While providing an historical background to each period, Lucy Archer’s study is not so much a history of early British architecture as a near-exhaustive guide to the secular and religious buildings from the Saxon, Norman and Medieval periods that survive and can be visited. Three hundred black and white photographs by the late Edwin Smith, selected by his widow Olive Cook, a glossary of architectural terms and a gazetteer covering thousands of sites in Britain and Ireland make this an invaluable work of reference as well as an invitation to travel and to discover. This beautifully-produced book, the first of Lucy Archer’s projected three-volume survey and the result of a life-long study of the subject, is a work that will be of inestimable value to anyone with an interest in architecture, from the professional architect to the general reader keen to know more about Britain’s heritage.
