Church-crawl
Allan Maclean
C taying with friends used to entail filling L.3in a column in the Visitors' Book titled Remarks, which could embarrass both departing visitor and host. Visitors' Books have survived longer in parish churches, a relic perhaps of days when Church visiting was a more possible, if not a more popular, pastime. Usually there is a remarks column too which shows what interests the casual visitor; Beautiful Church or Lovely At- mosphere being more usual than Fine Sedilia.
The rural railway network, the Red Guides and then the inexpensive motor-car all made touring popular, including a visit to a parish church. The enthusiast would know about different periods of architec- ture, while the ecclesiastical detective would delight in a piscina, rood loft or Easter Sepulchre. Some addicts would comment about the parson's churchmanship, which they would think they could guess from in- specting the building. For most 'people, however, a church visit was a way of ex- periencing the atmosphere and history of a country place, as a thousand years of building and rural history, and a century of restoration and conservation, combined in the ancient parish church.
Today such simple enjoyment appears to be far less possible as ecclesiastical authorities amalgamate parishes, lock chur- ches, modernise interiors and sweep away tombstones. Church buildings are defended as being merely 'shelters for the People of God, liturgically in action', and the visitor finds it easier to pay his pound and go to see the manor or castle next door.
In no other country do so many ancient parish churches survive. They take up a large part of Pevsner's The Buildings of England and there are several other modern authoritative guides. Sir William Addison
however strikes a new line by giving an ac- count of the distinctive local styles that mark the various regions of England. Sir William describes the features of design and style which differentiate area from area, and county from county. Some distinctions are so obvious we take them for granted, as the use of stone, or flint or timber, but there are many others that are usually overlooked in a quest for pinpointing Nor- man, Early English or Perpendicular style. Well known are the fine series of church towers in Somerset, the series of octagonal towers in Cambridgeshire, the simplicity of Lakeland churches, but Sir William has also drawn attention to the less well known. Some counties have more churches with a central tower than a western tower, graceful spires than plain bell-cotes, apses than square sanctuaries, screens with rood lofts than open chancel arches.
Having established these differences, Sir William goes on to attempt to account for them. The book is a well-produced piece of historical detection. There are obvious reasons for some of the differences, the availability of building material, the quality of the stone and its durability; but other distinctions are thought to come from the style of the Cathedral of the diocese, or another prominent building, the liturgical tradition of Celt or Continent, the finances of parishoners or patron, the urge to build a grander building than a neighbouring church, or the rock-like assurance of Nor- man society and faith which disliked Saxon and preferred stone structures. The dif- ferences in building style and design are largely ,rooted in local history, and Sir William is admirably equipped to show these changes with his knowledge and in- terest in local history and the English coun- try parson.
The great period of church building end- ed at the Reformation and thereafter it was an era of internal liturgical rearrangement. What post-Reformation building was undertaken, was largely replaced in later restorations. The advent of the professional architect with his interest in pure style, be it classical or gothic, and the influence of the patrons who could employ the best ar- chitect, meant the virtual end of distinctive local style in church architecture, though Sir William does mention the Commis- sioners' churches of the early 19th century, and the unusual cast-iron tracery in other Lancashire churches.
The fine selection of photographs and easily read text assist Sir William as a profi- cient guide on his journey round England's unique heritage of parish churches, but I regret that the index is incomplete as a guide of this type needs to be a reference book too. It contains several interesting literary associations with individual chur- ches as well as personal anecdote, ranging from his namesake's description in Spec- tator No 106 of Sir Roger de Coverley's re- quirements for a parson, to Sir William's own sadness at the way in which the Authorised Version and the 1662 Prayer Book are discarded.
He expresses well his concern for the future by saying 'Let us hope that the discarding of hallowed language is not to be followed, by the discarding of hallowed buildings'; for the parish church is at the heart of the continuous history of the English Church, and is the distinctive ele- ment of every country village from its first settlement.
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