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Ships of heaven : the private life of Britain's cathedrals / Christopher Somerville.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: London : Doubleday, 2019Description: viii, 339 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), map ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
  • still image
  • cartographic image
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780857523648 (hbk)
  • 0857523643 (hbk)
Other title:
  • Private life of Britain's cathedrals
Subject(s):
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1.Wells: A Ship of My Own -- 2.Lincoln: Everyman's Barque -- 3.Salisbury: Ship Shape -- 4.Chichester: Dressed Overall -- 5.Canterbury: The Holy Mutineer -- 6.York: Long Hard Haul -- 7.Durham: The Phantom Helmsman -- 8.Ely: The Ship of the Fens -- 9.Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford: `Commend our bones to Davy Jones, our souls to Fiddler's Green' -- 10.Kirkwall: The Orkney Boat -- 11.St Davids: The Ship in the Hollow -- 12.St Paul's: Ship of State -- 13.Westminster: Aloft and Below -- 14.Armagh: Two Lookouts -- 15.Liverpool: "We'll haul away together' -- 16.Coventry: Shipbuilding -- 17.Inverness: Launching Lucy.
Summary: When Christopher Somerville, author of the acclaimed The January Man, set out to explore Britain's cathedrals, he found his fixed ideas shaken to the roots. Starting out, he pictured cathedrals -- Britain possesses over one hundred -- as great unmoving bastions of tradition. But as he journeyed among favourites old and new, he discovered buildings and communities that have been in constant upheaval for a thousand years. Here are stories of the monarchs and bishops who ordered the building of these massive but unstable structures, the masons whose genius brought them into being, the peasant labourers who erected (and died on) the scaffolding. We learn of rogue saints exploited by holy sinners, the pomp and prosperity that followed these monoliths, the towns that grew up in their shadows, the impact of the Black Death, the Reformation and icon-smashing Puritanism, the revival brought about by the Industrial Revolution, and the hope and disillusion of two world wars. Meeting believers and non-believers, architects and archaeologists, the cleaner who dusts the monuments and the mason who judges stone by its taste, we delve deep into the private lives and the uncertain future of these ever-voyaging Ships of Heaven.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 726.6094 S696 Available 33111009561545
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

_________________

'Something close to divine inspiration' - The Times

When Christopher Somerville, author of the The January Man ('a truly wonderful, uplifting book, bursting with life' - Nicholas Crane) , set out to explore Britain's cathedrals, he found his fixed ideas shaken to the roots.

Starting out, he pictured cathedrals - Britain possesses over one hundred - as great unmoving bastions of tradition. But as he journeys among favourites old and new, he discovers buildings and communities that have been in constant upheaval for a thousand years. Here are stories of the monarchs and bishops who ordered the building of these massive but unstable structures, the masons whose genius brought them into being, the peasant labourers who erected (and died on) the scaffolding. We learn of rogue saints exploited by holy sinners, the pomp and prosperity that followed these ships of stone, the towns that grew up in their shadows, the impact of the Black Death, the Reformation and icon-smashing Puritanism, the revival brought about by the Industrial Revolution, and the hope and disillusion of two world wars.

Meeting believers and non-believers, architects and archaeologists, the cleaner who dusts the monuments and the mason who judges stone by its taste, we delve deep into the private lives and the uncertain future of these ever-voyaging Ships of Heaven.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1.Wells: A Ship of My Own -- 2.Lincoln: Everyman's Barque -- 3.Salisbury: Ship Shape -- 4.Chichester: Dressed Overall -- 5.Canterbury: The Holy Mutineer -- 6.York: Long Hard Haul -- 7.Durham: The Phantom Helmsman -- 8.Ely: The Ship of the Fens -- 9.Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford: `Commend our bones to Davy Jones, our souls to Fiddler's Green' -- 10.Kirkwall: The Orkney Boat -- 11.St Davids: The Ship in the Hollow -- 12.St Paul's: Ship of State -- 13.Westminster: Aloft and Below -- 14.Armagh: Two Lookouts -- 15.Liverpool: "We'll haul away together' -- 16.Coventry: Shipbuilding -- 17.Inverness: Launching Lucy.

When Christopher Somerville, author of the acclaimed The January Man, set out to explore Britain's cathedrals, he found his fixed ideas shaken to the roots. Starting out, he pictured cathedrals -- Britain possesses over one hundred -- as great unmoving bastions of tradition. But as he journeyed among favourites old and new, he discovered buildings and communities that have been in constant upheaval for a thousand years. Here are stories of the monarchs and bishops who ordered the building of these massive but unstable structures, the masons whose genius brought them into being, the peasant labourers who erected (and died on) the scaffolding. We learn of rogue saints exploited by holy sinners, the pomp and prosperity that followed these monoliths, the towns that grew up in their shadows, the impact of the Black Death, the Reformation and icon-smashing Puritanism, the revival brought about by the Industrial Revolution, and the hope and disillusion of two world wars. Meeting believers and non-believers, architects and archaeologists, the cleaner who dusts the monuments and the mason who judges stone by its taste, we delve deep into the private lives and the uncertain future of these ever-voyaging Ships of Heaven.

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