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REVIEW BY MATTHEW CHAMPION
It is no surprise that any study of early English stone churches should focus on the county of Norfolk. With in excess of 650 medieval churches surviving to this day, the county is a microcosm of the building traditions of the 11th and 12th centuries. As a former County Archaeologist, Peter Wade-Martins brings to this study an almost unrivalled wealth of knowledge and experience. Perhaps refreshingly, this work approaches the subject from the perspective of a field archaeologist rather than an architectural historian, cataloguing and examining the use of iron-bound conglomerates, reused Roman material, and grey quartzite stone – all recognised indicators of an early construction date – in the churches that survive today. The result is an authoritative examination of the county’s early construction trends and the geology that drove them, accompanied by a lavishly illustrated and extensive site catalogue. As the author states, the work may not be definitive, but it does represent a fascinating and informative collecting-together of the story so far.
In Search of Norfolk’s First Stone Churches
Peter Wade-Martins
BAR Publishing, £52
ISBN 978-1407361390
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