Country Church Monuments
By (Author) C. B. Newham
Penguin Books Ltd
Particular Books
21st October 2022
6th October 2022
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Architecture: religious buildings
European history
Architecture: public, commercial and industrial buildings
History of architecture
Sculpture
History of art
726.80942
Hardback
728
Width 170mm, Height 240mm, Spine 46mm
2058g
A landmark illustrated history of rural church monuments - the forgotten national treasures of England and Wales Deep in the countryside, away from metropolitan abbeys and cathedrals, thousands of funerary monuments are hidden in parish churches. These artworks - medieval brasses and elegant marble effigies, stone tomb chests and grand mausoleums - are of great historical and cultural significance, but have, due to their relative inaccessibility, faded from accounts of our art history. Over twenty-five years, C. B. Newham FSA has visited and photographed more than nine thousand rural churches, cataloguing the monumental sculptures encountered on his quest. In Country Church Monuments, he presents 365 of the very best, each accompanied by detailed photographs, biographies of both the deceased and their sculptors and a wealth of contextual material. Many of these works commemorate famous historical figures, from scheming Tudor courtier Richard Rich to Victorian prime minister William Ewart Gladstone. But more moving are the countless others - minor aristocrats, small-time industrialists, much-loved mothers, fathers and children - who, if not for their memorials, would wholly be lost to time. As Newham blows the dust off these artworks and breathes life into the stories they tell, a new aesthetic history of rural England and Wales emerges. Country Church Monuments is a poignant record of the art we make at the borders of life and death, of our ceaseless human striving for eternity.
A magnificent book - a tremendous achievement, a thing of beauty and a volume that should have a place on every church lover's shelves -- Nigel Andrew * Literary Review *
Astonishing and beautifully photographed... The 365 examples chosen for full-page illustration and commentary here are the clotted cream of the milk of human mortality. Newham has visited 9,000 country churches in the past few years for his stupendous project of photographing every rural church in England. His travels with a camera make Cobbett's Rural Rides seem like a bank-holiday jaunt... Newham's pictures are a revelation -- Christopher Howse * Telegraph *
This is a true labour of love and one of the most wonderful books I have ever seen -- Marcus Berkmann * Daily Mail *
A tour de force... Erudite... Church monuments may at first appear niche, but the subject matter deserves an audience beyond church crawlers or taphophiles. Funeral art provides a powerful insight into the culture and beliefs that they sprang from... Country Church Monuments is a treasure trove of sites just waiting to be discovered. -- Emma J Wells * The Times *
Brilliant -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *
A life-affirming survey -- Rose Washbourn * House and Garden *
An excellent book... Its outstanding quality, however, is its photographs. Only someone who has craned their
neck in semi-darkness to discern the contours of an effigy lying at eye level can appreciate, even if they cannot explain, the expertise of Cameron Newham's technique. In many cases perfect images are provided of recumbent figures taken from directly overhead, often defying the actual space above them.... A wonderful selection, warmly recommended
C. B. Newham lives in Yorkshire, England. He is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, an information technology consultant, author of the popular Keyholder app and Director of the Parish Church Photographic Survey. So far, he has visited more than eight thousand sites on his quest to create a complete photographic record of England's rural parish churches.