Churches to most people are a place where you used to have to go as a child as part of school or cub scout activities or
occasionally attend a wedding or a funeral, all of which seems just a necessary evil to be endured.
This book tries to show you that there are more to
churches than the ceremonies of hatching, matching and despatching. It is a massive work of over eight hundred pages and acts mainly as a work of reference, and tries to present englands churches as items in a museum of ecclesiastical history.
The book starts with an overview of the development of church building, the styles and techniques, then lists his proposed 100
favourite churches from the following text and rounds off with a glossary of architectual terms. The bulk of the book is then a county by county list of his favourite churhes, each listing being about 500 words. Considering the book covers 1000 listings there is enough information regarding the history and character of each. There are maps of each county and a few great photographs but by and large this is a book of words.Jenkins states that he is not a practising christian which could lay him open to accusations of tackling a subject rooted in feeling and awe from an all too practical point of view. His defense is found in his writting itself. A sense of love and respect for these buildings comes across as well as an informative and concise guide to the churches he covers.
Whether you use the book as source material for research, have a general interest in the history of churches in England or use it to plan days out, Jenkins book is a useful addition to any book shelf. You will never need another book of its kind again.