Church History
Church Clocks
Price: £5.99
ISBN:978 0 74780 687 5 / Shire Library 475 / 64 pp
Since the medieval period, mechanical clocks located in churches across Britain have told the time to local communities, or displayed the phases of the moon and the heavens on an elaborate astrological face. Focusing on some of the most noteworthy church clocks in Britain, and the intriguing stories behind them, this book traces the history of church clocks from the wealthy abbeys and cathedrals of the medieval period, through the gentle developments and refinements that made clocks more accurate and easier to maintain, to the electronic movements of the present day that are steadily making redundant historic clocks that have served for centuries.
Church Misericords and Bench Ends
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 996 2 / Shire Library 230 / 32 pp
This book outlines the history of church seating, considers the status of the craftsmen and the influences on their work, and then explains the subject matter of the carvings.
Discovering Bells and Bellringing
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 326 3 / Shire Discovering 29 / 64 pp
This book explains for the layman and the beginner what change-ringing is about, why it is unique to Britain, and how it was developed.
Discovering Church Architecture
A Glossary of TermsPrice: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 85263 328 1 / Shire Discovering 214 / 64 pp
In most towns and villages the parish church is the oldest and 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 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 abound in guidebooks. Where should one look for the reredos or the lucarnes? What is an arcade and why might it be described as Tuscan? What is the purpose of a hagioscope, a rood loft, or a mass dial? What is the difference between a mullion and a transom? This book helps to break down the mystique that surrounds ecclesiastical architecture. It is a dictionary explaining in simple language over 600 terms likely to be encountered on a visit to a church and is illustrated with more than 300 drawings. Used in conjunction with the guidebook it will enable you to see a church through new eyes, to understand where before you would only have looked.
Mark Child is a researcher, writer and former reference librarian who has worked as a freelance journalist and gardening writer and has edited a number of periodicals, including one on ancient history. As a consultant, or in a research capacity, he has worked on a number of authoritative books. He is a bestselling author and has written books on church and secular architecture, boats and boating history, folklore, myths and legends. For Shire he has also written ‘Discovering Churches and Churchyards’.
Discovering Epitaphs
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 324 9 / Shire Discovering 144 / 80 pp
Inscriptions on gravestones yield fascinating information about the dead, their lives and occupations and the way they lived.
Discovering Famous Graves
Price: £8.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 619 6 / Shire Discovering 288 / 152 pp
The location and details of nearly 1000 graves of famous Britons at home and abroad - also a few foreigners buried on British soil
Discovering Saints in Britain
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 475 8 / Shire Discovering 64 / 96 pp
This book tells the life stories of the more familiar saints, the associated folklore, the patronage, the emblems, the place names, the shrines and the festivals. There is a calendar of saints' days.
Medieval Wall Paintings
Price: £7.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 144 3 / Shire Library 557 / 80 pp
Examines the story told by the artwork which decorated the interior of Medieval churches.
The Organ
Price: £9.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 560 1 / Shire Library 558 / 96 pp
The Victorian Clergyman
Price: £4.99
ISBN: 978 0 74780 658 5 / Shire Library 459 / 40 pp