Product Description

The sanctity of the church has prevented London's churches from being redeveloped or altered in any significant way and so they remain historical islands while the environment around them has changed beyond recognition. This book includes some of the capital's finest architecture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54853 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Customer Reviews

A superb, accessible introduction
I was looking for a short accessible guide to the churches in the City of London, specifically Wren's works, and bought a copy of this book in the Museum of London bookshop.
It's a small book in terms of page size (about 4 inches by 3 inches, so it fits easily into a bag) and is 200 pages long, in which it covers 47 churches and 8 towers (where the main body of the church has been demolished). There is no standard format but generally there are two pages of text and either one or two black-and-white pictures of each church and a shorter section on the towers. In addition there is a 12-page introduction, as well as guides to three walking tours through the city (eastern section, central section and western section) covering all the churches in the book.
I am not a historian, architect, or even a particularly religious person but for me this was pitched absolutely perfectly. There are more detailed (and drier!) texts you can use as a follow-up, if you so wish. If you are looking for a simple, accessible introduction, or the basis for a tour of the churches this book is thoroughly recommended and is excellent value at the price.

A good introduction
I very much enjoy having this little book. I should emphasise the word "little" because it really is portable. When some publishers describe books as pocket guides I often wonder about the size of the pockets in other peoples clothes, but this book actually does fit into the pocket of my favourite winter jacket.

The book opens with an introduction which includes a brief history of church building in London, from Roman times until the post World War II period. There is a double-page map of the City showing all of the churches in the text marked clearly and numbered to correspond to the numbers in the text.

Each of the 47 churches and 8 stand-alone towers has at least a page dedicated to it and usually more. Black and white photographs accompany most of the churches. The description of each church opens with brief details of the church's history - when it was first recoreded, details of damage suffered, rebuilding, closure, reopening etc. The description then goes into details about the Church's construction history and highlights key features to look out for, mentioning, where applicable, interesting individuals who were associated with a given church. There are some fascinating stories about some of the churches.

Because this is intended to be a small and portable guide the details about the individual features within each church rather brief, but there is enough detail to enable the visitor to pick out the highlights. As another reviewer has remarked, there are many other books and websites which can offer more details if your interest is sparked by a specific location.

Each description ends with the church's address, nearest transport and opening hours.

The eight towers are covered in much less detail, because there is much less of them on which to comment!

Of great value are the 3 walks at the back of the book. There's nothing to stop you using the map at the front to design your own walks, but it is nice to have these here, with more detailed maps and brief highlights.

The appendix lists churches which have been left substantially unaltered, those rennovated after the Blitz to match the originals, ruins or towers remaining and churches demolished for demolition.

Finally, there is a list of useful addresses, a short glossary, a bibliography and an index. There is even a tube map in the fold-out back cover!

A lovely little book.