English Churchyard Memorials by Hilary Lees soon to be presented for sale on the astounding BookLovers of Bath web site!
Published: Stroud: Tempus , 2000, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Black & white photographs; Black & white drawings; Glossary; Appendices [3];
From the cover: The church is the physical and spiritual centre of the English village; an elegant pinnacled tower, a distant spire glimpsed between tall trees, a tiny church come upon unexpectedly as you round the corner, each announcing that this is the most ancient site in the parish. The churchyard surrounding it will contain memorials that are more than simple markers. They are visible links between the living and the dead, and are valuable records of changing social patterns; many are excellent examples of vernacular art and architectural design.
This authoritative survey is based on all those churchyard memorials, throughout England, that have been listed Grade I or Grade II* by the Royal Commission for Historical Monuments (now English Heritage). Having explained the history of the churchyard, and of the churchyard cross, the author first deals with the pre-Reformation memorials the early Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Viking memorials and the medieval monuments and then the headstones and chest tombs (in particular the spectacular Cotswold chest tombs) of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These are followed by the Gothic Revival, the churchyard mausoleum and modern memorials. Hilary Lees also devotes individual chapters to the symbolism of churchyard sculpture and to the rich variety of epitaphs to be found on tombstones.
Illustrated with 100 evocative photographs (25 in full colour), and with a Foreword by H. R. H. the Prince of Wales, this book will delight and inform anyone with an interest in this local, visible and historic evidence of Englands past.
Very Good+ in Very Good+ Dust Wrapper. Price Clipped.
Black boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 160 pages. Index. Bibliography. 10″ x 7″.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I sweet-talk you into considering additional gorgeous books that are part of my Architecture catalogue?
BookLovers of Bath 