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Architecture

Dorset's Best Churches

SPECIAL OFFER - REDUCED PRICES:
HARDBACK FROM £20 to £9.95

The parish church is one of England's greatest glories, and Dorset contains a superb assortment of some of the most celebrated - from humble country churches on the edge of farmyards to some of England's most famous abbey and priory churches.

Those familiar with Dorset will have their own favourite church, but this selection of 66 of the 'best' of them by the distinguished writer Brendan Lehane will disappoint no one. Some have Saxon origins, a few are Victorian masterpieces, some are in High Streets, many are set amidst some of the most beautiful countryside in the county.

First and foremost Dorset's churches are places of worship but, as Brendan Lehane says in his introduction, their 'walls remember a thousand years of colourful history and personal dramas.' They tell the story of these islands in stone and glass and timber. They have survived plague, fire, the Reformation, Civil War, the threat of invasion, over-zealous 19th century 'restoration', and are today justly enjoyed and visited. Their towers and spires may make them visible reminders of our architectural heritage, but they contain much of our finest vernacular art - from box pews to stained glass, medieval effigies to homely Tudor and Georgian monuments.

Always readable, often surprising, Dorset's Best Churches is illustrated throughout with nearly 200 specially commissioned colour photographs. There is also a Glossary and a list of Significant Dates.

BRENDAN LEHANE

Hardback, 176 pages, ISBN 1 904349 41 2
REDUCED FROM £20 to £9.95

£9.95

Dorset Stone

Dorset's stone is justifiably the most celebrated in Britain.

To Portland Freestone we owe St Paul's Cathedral and the Cenotaph. Purbeck Marble has enriched the cathedrals and churches of Europe, and both stones have been exported all over the world.

Yet Dorset's wealth of stone is best reflected in its own historic buildings - cottages and farmhouses as well as medieval churches and the many manor houses for which the county is famous. Dorset's stones were formed between 200 and 35 million years ago, beginning at the start of the Jurassic period. Each has its own individual character, reflecting the underlying geology of the hundreds of small quarries from which they came. If the Portland and Purbeck limestones are the best known, Dorset's other stones are equally distinctive: rust-coloured Heathstones from the east, the unusual Greensand from the north. The open downland in the heart of the county is distinguished by its flint mixed with other stones or brick. The honey-coloured villages of the Blackmore Vale were built from dozens of small now overgrown quarries. The west is celebrated for Forest Marble - grey and hard - and the softer warmer cream and orange of the Inferior Oolite, as well as the fossil-rich Blue Lias limestones.

This is a book written by a geologist and Dorset's foremost authority on its building stones and quarries. Scholarly, readable, often surprising and full of fascinating detail, it provides the key to the pattern of building across the county. As well as including a list of the building stones used in each parish in the county, and nearly 200 maps, diagrams and photographs, the author has included close-ups of the various stones, some greatly magnified to show the subtle differences between them.

JO THOMAS

Paperback

128 pages, 200 colour maps, diagrams & photographs, full colour cover

ISBN 978-1-904-34963-1

£17.95

The Manor Houses of Dorset

Dorset's manor houses are one of its greatest glories and a high quality illustrated book on them has long been overdue. The authors have spent seven years researching and writing the text, which is illustrated with 200 specially commissioned colour photographs and nearly 100 engravings, portraits, watercolours and drawings.

Once the hub of a self-sufficient rural community, their fortunes have varied. Some are still lived in by the descendants of those who built them, others have become modest farmhouses. A handful have endured partial demolition, whilst restoration by recent owners has given others a new lease of life, ushering in a golden age the equal of any in the past.

Dorset's manor houses also chart the lives of those who have lived in them. Love affairs, contested wills, now forgotten gentry happiest in the saddle, imprisonment for debt, the tragedy of war, extravagance, even murder - the rich ebb and flow of human weaknesses and strengths breathes vigorous life into The Manor Houses of Dorset.

UNA RUSSELL AND AUDREY GRINDROD

Hardback, 288 pages

ISBN 978-1-904-34952-5

£25.00

Towns

Dorset's towns are the fortunate survivors of a once much larger number of urban settlements.

Bere Regis, Cerne Abbas, Charmouth, Corfe Castle, Cranborne, Milton Abbas, Stalbridge - all once were towns, with markets and fairs, even MPs, yet none today is much more than a large village. The story of Dorset's towns and coastal ports spans 2000 years, from Roman Dorchester to Victorian Bournemouth. Some, like the Nova Villa on the shores of Poole Harbour, were doomed from the start. Others owe their success to the patronage of the crown or arrival of the railway. Trade, religion, war, plague, fire and flood have shaped their streets and the lives of their inhabitants. The ebb and flow of their histories is the story of Dorset itself.

JOHN PORTER

Paperback

88 pages, illustrated throughout, full colour cover

ISBN 978-1-904-34956-3

£4.95