Late-Georgian Churches: Anglican architecture, patronage and churchgoing 1790-1840
Author: Christopher Webster
This book is the first comprehensive study of late-Georgian church-building. After centuries of post-Reformation inactivity, the Church of England began to address the desperate shortage of accommodation and build on a huge scale. Almost all the leading architects were involved and, amongst approximately 1500 new churches there are some outstanding designs; buildings of the very highest order architecturally.
In this pioneering study, the churches are considered free from the Ecclesiological zeal that condemned them and has, for so long, prevented their serious study. It will celebrate the best of them and provide valuable insights into the design and planning of the whole corpus. There are many revelations. Included is a thorough examination of the stylistic alternatives and contemporary liturgical imperatives, along with their architectural implications. The book explores a lost world of late-Georgian churchgoing: what people expected and experienced in a church service. Also considered are some of the period’s remarkable material and constructional innovations, ones often exploited in church-building, along with the provision of architectural services in the era that preceded full professionalisation.
Graham Parry, Professor of English and Related Literature at York University, writes of Webster’s book – ‘In the relatively under-explored territory of late-Georgian churches, Christopher Webster’s book serves as an exceptionally helpful commentary and guide. Full of unfamiliar information, and highly readable, it presents and interprets these buildings in terms of the values and expectations of their own times, allowing them to be appreciated with a new and pleasing clarity.’
Publication – July 2022
320 pages, 276 x 215 mm, with over 370 illustrations, (225 in colour)
ISBN 978-1-7398229-0-3 Hard cover £80 ($115)
ISBN 978-1-7398229-1-0 PDF Ebook £19.99 ($29.99)
John Hudson Publishing 