Parish Church Treasures: The Nation's Greatest Art Collection

Description

Our parish churches constitute a living patrimony without precise European parallel. Their cultural riches are astonishing, not only for their quality and quantity, but also their diversity and interest. Fine art and architecture here combine unpredictably with the functional, the curious and the naive, from prehistory to the present day, to form an unsung national museum which presents its contents in an everyday setting without curators or formal displays. Because church treasures usually remain in the buildings they were created for, properly interpreted they tell from thousands of local perspectives the history of the nation, its people and their changing religious observance. John Goodall's weekly series in Country Life has celebrated particular objects in or around churches that are of outstanding artistic, social or historical importance, to underline both the intrinsic interest of parish churches and the insights that they and their contents offer into English history of every period. Parish Church Treasures incorporates and significantly expands this material to tell afresh the remarkable history of the parish church. It celebrates the special character of churches as places to visit whilst providing an authoritative and up-to-date history at a time when the use and upkeep of these buildings and the care of their contents is highly contentious.

Dr John Goodall is an award-winning author and Architectural Editor of Country Life, responsible for the celebrated articles on country houses that feature in the magazine each week. Previously a researcher and historian at English Heritage (where he was involved in the re-launch of their guidebook series and worked on several flagship exhibitions), he has been involved in various television series on history and architecture, including BBC1's The Way We Built Britain (2007), presented by David Dimbleby. Paul Barker is one of the UK's leading architectural photographers and has illustrated many books including Simon Jenkins' England's Thousand Best Churches (1999) and the publication accompanying David Dimbleby's BBC1 architectural series How We Built Britain (2007). Recently he has been the author and photographer of three books which celebrate the architectural merits of three great cities: Liverpool, Dublin and Leeds.

Truly fascinating ... both an art history book and a travel guide * Cotswold Life * Goodall has a superb eye for the exquisite and eccentric detail that makes English parish churches unique in contents and thus in character. His God is truly in the small things as well as the grand. * Sir Simon Jenkins * This is an important book at a crucial time. These treasures are under threat in a looming heritage crisis as great as that which affected the country house in the twentieth century. What might seem a comfort read is, in the hands of John Goodall, a wakeup call - both to the Church authorities and to those within the localities - that some hard decisions will have to be made if these treasures are to survive the twenty-first century. * Sir Roy Strong * Parish Church Treasures is the perfect church guide. Written chronologically, revealing the enormous antiquity, origins and fascinating stories of our English churches, and with riveting examples and illustrations, it will make church visiting even more enjoyable. A masterly and much-needed volume. * Dame Fiona Reynolds * An elegant and erudite guide to the often hidden treasures of English parish churches * Loyd Grossman * John Goodall is without question the greatest writer on medieval architecture today. His look at the parish churches of England is a fascinating examination of our past and our achievements. This book is a must. * Jools Holland * A gorgeous book * The Journal of Stained Glass *