumbria, and in the poorer diocese of Carlisle in the northern sector) were themselves not greatly interested either (the brightest and best candidates were either scholarly in nature or wanted in London to serve the central government, or simply did not want to move to such an unimportant, remote, potentially dangerous, and poor position – in the North, the great prize was Durham).