Matthew Byrne - The Treasures of English Churches

SHIRE PUBLICATIONS

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9PH, UK

29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland

1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA

E-mail:

www.shirebooks.co.uk

This electronic edition published in 2021 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

SHIRE is a trademark of Osprey Publishing Ltd

First published in Great Britain in 2021

Matthew Byrne, 2021

Matthew Byrne has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

All photographs Matthew Byrne unless otherwise stated.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-7844-2489-3 (HB)
ISBN: 978-1-7844-2488-6 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1-7844-2487-9 (ePDF)
ISBN: 978-1-7844-2490-9 (XML)

Shire Publications supports the Woodland Trust, the UKs leading woodland conservation charity.

: Hereford Cathedral. Sir Peter de Grandisson, d.1352. In the centre of the canopied figures Christ crowns his mother Mary as Queen of Heaven.

Half-title: See .

: Lichfield Cathedral. Monument to the two young Robinson sisters who died of scarlet fever in 1812.

: Chancel ceiling of the Abbey Church of St Mary, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. The chancel was rebuilt in the early fourteenth century by the noble de Clare and Despenser families. Its colourful ceiling is a complex multi-ribbed (lierne) vault.

A garden requires patient labour and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them.

Liberty Hyde Bailey,
Horticulturalist and Botanist

CONTENTS

Churches have been part of local and national landscapes for so many centuries that their presence is often taken for granted. However, ensuring that they remain safeguarded for the future is down to the hard work and dedication of local people and the provision of funding and support. The National Churches Trust and its predecessor charity, the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, are proud to have played a part in keeping churches alive since 1953.

Luke March, Chairman, National Churches Trust

T HE NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST is the national, independent charity dedicated to the repair and support of the UKs churches, chapels and meeting houses. The Trust was created in 2007 to take forward the work of the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, founded in 1953. It does not own any buildings but rather supports those responsible for the upkeep of places of worship.

The Trust has helped virtually every church named in Simon Jenkinss Englands Thousand Best Churches.Geographically, churches in all four corners of the British Isles have been covered by grants; from St Lawrence, Jersey, to St Magnus, Lerwick in Shetland, from Christ Church, Lowestoft in Suffolk, to St James, Moy in County Tyrone.

In 2020, the Trust awarded or recommended over 220 grants worth more than 1.6 million funding that was much needed as many churches faced severe funding shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Churches Trusts key areas of work include:

1 . Keeping churches at the heart of communities in the UKs cities, towns and villages. Many are under threat from leaking roofs, crumbling stonework and rotting timbers. We want to make sure that their architecture and history are there for future generations to enjoy.