Decorated in glory: exploring later-medieval churches in Herefordshire

Churches are what archaeologists call ‘persistent sites’, places used for the same purpose for centuries, even millennia. But that does not mean the churches themselves are static: they represent the accretion of various building interventions of many different kinds and dates. None are richer in art and architecture, though, than those from the period we call ‘Decorated’, as Nigel Saul’s new survey of 14th-century Herefordshire church buildings demonstrates. Current Archaeology's Chris Catling reports.

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Current Archaeology

November 17, 2020

We tend to think of churches as the quintessence of timelessness. In reality, they have only become so as a result of an uncomfortable truce between conservation practice and the desire for change. Any material transformation to church fabric or furnishings today requires a ‘faculty’, which is carefully scrutinised by the members of Diocesan Advisory Committees made up of clergy and various kinds of expert – archaeological, architectural, and art historical – as well as specialists in such fields as stained glass, organs, funerary monuments, bells, and natural history. Many people complain about the cost and effort of getting faculty approval to alter a church, but change still happe

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