A Christmas list is a long-standing tradition among my family ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous (by this I mean expensive!) Every year my list gets shorter and less varied, to the point this year where it is just a short roll call of books that I will inevitably buy myself anyway. These will be added to the dozens of others that lie around my house waiting to be read one day in the far-off future.
I don’t see this bibliomania as a bad thing. I love books, not just for reading but as items of beauty, knowledge and a repository of the wonders of human endeavour. My great- great- grandfather read over 20,000 books in his lifetime, a target that I keep in mind every time I finish the last line of my latest tome. Perhaps this is why I love the ‘ A Short History of …’ book series so much!
With Christmas fast approaching, I thought I might just make a short list of church-related books that I have read and loved, as a present suggestion for any last-minute shopping. There are many, many more excellent books that I cannot list here. What I have compiled is simply a few that I love and can heartily recommend.
The Guide to Norfolk Churches by D.P. Mortlock and C.V. Roberts
The Lutterworth Press, 2017
When I go out church wandering, this is the book I always have with me. It is a comprehensive list of the medieval churches, and many modern ones, that scatter this county. The other great reference book is Pevsner, but I find it a bit too dry and academic. Mortlock is certainly serious and learned, but at the same time you can sense his feelings for a particular church, the ones he really likes and the details he finds most interesting.
His entries are generally formulaic, but never boring. He usually starts with a description of the exterior of the church and its chronological evolution before moving inside and working his way through the fixtures and fittings, highlighting things and people of particular interest. The entries vary in length, often surprisingly long for seemingly run-of-the-mill churches and jarringly short for some beauties such as Salthouse or Ranworth. The glossary is almost a book in itself and packed with information that is very useful to the layman. The appendices give great details on the saints to whom the churches are dedicated and the different styles of architecture. Overall, this is a must-have book for anyone interested in Norfolk’s churches.
A Little History of the English Country Church by Roy Strong
Vintage 2008
Sir Roy Strong is one of the cultural giants of the last 50 years: an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has served as director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This small, intensely readable book is a narrative history of the English church from the earliest days through to the present.
Perfect as an entry-level book on the turbulent history of the church in England, it explains beautifully how these changes impacted both communities and buildings. For the church enthusiast, a familiarity with the liturgical changes, explained so well here, is a vital tool for understanding and enjoying the churches you visit, and for visualising what they once looked like. The book also has a surprisingly good number of illustrations that accompany Strong’s flowing prose.
The King’s England: Norfolk by Arthur Mee.
Hodder & Stoughton 1943
This wonderful book has been my find of the year – rich in history, full of detail and slightly bonkers. It is one of Arthur Mee’s celebrated series of forty-three volumes from the 1940s, and the writing and style strongly evoke this age. The A-Z place entries are full of details of churches, towns, buildings of interest and evocative descriptions of historical figures.
The style of writing is particularly unusual to the modern eye, and all the better for it. Undoubtedly some of the information is dated and sometimes inaccurate, but this is superseded by the wonderful prose and rich cast of characters so vividly described. We are introduced to a long-gone era where Thetford Forest was just starting to grow, where many of the great houses were still standing and lived in by families who are now National Trust tenants. All this is supported by a good number of excellent black and white photographs. Although out of print, second-hand copies are easy to come by and inexpensive.
Church Going – A Stonemason’s Guide to the Churches of the British Isles
by Andrew Ziminski
Profile Books 2024
Andrew Ziminski’s book is a love story to British churches written by a man who has lived and worked on a multitude of these historical buildings. Having worked for decades as a stonemason and conservator, his passion for his subject imbues every sentence in this delightful book.
A cross-over between a guidebook of church heritage and a social history, we are led through a plethora of church features from flying buttresses to rood screens, medieval graffiti to lychgates. Ziminski writes with real affection and deep knowledge, and the prose is easily accessible, often humorous and clearly divided into manageable chapters.
Steeple Chasing by Peter Ross
Headline Publishing Group 2023
Peter Ross is simply a master craftsman, whose powerful writing is full of colour and characters that transports you into an almost dreamlike world of churches and sacred sites frequented by a long list of fascinating people. It is a travelogue, not just about buildings, but also the environment they’re set in and the people who use and care for them.
As in his other writings, Ross has the capacity to eke out the extraordinary in the seemingly mundane. For example, his descriptions of the cat who lived in Southwark Cathedral are humorous, informative and deeply evocative. Written against the backdrop of Covid-19, ‘Steeple Chasing’ is a brilliant, warm and wonderfully atmospheric book.
To finish, I would highly recommend that if you want to buy one of these great books, you do so in one of our excellent local bookshops. In fact, I would encourage you to buy all your books locally! Here are the details of my local two shops:
The Holt Bookshop, Lion House Court, 26a High Street, Holt, NR25 6BH
01263 715858, sales@holtbookshop.co.uk, www.holtbookshop.co.uk
The Book Hive, 18 Red Lion Street, Aylsham, NR11 6ER, 01263 479275,
aylsham@thebookhive.co.uk, www.thebookhive.co.uk/aylsham-shop
Wishing you all a very happy Christmas!
Rob Gladstone December 2025
