Dec 15, 2025
I have a bit of a thing about balusters and balustrades. The ones we are familiar with today came about in the Renaissance and were eagerly adopted by the builders of country houses and other monumental buildings in England. They are part of the ‘neo-classical...
Oct 9, 2025
Chantries of Bishop Richard Fox & Bishop Stephen Gardiner Flanking the old shrine of St Swithin and the feretory platform at Winchester are two chantries belonging to the first half of the 16th Century. One displays the height of mastery of the late Perpendicular...
Aug 27, 2025
In Winchester Cathedral are six free-standing chantries dating from the mid-14th C to the mid-16th C. They provide an interesting comparison of Perpendicular micro-architecture over two hundred years, demonstrating the innovative and master accomplishment of medieval...
Mar 5, 2025
Medieval Winchester is still very much in evidence in the way it is laid out. The city’s grid system of streets developed from what was laid out in the late 9th C.[i] Although many buildings have disappeared and new ones built in subsequent periods, there those still...
Sep 9, 2024
The second of the Dorset churches on my August ‘church crawl’ (as John Betjeman would have called such a quest) is just over 3 miles east from Bere Regis in Dorset. A turning off the A31 leads to the settlement of Winterborne Tomson. In a field by a farm is the Church...
Jul 24, 2024
The subject for the dissertation for my master’s degree was on Late-Tudor & Early-Stuart Gatehouses in Central Southwest England. The study of them introduced me to the ‘shell-headed alcove’ or ‘niche’. Several of them have the feature built into them. They are at...
