With thanks to Netgalley and the author Richard Hayman

Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales is a great book if you want to know all about churches and their churchyards.

A fascinating travel book.

Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales is a great addition to your library.

Synopsis:
The parish church is a symbol of continuity, a cornerstone of the urban and rural landscape, and a treasure trove often as rich in cultural history as any museum. This compact and accessible guide explores all of these aspects of the parish church. It begins by examining why churches are built where they are, and then goes on to explain how both church buildings and churchyards have changed over time. It also describes the fixtures and furnishings in the parish church, including fonts, screens, stained glass, and monuments, explaining their ritual and symbolic purpose and how their significance has shifted over time. Lavishly illustrated with color photographs, this book will provide an indispensable introductory guide to anyone who is curious about the nation's parish churches and wants to explore them further.

Part history book and part tour guide, this book provides a fairly extensive history of churchyards and churches, but just in England and Wales. The pictures are excellent.

I am fascinated by church architecture and churchyards - something that has been a highlight of all of my trips to the UK.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and learned so much.  In addition to the history of the parish church, overviews of the architecture and gorgeous photos, the book also hosts a list of places to visit.  I have added many of these to my personal bucket list.

Churches are beautiful. Historic ones are even more beautiful. This book takes you on a pictorial guide of Churches in England and Wales. It also gives you history of how Churches began and how they developed over the centuries. This is a beautiful and informative book. I enjoyed it very much.



I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com and chose to leave this review.

As an anglophile, I really liked this book. It's well written and one can learn quite a bit reading it. I also enjoyed all the beautiful photos.

Excellent reference work on the history of English and Welsh church buildings and their places in the societies that built them. Informative as well as visually appealing.

Churches are such a fixture of the English and Welsh countryside that I barely pay them much attention, though if I find myself in a town or village with half an hour to spare I usually take a wee wander around a churchyard. In truth, I really haven’t had much of an understanding of how and when these buildings developed, and the social and cultural contexts within which they are built.

Richard Hayman’s Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales has changed that. The book is split into sections — on the churchyard, the exterior, the interior and so on — and for each takes the reader from the earliest churches to more modern times, pointing out different styles, different features to look out for and describing the background to the evolution of the churches as we see them today.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a well-illustrated treasury of knowledge, slotting a lot of new information into the framework of the little I did know about the subject. There was a lot to take in and it’s something I’ll definitely go back to, dipping in and out of it as a source of information. It’s well-laid out, easy to read and has a short but useful section at the back which points the reader towards some of the best places to see some of the features illustrated in the book.

All in all, strongly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in church history.

Thanks to Netgalley and Shire Publications for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Dieses Buch zeigt ein Stück lebende, atmete Geschichte in Form von Gebäuden mit Vergangenheit von der Insel.
Anhand zahlreicher Farbfotos und Texten zu Historie und Stein lebt ein Zeitalter auf, das auch heute noch interessant und sagenumwoben ist.

Let me start off by saying, I read a lot of non-fiction concerning British history. It can be very hit or miss if it’s dry and lacking personality. But I must say, I loved Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales by Richard Hayman. Richard describes various churches still standing today in this fascinating journey through British history. Not only does he describe their architecture, inside and out, and how that coincides with the history of the country politically, religiously, and architecturally, he also shares the social history of the church and how that effected the usage of various parts of the buildings. The book is concise with gorgeous pictures so that the reader may visualize the different aspects mentioned. The anecdotes used were very fun as well. My favorite was concerning Shakespeare’s epitaph which reads, “Blest be the man that who spares these stones/And trouble he that moves these bones.” Apparently it became a very popular epitaph. I might just have to steak that one for myself. I could have read a whole book about the graves and memorials. I would recommend this book to anyone fascinated in the religious, social, or architectural history in England and Wales.

Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales by Richard Hayman is a wonderful reference on the history of the churches of England and Wales. I have had the pleasure of seeing some old churches when visiting family in England and our parish church is over 900 yrs old.

I found it fascinating to learn how the structures and the uses of the churches were altered based on the needs of the population and town/village parishes. I did not know a lot about how parishes and monasteries came to be in England and how it all changed structure wise.

I found the pictures to be breathtaking and I highly recommend this book if you have an interest in English history.

I requested and received an Advanced Readers Copy from the publisher and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Preparing to take a journey “across the pond” to England, Wales, and Scotland within the next few years, I wanted to build my knowledge of architecture, people, and natural features of the area. I have a tendency to be drawn to churches when traveling, so when I saw this title, I knew I needed to add it to my collection of must reads.

This book did not disappoint. Loaded with facts, nothing is left to the imagination. The author demonstrates his depth of knowledge, all the way from describing the different uses of the churchyard throughout the years, what wall and ceiling concepts fell in and out of style throughout the centuries, and honing details down to the furniture such as bench details, windows, and flooring.

This biggest “a-ha” moment I took away from this book was realizing exactly how much churches were patrons of the arts. Many may think about artists painting the ceilings of chapels or the architecture or design of the building as an art form, but there are so many more artistic details to be observed when setting foot into a place of worship.

I am now much more prepared to embark upon my journey, and can’t wait to visit a few of the churches listed in this book.

Richard Hayman’s Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales was an absolute delight to read.

The book is short but it contains a plethora of detail which benefits from the chosen method of organisation. Instead of the typical chronology found within histories, Hayman provides a general overview and then dedicates a chapter to each area; ‘The Churchyard’, ‘The Church Exterior’, ‘The Interior’, and ‘The Furnishings’. This allows for a streamlined reading experience, as instead of being constrained to a singular period, Hayman can weave through the centuries explaining how each feature evolved.

This presentation also allows Hayman to highlight important distinctions that are often overlooked, and to furnish the text with exciting anecdotes. I’d love to know what other treasures Hayman unearthed during his research.

One of my favourite features was the presence of the floor-plans of churches as they evolved. It can often be difficult to visualise how a church might have been organised or functioned, especially as the photos featured are current images and it’s almost impossible to take a complete birds eye view shot.

The book concludes with a recommended reading section. Personally, I think it is imperative that these sections are included, and I’m definitely going to be adding a few of the books to my wish-list! I was also thrilled that Hayman opted to include a section on ‘Places to visit’. This collated all the churches that he had mentioned through and noted which features are visible at each location.

Overall, Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales is a high-quality text that will benefit both those that are new to the subject and those who consider themselves experts.

Excellent! Through,informative and the photos are beautiful.
This is a must have for history buffs and those interested in art and architecture.
Review is scheduled for publication date on my blog.

Really great photographs of both the indoor and outdoor of different churches. It show things like the yard and furnishings, so you get a view of the church with the explanation of the information. Many points given to the reader, brief introduction and history to the churches and the yards.

The reader is given a wonderful description of the churches alongside details of the interior and exteriors of churches and the furnishings.The photographs are amazing and bring the authors descriptions to life.

I enjoyed this title and I would highly recommend it to anybody interested in history and it is also a great book to carry with you on your travels.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for opportunity to read this very informative publication.

I love books from this publisher. They go into the subject in depth but aren't boring, overly detailed, or too scholarly. They have plenty of illustrations with very informative captions. And they add so much to the reader's knowledge of the subject.

Hayman's book is a worthy addition to the line. It looks at churches in England and Wales, not cathedrals, but parish churches. As one might expect, most of the emphasis is on churches from medieval times (Norman to Tudor), but churches before and after are not neglected. The book goes up to mid0nineteenth century churches.

Although some London churches are mentioned, the emphasis is on churches to be found in villages and towns. It's a great insight into all aspects of these lovely buildings. I could wish there was a bit more emphasis on stained glass and some information on church textiles, but both are probably outside the scope of this book.

This isn't a guidebook. Instead, it's a targeted book about the development of church architecture and a more in-depth look at what you'll find than guidebooks provide. If this subject is of interest to you, then you'll want to have this book along with any guidebooks you might need. If you aren't planning traveling to see these churches, it's a wonderful armchair trip.

This book is interesting, entertaining and well researched.
I appreciated the clear explanations, the style of writing and the picture.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Churches and Churchyards of England and Wales is written in chapters, each describing a topic - history, interiors, furnishings and so on. Within each chapter Hayman gives examples of churches to illustrate his information.

But, if you’re looking for a guide book to the churches and churchyards of England and Wales, then this book isn’t it. It is informative - in as much as a dissertation would be - but you can’t delve into it to look for info on your local church, or in an area you’re visiting. There is an index to find places mentioned, but I felt many important churches and cathedrals were missing, and interesting facts from places that were mentioned were missing. It’s also fairly concise.

I would be interested to see a physical copy, as I was given a digital ARC from the publisher. The digital copy was fragmented, which hopefully the actual book would not be; hopefully the plates will be better arranged.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

“No institution has been a greater patron of the arts than the Church. It continues to commission works of art – in glass and wood and stone – but it is a tradition that goes back to Saxon times. It is increasingly recognised now that churches are the museum and art gallery of the nation.” - Richard Hayman

I feel like that excerpt from the book neatly sums up its premise and importance. Hayman does a nice job laying out a foundation for the reader's understanding by first going over the history of English/Welsh churches and then the origins and history of the parish church. Once providing that background, he then dives into the significance of each part of the church (churchyard, church exterior, interior, and furnishings), all the way from lychgates to the stained glass windows and pulpits.

Being an American, I do not have the opportunity to witness such rich history in the churches near me. But Hayman's pictures help take me to England to witness such breathtaking art and archeology. The history buff in me was also infatuating learning about things like how churches were sometimes built on pagan church sites in efforts to grow Christianity.

I was delighted reading this book and enjoyed how it gave me a brief overview of churches in England/Wales.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy to review.