Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment
The Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment is a series of 16 volumes that encompasses a wide range of architectural history. Each volume provides an overview of a subject, and seeks to make current scholarship available to a wide audience
Copies may be ordered from the publisher Shaun Tyas post-free within the UK, or through any bookseller. Please contact the publisher, Shaun Tyas via email: shaun@shauntyas.myzen.co.uk
Series Editor: Dr Paul Barnwell, former Director of Studies in the Historic Environment.
Editorial Board: Professor Malcolm Airs, Dr Geoffrey Tyack, Professor William Whyte
Volumes in the series
Architect, Patron and Craftsman in Tudor and Early Stuart England: Essays for Malcolm Airs
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, Prehistoric and Roman
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 300-950
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 950-1150
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1150-1350
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1350-1550
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1550-1689
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1689-1829
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1829-1929
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1929-1990
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1990-2020, forthcoming
Sir George Gilbert Scott 1811-1878
Working Class Housing: Improvement and Technology
Architect, Patron and Craftsman in Tudor and Early Stuart England
Edited by P. S. Barnwell and Paula Henderson
This book contains the papers from a weekend conference held in Rewley House in 2016 in honour of Professor Malcolm Airs who taught there from 1975 to 2006, and whose scholarship has centred on the domestic architecture of the Tudor and Early Stuart Period, particularly on building processes and craftsmen. It was a period in which Gothic elements continued to be used but mixed with details inspired by Classical antiquity. This was the English Renaissance, but the systematic use of Classical models, and the publication of handbooks of Classical architecture, and the profession of architecture were all in their infancy. The blend of styles is unique to England: while it used to be dismissed as backward it is today celebrated for its inventiveness and pioneering achievements.
In these papers many of Professor Airs’ friends and colleagues pay tribute to his scholarship in a series of essays on topics which have interested him. The contents include an appreciation of Professor Airs’ career by William Whyte, Nicholas Cooper on the historiography of the Tudor and Jacobean house, detailed examination of Wollaton Hall by Pete Smith and of planning at Doddington Hall and Ham House by David Adshead; and discussion elite houses in London by Paula Henderson, of garden cloisters and terraces by Sally Jeffery, and of the Schools Quadrangle at Oxford by Geoffrey Tyack. Thematic papers include Maurice Howard on painted panelling and furnishing, Claire Gapper on patrons, plasterers and architects, and Kathryn Davies on vernacular wall-paintings. The volume concludes with a discussion by Mark Girouard of his forthcoming biographical dictionary of architects of the period.
Country House Technology
Edited by P.S. Barnwell and Marilyn Palmer
The importance of the country house as a pioneer of 'taste' has long been a popular subject for art and architectural historians - but its role as a pioneer of new technology has received less attention.
Country houses were modernised in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with the introduction of plumbing, gas and electricity supplies, and gadgetry of all kinds. These changes affected the lives and comfort of all who lived and worked on the estates, and they influenced the wider world.
In May 2010 a weekend conference at Rewley House in Oxford brought together recent research on country house technology, building on earlier work by the National Trust on its own properties, especially reflected in the availability of many of the illustrations found here.
This unique, pioneering book combines the proceedings of that conference with two newly-commissioned essays. There are thirteen chapters, including an introduction and a summing up by the editors, and an index. The book includes a broad range of technologies and presents examples drawn from across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The contributors are Marilyn Palmer, Christine Hiskey, Pete Smith, Paul Holden, Pamela Sambrook, Maureen Dillon, Ian West, Christopher Hunwick, Paul Thomas, Fiona Fyfe, Susanna Wade Martins and P. S. Barnwell.
Cruck Building: A Survey
Edited by Nat Alcock, P. S. Barnwell and Martin Cherry
Crucks are principal timbers spanning from the ground to the roof apex (in the case of 'full' crucks), a significant component of vernacular architecture in Britain. More than 4,000 such buildings survive today, including cottages, farmhouses, manor houses, barns great and small, and even a few churches, with dates ranging from 1262 to 1742. This book has evolved from a conference held at Rewley House, Oxford, in 2017, which reviewed our knowledge of cruck construction, last surveyed in 1981. The book covers the whole of Britain though there are references to crucks in Ireland and mainland Europe. There are fifteen essays by leading architectural historians of the vernacular, the editors contributing to more than one paper, some providing conceptual overviews of construction methods, definitions, trees and documentation.
The contributors are Nat Alcock, Daniel Miles, Mark Gardiner, Bob Meeson, Nick Hill (on the East Midlands), Martin Roberts (on Northern England and Yorkshire), Peter Messenger (on Cumbria), Duncan James (on the Welsh March or West Midlands), John R. L. Thorp (on Devon), Richard Suggett (on Wales), Piers Dixon (on Scotland), Martin Cherry, Peter Thompson, and P. S. Barnwell.
This wonderful book is heavily illustrated with over 400 photographs, fantastic technical diagrams, all to scale, and revelatory distribution maps. Hardback book, sewn in sections (252 x 195 mm), 416 pages, printed mostly in colour, index.
The Medieval Great House
Edited by Malcolm Airs and P.S. Barnwell
May 2011 saw the launch of a new series of books - the 'Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment' - based on the Department's weekend schools in architectural history.
The first volume is The Medieval Great House, and completes an earlier series of books on greater houses begun by Professor Malcolm Airs many years ago.
The great house was one of the defining cultural artefacts of the Middle Ages. It was the seat of power and influence, the expression of the aristocratic household, the theatre for hospitality and courtly society, a focal point in the landscape.
Despite this, it has attracted relatively little scholarly attention, overshadowed in the popular mind by the appeal of the great castles and cathedrals. The contributors to this volume draw on the disciplines of architectural and art and social history, archaeology and landscape analysis, to explore the character and significance of the medieval great house in England, Scotland and Wales.
Among the themes covered are the relationship between the great house and the castle, the social and economic functions of the non-military houses of the elite, and the layout and ornamentation of the interiors. The nature of the evidence, different kinds of analysis and challenges to interpretation are all explored in this collection of essays which reflects the current state of scholarship concerning these important artefacts of medieval civilisation.
The papers in this volume represent the essence of a weekend conference held at Rewley House in Oxford in January 2008, and is the first of a new series publishing the Rewley House architectural conferences, but it is the successor to the important earlier series of conference proceedings published by Rewley House itself since 1996. The volume is introduced and concluded, and indexed. The contributors are Anthony Emery, Philip Dixon, Richard Oram, Charles McKean, Richard Suggett, Maurice Howard, Andor Gomme, Pete Smith, Nicholas Cooper, Andrea Kirkham, Kent Rawlinson, Peter Brears, Stephen Monkhouse and P. S. Barnwell.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 300-950
Edited by P.S. Barnwell
Starting with evidence for Christian sites and building in Roman Britain, the book examines the formative period of Christianity in the British Isles, and looks at regions with differing degrees of Roman legacy and varying histories of conversion – all of which have left different kinds of evidence, and are therefore rarely studied together.
This is the 4th volume of Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment, and the first in a chronological series concerning places of worship on Britain and Ireland from the late Roman period to the present.
The contributors are leading experts in their fields, who draw in a wide range of archaeological, architectural, art-historical, epigraphical, historical, landscape and sculptural material to illuminate this important and exciting period.
They not only describe and characterise religious buildings, sites and landscapes, but also consider their historical context, how they illuminate the development of the Church, how they were used for worship, and how contemporaries perceived them.
The book contains 11 essays by leading specialists: Barbara Yorke provides an introductory chapter on 'Churches and the Christianisation of Early Medieval Britain' (1-14); Martin Henig, 'The Origins of Christian Britain: From Mystery Cult to Christian Mystery', 15-32; Nancy Edwards, 'Christianising the Landscape: the Archaeology of the Early Medieval Church in Wales', 33-55; Tomás Ó Carragáin, 'More Scottorum: Buildings of Worship in Ireland, c.500-950', 56-67; Sally M. Foster, 'Physical Evidence for the Early Church in Scotland', 68-91; Meg Boulton and Jane Hawkes, 'The Anglo-Saxon Church in Kent', 92-118; Richard Morris, 'Landscapes of Conversion among the Deirans: Lastingham and its Neighbours in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries', 119-51; Rosemary Cramp, 'Northumbrian Churches', 152-68; David Parsons, 'The Early Medieval Church at Brixworth, Northamptonshire', 169-85; Michael Hare and Maggie Kneen, 'The Church of St Mary, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, in the Ninth Century', 186-208; and P. S. Barnwell, 'Conclusion: Churches, Sites, Landscapes', 209-26; Index, 227-37; other relevant titles, 238-40. The book contains 14 colour pictures and 60 in black and white.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 950-1150
Edited by P. S. Barnwell
This is the second in a chronological series of volumes concerning places of worship in Britain and Ireland form the late Roman period to the present. It covers the age of reform, during which western Christianity acquired most of its distinctive features, and saw the maturation of the diocesan system of administering the secular church, the beginnings of the creation of parishes, and the foundation and initial spread of many of the monastic orders which were to be so important a feature of the central middle ages.
The contributors come from a number of academic disciplines—archaeology, and architectural, art, landscape and liturgical history—to illustrate a variety of approaches to understanding surviving buildings and sites of the period. They describe and characterise the buildings an landscapes of a range of different types of religious institutions during the period, and consider their historical context, the evidence they provide for the development of the Church, and the evidence they contain for contemporary attitudes to worship and for liturgical and devotional practice.
The book contains eleven essays by leading specialists: Eric Fernie, provides an introduction, followed by John Harper, on liturgy and music. Marie-Pierre Gelin discusses monastic cathedrals; Julian Luxford the nature of Benedictine art and architecture; Glyn Coppack the earliest phases of Cistercian monasteries; Richard Fawcett the Tironensians (particularly in Scotland); Paul Everson and David Stocker the place of the Premonstratensian house of Barlings in the Lincolnshire landscape; Richard Oram monasteries and monastic schools in northern England and eastern Scotland; Paul Barnwell local churches in England; Tomás Ó Carragáin the evidence from Ireland. Paul Barnwell also provides a conclusion.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1150-1350
Edited by P. S. Barnwell
This book is the third in a series on Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, which will ultimately extend to the twenty-first century. The period considered in this volume saw the rise of the great cathedrals, the spread of reformed monasticism (including nunneries), the coming of the friars, and the spread of the parish system into every corner of Britain and Ireland. Architecturally, the emergence and spread of the Gothic style is of special significance, but as important was the evolution of plan and form to accommodate new forms of worship driven by developments in theology and liturgy.
The richness of the period is such that there is no attempt to be comprehensive. Rather, the emphasis is on the main kinds of institution, and particularly those for which good physical remains can still be seen. Cathedrals, monasteries of the larger orders, nunneries, friaries and parish churches are all represented, in some instances with examples drawn from across Britain and Ireland, in others with a focus on a particular area. The dominant themes are the maturation of the medieval church, the permeation of Christian values and institutions throughout society, and the creation of the universal Church of the middle ages binding Britain and Ireland, and the western Church as a whole, into a broadly common religious culture. Wherever possible, consideration is given to the ways in which buildings were used, and there are chapters on the development of liturgy and on the importance of images to liturgical and devotional practices.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1350-1550
Edited by P. S. Barnwell
This book is the fourth in a series on Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, which will ultimately extend to the twenty-first century. The period covered by this volume is often seen as one of decline and is over-shadowed by the great changes of the sixteenth-century Reformation. Taking the period on its own terms, however, the contributors to this volume show that there was much innovation, vitality and creativeness as much in worship as in architecture. The main focus for much of the innovation was in collegiate churches, but parish buildings and worship continued to evolve, and established institutions, including cathedrals and many monastic houses, adapted to the new circumstances.
The richness of the period, and variations across Britain and Ireland, are such that comprehensive treatment is not possible. There is an emphasis on the main types of institution, on those of which there are good physical remains, and on what was distinctive to the age. Cathedrals, monasteries of some of the larger orders, colleges and parishes are all discussed. Themes include the kinds of architectural expression adopted by different institutions in the various parts of Britain and Ireland, the adaptation of earlier buildings to meet changing requirements, the elaboration of both buildings and the liturgy, and the near saturation of society with a religious culture. As in other volumes in the series, consideration is, wherever possible, given to the ways in which the buildings were used and experienced.
Cloth-bound sewn hardback with colour dustwrapper. Many illustrations in full colour, index. Essays by Nicola Coldstream, John Harper, Sarah Brown, Philippa Turner, Cathy Oakes, Glyn Coppack, Richard Oram, Richard Fawcett, Lizzie Swarbrick, Rachel Moss, Madeleine Gray, and P. S. Barnwell.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1550-1689
Edited by P. S Barnwell and Trevor Cooper
This book, the fifth in a series on places of worship in Britain and Ireland, contains 10 essays on a period of tumultuous change, in which a series of reformations, unique to each country in Britain and Ireland, saw the destruction of the medieval cultural legacy through iconoclasm and warfare. As religious beliefs and forms of service changed, so church interiors underwent radical transformations, with expensive ebbs and flows of creativity, destruction, and fresh creativity. |Many cathedrals and former monastic houses were either adapted to the new circumstances or demolished, and most new buildings tended towards classicalism and simplicity. An entirely new development was the advent of non-conformist congregations with their own spiritual needs and tastes, and the arrival of Jewish communities in the Commonwealth period. The period covered by this book finishes with the new government of William III and Mary II in 1689, which achieved a degree of political stability, permitting some religious toleration and diversity. The period also saw a flourishing of musical and literary culture, the King James Bible, the Book of Common Prayer, metrical psalms, and the emphasis on pulpit-based forms of worship centred on the sermon and the individual conscience.
The contributors are Kenneth Fincham (an overview on Protestantism), John Harper (liturgy and music), Ian Atherton (cathedrals), Trevor Cooper (interiors), Anthony Geraghty & Mark Kirby (rebuilding after the Great Fire), William Roulston (on Ireland), Richard Oram (Scotland), Christopher Wakeling (nonconformism), Sharman Kadish (Jewish communities after the Readmission of 1656) and P. S. Barnwell (conclusions). Printed in colour throughout and with an index, properly sewn and bound in real cloth. Hardback book, sewn in sections (252 x 195 mm), 240 pages, index.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1689-1829
Edited P. S. Barnwell and Mark Smith.
The sixth in a book series on places of worship in Britain and Ireland focuses on a period of relative calm after the radical changes during the previous reformations and civil wars.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1689-1829, contains 11 essays and is edited by P. S. Barnwell (FSA), senior tutor and former Director of Studies in Architectural History, and Mark Smith, Director of Studies in Local History.
The dates in the book’s title are set by the Act of Toleration from the new government of William and Mary and the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. The period saw a renewed emphasis on auditory worship, preaching, and a new social conscience marked by educational and welfare initiatives and a desire to build churches in every locality. The architecture of the period is marked by simplicity, some geometrical experiments and an eclectic mix of styles for details, mostly classical or vernacular, but the first stirrings of the Gothic Revival also appeared here.
The contributors are Mark Smith (general overview), John Harper (worship and music), W. M. Jacobs (Anglican churches 1689-1790), Christopher Webster (Anglican churches 1790-1840), William Roulston (Irish places of worship), Richard Fawcett (Scottish developments), Christopher Wakeling (chapel building in the age of Methodism), Ann-Marie Akehurst (Quaker meeting houses), Roderick O’Donnell (new Catholic places of worship), Sharman Kadish (Georgian synagogue). Paul Barnwell concludes with a detailed essay emphasising that despite denominational diversity the period was united by the ministry of the Word and by a similarity of architectural forms.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1829-1929
Edited P. S. Barnwell and Mark Smith.
This book is the seventh in a series on Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, which will ultimately extend from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century.
The period covered by this volume extends from the final act of Catholic emancipation in 1829 to the failure of the reform of the English Book of Common Prayer and the creation of the modern Church of Scotland a century later. It is one of extraordinary expansion in church and chapel building, driven by unprecedented population growth, changes in the pattern of settlement, and a huge increase in religious plurality partly caused by the arrival of refugees from religious persecution elsewhere in Europe.
In many places the number of places of worship was also increased by competitive building, each denomination seeking to make itself visible in an attempt to preserve or enhance its following.
The earlier part of the period is dominated by revolutionary changes in church practice, planning and architectural style initiated in the Church of England by the Oxford Movement and the Ecclesiological Society. Their effects came to be felt far beyond the Church of England, in places as diverse as the Irish Roman Catholic Church and, later, the Scottish Presbyterian Churches.
The dominant architectural style was Gothic, seen by many as synonymous with Christianity.
At the start of the period, A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists adopted a narrow, prescriptive, view of ‘correctness’, but by the last quarter of the nineteenth century there was a proliferation of models, often interpretated more freely. Although other styles (particularly Classical in nonconformist Wales, and ‘oriental’ for synagogues) were used, it was only towards the end of the period that the supremacy of Gothic significantly waned.
The century covered by this book is one of religious and architectural complexity. But it is also one of vitality, excitement, inventiveness and creativity. And it remains important because, in many ways, and for many people, it still influences our understanding of what a place of worship should look like.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, Prehistoric and Roman
Edited by P. S. Barnwell and Timothy Darvill
This volume is the eighth in a series on Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, the mysterious prehistoric and Roman times being examined in this book. The period is one of great change and longevity, yet it is apparent that places of worship could continue in use for thousands of years, and that there was continuity even between the Iron Age and the Roman after the conquest and between the Roman-and the early Christian. The phenomena of religious pilgrimage and communal feasting are observed throughout the prehistoric and Roman periods.
The specific beliefs of prehistoric people cannot be recovered, but archaeology can show much of what was practiced (offerings and processional journeys for example) and there are intriguing associations between the places of worship and the cosmos and the immediate environment, for sites are often, though not always, orientated towards the heavens at certain times of the year, and liminal locations were often chosen: watershed sites and places which suggested frontiers between the underground worlds (caves, passage mounds) and the heavens (hills and mountains penetrating the sky). Some sites appear to copy in their layout and art the swirling and zigzag patterns in the stars, while the circular monuments must surely reflect the daily and annual revolutions in the sky.
The advent of the Romans brought the alphabet to Britain and surviving texts illustrate the extraordinary diversity of Romano-Celtic religion, with its composite gods, exotic deities accommodated into the Roman pantheon and mystery cults from the far east of the Roman Empire, such as the cult of Mithras, apparently bringing with them a new emphasis on salvation and personal morality. Some cults appear to have been practised on a grand public scale, others more privately in homes. When Christianity appears, the new faith had a context to fit into, which it seems to have achieved with relative ease, conveying to the present day aspects of belief and practice which are ultimately prehistoric in origin.
Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1929-1990
Edited by P. S. Barnwell and Allan Doig
This is the penultimate volume in the Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland series. The period 1929-1990 extends from the failure of the Church of England to reform the Book of Common Prayer (it was rejected by Parliament) and the reunification of several Churches in Scotland, to 1990, a time when the implications of the ecumenical movement, the Liturgical Reform Movement and the effects of the Second Vatican Council were becoming fully apparent.
It was a time of major social change which saw the beginnings of the decline of traditional Churches, the rise of new ones and the arrival of new non-Judaeo-Christian faiths; all had an effect on the design of places of worship. After Vatican II, the interiors of many Roman Catholic and Anglican churches were reordered to allow the congregation greater visibility during the services, and to allow the priest to perform the Eucharist whilst facing the people. There was a new spirit of co¬operation between the churches as they searched for, and found, common ground. Architecture began to emphasise light and space and openness and to explore new shapes and styles.
All these developments are explored here, together with chapters on Orthodox churches, synagogues and the earliest mosques.
Sir George Gilbert Scott 1811-1878
Edited by P.S. Barnwell, Geoffrey Tyack and William Whyte
Sir George Gilbert Scott was one of the leading figures of the Gothic Revival in England. His output, and that of his office, was prodigious: it changed the architectural face of England, and its influence was felt across the British Empire. He became a pillar of the high Victorian establishment, receiving a knighthood and burial at Westminster Abbey following a funeral at which Queen Victoria was personally represented.
Even in his own day, however, he was a controversial figure, and for much of the twentieth century, when the Gothic Revival was despised, he was unappreciated, even reviled. More recently, however, he has begun to attract greater interest.
The essays in this volume represent a step towards a more balanced appreciation of his work, from a conference held at Rewley House in Oxford in 2011 to mark the two hundred years since his birth.
Leading architectural historians contribute to this scholarly volume. There are twelve essays. Gavin Stamp provides an overview on Scott's life and work (1-21); Chris Miele examines the young Scott (22-48); Geoff Brandwood examines 'Scott as London Church Builder', 49-69; G. A. Bremner writes on the colonial cathedrals Scott built 1846-74, 70-90; Claudia Marx examines Scott's legacy as a restorer of major churches, 91-111; Geoffrey Tyack examines 'Scott in Oxford', 112-133 and Simon Bradley 'Scott and Cambridge', 134-57; Peter Howell writes on Scott's little-known work as a country house architect, 158-71; M. H. Port looks at Scott's work as a state architect (especially the Foreign Office design), 172-92; Kimberley Frost writes on Scott's design process for the University of Glasgow, 193-212; William Whyte on the influence of Scott's work on other practices, 213-29 and finally Geoffrey Tyack and William Whyte sum up the Scott legacy over the last two hundred years, 230-37. The book concludes with a bibliography and an index.
Working-Class Housing: Improvement and Technology
Edited by P. S. Barnwell and Marilyn Palmer
This book contains 11 essays exploring ways in which design and technology brought about improvements in housing for the working classes between the advent of the industrial revolution and the end of the Second World War. It covers both back-to-back housing in industrial cities and rural housing on country estates and in farming communities. It examines both the rise of 'employer housing', introduced by philanthropic industrialists such as Arkwright and Sir Titus Salt who sought to follow the model schemes devised by architectural writers and promoted by Prince Albert, and the eventual provision of council houses, starting in the 1890s but undergoing a major expansion after 1919 under the impetus of Lloyd George's call for 'Homes fit for Heroes'. Successive government initiatives are recorded in the steady increase in legislation from both central and local authorities. The technological aspects include the advent of electricity, gas, and mains water for cooking, washing and the management of sewerage. There are also essays on kitchens and furniture design.
The contributors are Marilyn Palmer, Peter Guillery, Geoff Timmins, Michael Nevell, John Broad, Alan G. Crosby, Ian West, Karen A. Sayer, David J. Eveleigh, Antony Buxton and P. S. Barnwell. Heavily illustrated with black and white photographs, technical diagrams, and maps, fully indexed. Hardback book, sewn in sections (252 x 195 mm), 208 pages, index.
