Volume Six, 'Places of Worship' Series



The sixth in a book series on places of worship in Britain and Ireland focuses on a period of relative calm after the radical changes during the previous reformations and civil wars.

Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1689-1829, contains 11 essays and is edited by P. S. Barnwell (FSA), senior tutor and former Director of Studies in Architectural History, and Mark Smith, Director of Studies in Local History. The series is published by Shaun Tyas.

A period of relative calm

The dates in the book’s title are set by the Act of Toleration from the new government of William and Mary and the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. The period saw a renewed emphasis on auditory worship, preaching, and a new social conscience marked by educational and welfare initiatives and a desire to build churches in every locality.

The architecture of the period is marked by simplicity, some geometrical experiments and an eclectic mix of styles for details, mostly classical or vernacular, but the first stirrings of the Gothic Revival also appeared here.

The volume contains eleven essays:

  • Mark Smith provides a general overview
  • John Harper on worship and music
  • W. M. Jacobs on Anglican churches 1689-1790
  • Christopher Webster on Anglican churches 1790-1840
  • William Roulston on Irish places of worship
  • Richard Fawcett on Scottish developments
  • Christopher Wakeling on chapel building in the age of Methodism
  • Ann-Marie Akehurst on Quaker meeting houses
  • Roderick O’Donnell on new Catholic places of worship
  • Sharman Kadish on the Georgian synagogue
  • P. S. Barnwell concludes with a detailed essay emphasising that despite denominational diversity the period was united by the ministry of the Word and by a similarity of architectural forms.

For more information on Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 1689-1829 and to purchase directly from the publisher, please email Shaun Tyas directly; the book is also available on Amazon.

Shaun Tyas: shaun@shauntyas.myzen.co.uk

Photo: Bristol, New Room. Methodist. Copyright C. Wakeling.

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Published 19 August 2021