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Discovering Abbeys and Priories £7.99 Geoffrey N. Wright 978 0 7478 0589 2 (Handbook 57) 128 pp, colour and b/w ills. Abbeys and priories are both types of monastery, and the author traces the history of monasteries in Britain from Anglo-Saxon times to the Dissolution under Henry VIII. He describes the different monastic orders, the running of the monasteries and the daily life of the monks and nuns, the layout of monastic buildings, the influence of the religious houses on life in medieval times and their effect on the landscape, all with references to examples accessible to the public. This new edition has been enlarged into the ‘Discovering Handbook’ series and is fully illustrated in colour. Other titles for Shire by this author: |
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Richard Tames 978 0 7478 0603 5 (Lifeline 44) 48 pp, 33 colour and 7 b/w ills. The name of Robert Adam is today equated, as it was by his contemporaries, with taste, style and elegance. An obituary declared that Adam had produced a total change in the architecture of Britain. Adam’s huge legacy of drawings, now deposited at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London, contains plans and sketches ranging in scale from candelabra and coach panels to an unrealised scheme for a triumphal entrance to the capital of his native Scotland. As able as he was ambitious, this second son of the leading Scottish architect of the day set out to conquer the English in their capital – and succeeded, returning in later life to leave his mark on Edinburgh as well. As visionary in the decoration of interiors as he was ingenious in the design of exteriors, Adam was more often responsible for the renovation, alteration or completion of existing buildings than for the creation of entirely new ones. Best known perhaps for his work on great private palaces such as Syon and Kenwood, Osterley and Kedleston, Saltram and Culzean, Adam was also responsible for churches and tombs, monuments and market-halls. A meticulous professional but a bold risk-taker, Robert Adam was buried in Westminster Abbey, showing that it was at last possible to be both hailed as an artist and deemed worthy to lie among kings. |
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Anna Hallett 978 0 7478 0583 0 (Album 425) 64 pp, 119 colour and 12 b/w ills. There are around 2500 groups of almshouses in Great Britain, most of which were founded centuries ago. Some of them can trace their origins to the early Middle Ages when religious institutions were among the first to offer shelter to needy elderly people. Many others were initiated by individuals who left money for the erection of sometimes splendid buildings. Often picturesque, they can be found in towns, villages and remote country areas. Almshouses come in a variety of architectural styles and often have interesting features, including coats of arms, inscriptions, dedications, statues, clock-towers and sundials. Many have chapels and gardens. Anna Hallett has lectured for a wide range of educational institutions. Her interest in almshouses started in the Netherlands, where she was born, and has continued in Britain where she has enjoyed discovering the many fascinating examples to be found in the most unlikely places. |
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Jan Toms 978 0 7478 0643 1 (Album 452) approx 64 pp, colour and b/w ills. Memorials to animals are found all over the British Isles – to faithful companions, local heroes, renowned racehorses, military mascots, buried pets – and range from the famous terrier Greyfriars Bobby and the Duke of Wellington’s horse Copenhagen to the modest stones commemorating Giro, the dog of the pre-war German ambassador, in central London and ‘Goldie - God Bless our Bunny’ in a pet cemetery. Jan Toms was born in the Isle of Wight and owned her first pet when she was three – a black cat named Blackie. Beginning her writing career as a historical novelist, she found herself obsessed by the research involved; this book has given full rein to that passion. |
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Architecture in Roman Britain £5.99 Guy de la Bédoyère 978 0 7478 0530 4 (Archaeology 81) approx 64 pp, many b/w ills. The Roman period was Britain’s first great architectural age, though this is sometimes difficult to appreciate from the ruinous state of the sites that survive. This book looks at how in a few years Britain witnessed the design and erection of an astonishing range of buildings, from mundane and functional houses through to exotic temples and ambitious civil engineering projects. Some of Britain’s Roman architects turn out to have been innovators. Reconstruction drawings and paintings by the author bring these vanished buildings back to life and recreate a lost world of forts, basilicas, theatres, baths, arches, classical temples, villas and lighthouses. |
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The Architecture of Canals £5.99 978 0 7478 0632 5 (Album 444) about 56 pp, colour and b/w ills The original purpose of canals was to link regions of industry to major rivers and ports at a time when poor quality roads and packhorses was the only method of transport. Built a half a century before the arrival of the railways, the canals provided a watery artery for trade and commerce that made possible the Industrial Revolution. They remain as a constant reminder of that turning point of Britain’s history when an agricultural way of life that had existed for centuries gave way to an industrial economy. This book looks at the wonderful variety of structures that made the canals work in their commercial heyday and are still enjoyed today by today’s pleasure boaters and walkers. Derek Pratt is a professional photographer with a special interest in inland waterways. His Waterways Photo Library is a result of many years of wandering around Britain’s canals and rivers with a camera. Other titles for Shire by this author: |
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Architectural Ceramics £4.50 978 0 7478 0517 5 (Album 395) 40 pp, 79 colour ills Architectural ceramics in the form of unglazed terracotta and glazed faience were used to decorate the interiors, façades and roofs of a wide range of buildings in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the first instance their use was functional, making the buildings weatherproof, fireproof and hygienic, but they could also be very decorative. This book charts the history of architectural ceramics, focusing on practical and decorative applications, on architects, designers and manufacturers, and on styles and techniques of production and decoration. Hans van Lemmen taught for many years at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is an established author on the history of tiles and has lectured on the subject in Britain and elsewhere. He is a founder member and presently publications editor of the British Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society. Other titles for Shire by this author are: |
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British Theatres and Music Halls £5.99 978 0 7478 0627 1 (Album 442) about 56 pp, colour and b/w ills After decades of destruction, theatres are now recognised as significant architectural records of the societies that produced them and valuable cultural resources for the present day. This book outlines the history of theatres and music halls from the late sixteenth century to the present time, noting changing fashions in entertainment and evolving official attitudes to safety that have, at various times, influenced the architectural character of the buildings. Particular attention is given to the thirty-five years before the First World War, when music hall and variety entertainment developed rapidly, accompanied by a massive surge in theatre building. The account is enlivened with illustrations of the theatres, their architects and their audiences. |
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Jacqueline Fearn 978 0 7478 0493 2 (Album 250) 32 pp, many black and white ills. Cast iron has made a tentative comeback. Street improvement schemes often include Victorian-style litter bins, bollards and street signs which are, or look like, cast iron and numerous other items such as garden furniture and door porters are available. This book looks at the history of the material that made the Industrial Revolution possible and at some of the products we appreciate today not only for the imagination and craftsmanship with which they were produced but also because they reflect the style, vigour and confidence of the era. This is Jacqueline Fearn’s fifth book for Shire Publications. She is greatly intrigued by the Industrial Revolution and the manner in which the Victorians, particularly, exploited every opportunity offered by new technology to make an article to fill a need and then to sell it. She believes cast iron may be the most ingeniously and decoratively exploited material of the nineteenth century. Other titles for Shire by this author are:
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David Pepin 978 0 7478 0597 7 (Handbook 112) 176 pp, colour and black and white ills. There are forty-eight Anglican cathedrals in England and Wales. Some of them are ancient places of worship, rich in history and of grand proportions; others are more recent structures of the best of contemporary craftsmanship. This book endeavours to introduce the reader to this rich inheritance in Britain’s cathedrals, which have been dubbed the flagships and shop windows of our Christian heritage. David Pepin is a retired primary school teacher and a local preacher in the Methodist Church. |
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Hans van Lemmen 978 0 7478 0569 4 (Shire Album 420) 40 pp, 80 colour ills. Brick chimneys, chimney-pots and roof and ridge tiles have been a feature of the roofs of a wide range of buildings since the late Middle Ages. In the first instance this ceramic roofware was functional – to make the roof weatherproof and to provide an outlet for smoke – but it could also be very decorative. The practical and ornamental aspects of ceramic roofware can still be seen throughout Britain. This book charts the history of ceramic roofware from the Middle Ages to the present day, highlighting both practical and decorative applications, and giving information about manufacturers and on the styles and techniques of production and decoration. Other titles for Shire by this author are: |
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Mark Child 978 0 85263 328 1 (Db 214) 64 pp, 300 ills. In most towns and villages the parish church is the oldest and the most interesting building. No two churches are quite alike; each one is a unique work of art, worth visiting for its beauty and character and its fittings as well as for the special atmosphere of peace and holiness that all churches seem to possess. More people than ever are visiting churches, but they are often baffled by the architectural and technical terms that fill guide books. This book helps to break down the mystique that surrounds ecclesiastical architecture. It is a dictionary explaining in simple language over 600 of the terms that are likely to be encountered on a visit to a church and is illustrated with more than 300 drawings. Mark Child is a researcher, writer and former reference librarian. Other titles for Shire by this author are: |
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John McCann 978 0 7478 0579 3 (Album 105) 48 pp, colour ills. Buildings made of unfired earth are of great antiquity; in Britain they continued to be built until the middle of the nineteenth century. Consequently much of the traditional architecture that gives each region its distinctive character is of these materials. In this book John McCann describes the various processes of building with earth, quotes contemporary descriptions from past centuries, examines the regional patterns and illustrates standing buildings of clay and cob in many parts of Britain. For twenty-five years John McCann photographed modern architecture for architects and the architectural journals. Since 1975 he has studied the traditional buildings of the English countryside and their historic origins. |
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Coade Stone £5.99 978 0 7478 0644 8 (Album 453) 48 pp, 87 colour ills. The Coade stone factory in London, which was active between 1769 and 1840, was owned and managed by Mrs Eleanor Coade, a remarkable Georgian businesswoman. Her firm produced all kinds of architectural ornaments and statues, which were used by the leading architects of the day for the embellishment of town and country houses and other important buildings. Coade stone was actually fired clay made using a special formula but it was marketed as ‘artificial stone’ since at that time stone was the preferred material for architectural decoration. This book charts the history of Coade stone, the techniques of production, the sculptors who provided designs, and the architects who used it. An illustrated gazetteer highlights many locations throughout Britain and Ireland where Coade stone can still be seen today. Hans van Lemmen taught for many years at Leeds Metropolitan University and is an established author on the history of tiles and architectural ceramics and has lectured on the subject in Britain and elsewhere. Other titles for Shire by this author: |
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Discovering Cottage Architecture £5.99 Christopher Powell 978 0 85263 673 2 (Db 275) 104 pp, 76 ills. Country cottages have an almost universal appeal. Whether nestling in a Sussex garden or astride a Pennine hillside, whether clustered in a fishing village or round a Cotswold green, cottages attract attention and create delight. Christopher Powell studied architecture at the University of Bristol. He is currently joint editor of Construction History, the journal of the Construction History Society.
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