Publisher's Synopsis
This book is the fifth in a series on Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, which will ultimately extend to the twenty-first century. The period covered by this volume is one of tumultuous change, a series of reformations, unique to each country, seeing the destruction of the medieval cultural legacy through iconoclasm and warfare. As religious beliefs and forms of service changed, so church interiors underwent radical transformations, with expensive ebbs and flows of creativity, destruction, and fresh creativity. Many cathedrals and former monastic houses were either adapted to the new circumstances or demolished, and most new buildings tended towards classicalism and simplicity. An entirely new development saw the advent of nonconformist congregations with their own spiritual needs and tastes, and the arrival of Jewish communities in the Commonwealth period. The period covered by the book finishes with the new government of Willia
