: Well before the introduction of the church organ, along with "Hymns Ancient and Modern"
: which homogenised the repertoire of congregations in Britain, church music on Sunday
: was played nationwide by the village bands, who played whatever instruments they had.
: Earlier church music than that we sing now was considerably more fun to sing and much of
: it sprung directly from the living tradition. No singing in a church voice, and no choirboys
: or girls to be seen in the villages

There was that, but Calvinism predates it, and in its more extreme forms it didn't permit any music in church other than psalms sung to a single melodic line, with the psalm tunes taken from a very short list, none of them folky in any respect. People often think of it as a Scottish thing, but England had it first and it never went away.

I'd guess somebody's mapped where and when church bands existed? if not somebody ought to.