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The Pinecone
A thrilling portrait of Sara Losh, a forgotten architectural genius of the nineteenth century
In the village of Wreay, near Carlisle, stands the strangest and most magical church in Victorian England. Jenny Uglow’s The Pinecone tells the story of its builder, Sarah Losh, strong-willed and passionate and unusual in every way. Born into an old Cumbrian family, heiress to an industrial fortune, Losh combined a zest for progress with a love of the past. In the church, her masterpiece, she let her imagination flower—there are carvings of ammonites, scarabs, and poppies; an arrow pierces the wall as if shot from a bow; a tortoise gargoyle launches itself into the air. And everywhere there are pinecones, her signature in stone. The church is a dramatic rendering of the power of myth and the great natural cycles of life, death, and rebirth.
Losh’s story is also that of her radical family—friends of Wordsworth and Coleridge; of the love between sisters, and the life of a village; of the struggle of weavers, the coming of railways, the findings of geology, and the fate of a young northern soldier in the Anglo-Afghan War. Above all, though, it is about the joy of making and the skill of unsung local craftsmen.
In the village of Wreay, near Carlisle, stands the strangest and most magical church in Victorian England. Jenny Uglow’s The Pinecone tells the story of its builder, Sarah Losh, strong-willed and passionate and unusual in every way. Born into an old Cumbrian family, heiress to an industrial fortune, Losh combined a zest for progress with a love of the past. In the church, her masterpiece, she let her imagination flower—there are carvings of ammonites, scarabs, and poppies; an arrow pierces the wall as if shot from a bow; a tortoise gargoyle launches itself into the air. And everywhere there are pinecones, her signature in stone. The church is a dramatic rendering of the power of myth and the great natural cycles of life, death, and rebirth.
Losh’s story is also that of her radical family—friends of Wordsworth and Coleridge; of the love between sisters, and the life of a village; of the struggle of weavers, the coming of railways, the findings of geology, and the fate of a young northern soldier in the Anglo-Afghan War. Above all, though, it is about the joy of making and the skill of unsung local craftsmen.
488 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2012
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About the author
Jenny Uglow
43 books138 followersJennifer Sheila Uglow OBE (née Crowther, born 1947) is a British biographer, critic and publisher. The editorial director of Chatto & Windus, she has written critically acclaimed biographies of Elizabeth Gaskell, William Hogarth, Thomas Bewick and the Lunar Society, among others, and has also compiled a women's biographical dictionary.
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January 11, 2019Wow, well. An enjoyable book to read, although it slips between genres and avoids the convenience of catagorisation.
It is kind of about Sarah Losh, a Cumbrian landowner of the nineteenth century who was responsible for the construction (or reconstruction) of St.Mary's Church, Wreay, hailed by Nikolaus Pevsner as the finest church in Cumbria, Losh might have been the Architect (though not formally or legally at the time), or Project Manager (in contemporary parlance) , she was certainly one of the artisans - carving some of the alabaster decorations herself. Well the church takes up some of the space in the book, but not a huge chunk of it. It is not a biography of Sarah Losh, nor can it be, because Losh had the foresight to destroy and dispose of most of her personal papers, so what the book is in effect is a lot of context, firstly about the Losh family and their social web (which touched on William Wordsworth, Rossetti, and the business world of Newcastle upon Tyne) also the village of Wreay - some miles to the south of Carlisle which is by the border with Scotland in North-west England. So we might view this a regional history of northern Cumbria in the first half of the nineteenth century centred on the self obscured person of Sarah Losh. For non-Cumbrians, such as myself and I suspect, most of the world's population, it is still a very entertaining piece of non-fiction.
Uglow writes that she was familiar with the church at Wreay as a girl, her implicit argument is the form and unique decoration of the church can be understood in the context of the mental world of Sarah Losh: her Wordsworthan dedication to the humble and rural in the use of local building materials, travels on Italy reflected in the shape of the building, the contemporary discoveries of fossil plants and animals - whose forms and shapes were used in the decoration of the church (its iconography really did not conform to Christian norms), and pre-Christian symbolism particularly the pinecone that provides the title for the book as symbol of regeneration - used by the Freemasons in her era.
Since Losh's papers were destroyed, or as Uglow hopes merely lost, quite how this all fitted together is anybody's guess, several in Losh's family were Unitarians, and she made use of a Jewish lamp as well as a lotus flower in the decorative scheme too. William Paley who in Natural Theology put forward the famous or infamous argument that if you found an ingeniously made watch you would naturally infer the existence of a watchmaker, was part of the social circle of the Losh family and Sarah seems to have had a fairly complete collection of his works - Uglow happily points out that [author David Hume] writing before Palley pointed out that such arguments don't resolve anything, they just kick the philosophical can down the road, however there doesn't seem to be any evidence of the Loshes engaging with Hume or his writings it seems that it was Palley who was winning hearts and minds among the intellectually curious in Northern Britain in the early nineteenth century, the decorative scheme then of the church may be an illustration both of what is now styled 'Intelligent Design' with a splash of Unitarianism rather than the Anglicanism of the parish and ecclesiastical to which the church of St. Mary's at Wreay belonged. Well on the one hand since Sarah Loss paid for the work and engaged the artisans and volunteer labour from the village, she did as she pleased. On the other since her papers are not available, it's all an inference as much as Paley's. The church and Miss Losh's other constructions - a 'druidic' style mausoleum for her sister, a grave plot for her family, and an obelisk are a set of puzzles whose solution is long buried, but which make for an interesting book.
It is kind of about Sarah Losh, a Cumbrian landowner of the nineteenth century who was responsible for the construction (or reconstruction) of St.Mary's Church, Wreay, hailed by Nikolaus Pevsner as the finest church in Cumbria, Losh might have been the Architect (though not formally or legally at the time), or Project Manager (in contemporary parlance) , she was certainly one of the artisans - carving some of the alabaster decorations herself. Well the church takes up some of the space in the book, but not a huge chunk of it. It is not a biography of Sarah Losh, nor can it be, because Losh had the foresight to destroy and dispose of most of her personal papers, so what the book is in effect is a lot of context, firstly about the Losh family and their social web (which touched on William Wordsworth, Rossetti, and the business world of Newcastle upon Tyne) also the village of Wreay - some miles to the south of Carlisle which is by the border with Scotland in North-west England. So we might view this a regional history of northern Cumbria in the first half of the nineteenth century centred on the self obscured person of Sarah Losh. For non-Cumbrians, such as myself and I suspect, most of the world's population, it is still a very entertaining piece of non-fiction.
Uglow writes that she was familiar with the church at Wreay as a girl, her implicit argument is the form and unique decoration of the church can be understood in the context of the mental world of Sarah Losh: her Wordsworthan dedication to the humble and rural in the use of local building materials, travels on Italy reflected in the shape of the building, the contemporary discoveries of fossil plants and animals - whose forms and shapes were used in the decoration of the church (its iconography really did not conform to Christian norms), and pre-Christian symbolism particularly the pinecone that provides the title for the book as symbol of regeneration - used by the Freemasons in her era.
Since Losh's papers were destroyed, or as Uglow hopes merely lost, quite how this all fitted together is anybody's guess, several in Losh's family were Unitarians, and she made use of a Jewish lamp as well as a lotus flower in the decorative scheme too. William Paley who in Natural Theology put forward the famous or infamous argument that if you found an ingeniously made watch you would naturally infer the existence of a watchmaker, was part of the social circle of the Losh family and Sarah seems to have had a fairly complete collection of his works - Uglow happily points out that [author David Hume] writing before Palley pointed out that such arguments don't resolve anything, they just kick the philosophical can down the road, however there doesn't seem to be any evidence of the Loshes engaging with Hume or his writings it seems that it was Palley who was winning hearts and minds among the intellectually curious in Northern Britain in the early nineteenth century, the decorative scheme then of the church may be an illustration both of what is now styled 'Intelligent Design' with a splash of Unitarianism rather than the Anglicanism of the parish and ecclesiastical to which the church of St. Mary's at Wreay belonged. Well on the one hand since Sarah Loss paid for the work and engaged the artisans and volunteer labour from the village, she did as she pleased. On the other since her papers are not available, it's all an inference as much as Paley's. The church and Miss Losh's other constructions - a 'druidic' style mausoleum for her sister, a grave plot for her family, and an obelisk are a set of puzzles whose solution is long buried, but which make for an interesting book.
February 9, 2020
This is a competent biography of the little known Sarah Losh who lived from 1786 to 1853. She spent most of her life in Wreay in Cumbria. She is now remembered for her design and construction of Wreay church which she managed and oversaw in detail. This was at a time when women could not be architects. She built other buildings and monuments in her local area which she designed herself. Her upbringing was unusual in that she was educated, her father believing in the education of women. She was fluent in French and Italian and translated Latin. She was allowed to travel and she and her sister Katherine travelled on the continent for a couple of years. Losh never married and lived with her sister. She inherited the family property and improved it. She was undoubtedly middle class, but like others of her class she provided for the poor in her area and built a school.
Losh was brought in a radical household, excited by the French Revolution, her family were friends with Wordsworth and the other romantic poets, including Coleridge. It is likely that she was one of the first people to hear “The Ancient Mariner”.
Losh’s Church is remarkable in that most of the traditional symbolism is completely missing or discretely hidden (on the backs of chairs for example). Instead the decorations are from the natural world, ammonites, ferns, butterflies, flowers, lotus flowers, pinecones (the universal symbol for fertility), a stork, eagles and much more. There are no saints in stained glass. As Uglow says:
“The gargoyles are turtles and dragons. Instead of saints and prophets, the window embrasures are carved with ammonites and coral, poppies and wheat, caterpillar and butterfly. Inside, the light is filtered through strange stained glass, bright leaves on black backgrounds, kaleidoscopic mosaics, alabaster cut-outs of fossils. The pulpit is a hollow tree trunk made from black oak, dug from the bog. An eagle and stork of ferocious energy hold up the lectern and reading desk and on the altar table, instead of a cross, are two candlesticks in the shape of the lotus, immortal flower of the East.”
Uglow takes note of the roots of the designs Losh employed and it also indicates the breadth of her reading and scholarship:
“Like a geologist demonstrating the strata of belief, she decorated the church with symbols that looked back to the earlier religions, myths and cults that lay buried beneath Christian imagery and ritual, as the wheat of Demeter and the grapes of Dionysus lay behind the bread and wine of the sacrament.”
Rossetti, when he saw it in the 1850s found it remarkable as did Pevsner many years later. Losh was influenced by her travels on the continent and the simpler architecture she found in Lombardy. She was very much not a fan of gothic architecture. Her family were also friendly with prominent Unitarians, which may have also influenced the lack of iconography. Another puzzle were several arrows stuck into the walls. Much has to remain a puzzle as Losh’s journals have not been found, so Uglow has to work around that gap.
This is also a story of sisters and Uglow draws a parallel with the Austen sisters. She also compares Losh to Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch. It is clear to me that had Losh been born later she would have been a remarkable and world renowned architect. We do have her church and some other buildings local to her and Uglow does a good job of charting herlife and accomplishments.
Losh was brought in a radical household, excited by the French Revolution, her family were friends with Wordsworth and the other romantic poets, including Coleridge. It is likely that she was one of the first people to hear “The Ancient Mariner”.
Losh’s Church is remarkable in that most of the traditional symbolism is completely missing or discretely hidden (on the backs of chairs for example). Instead the decorations are from the natural world, ammonites, ferns, butterflies, flowers, lotus flowers, pinecones (the universal symbol for fertility), a stork, eagles and much more. There are no saints in stained glass. As Uglow says:
“The gargoyles are turtles and dragons. Instead of saints and prophets, the window embrasures are carved with ammonites and coral, poppies and wheat, caterpillar and butterfly. Inside, the light is filtered through strange stained glass, bright leaves on black backgrounds, kaleidoscopic mosaics, alabaster cut-outs of fossils. The pulpit is a hollow tree trunk made from black oak, dug from the bog. An eagle and stork of ferocious energy hold up the lectern and reading desk and on the altar table, instead of a cross, are two candlesticks in the shape of the lotus, immortal flower of the East.”
Uglow takes note of the roots of the designs Losh employed and it also indicates the breadth of her reading and scholarship:
“Like a geologist demonstrating the strata of belief, she decorated the church with symbols that looked back to the earlier religions, myths and cults that lay buried beneath Christian imagery and ritual, as the wheat of Demeter and the grapes of Dionysus lay behind the bread and wine of the sacrament.”
Rossetti, when he saw it in the 1850s found it remarkable as did Pevsner many years later. Losh was influenced by her travels on the continent and the simpler architecture she found in Lombardy. She was very much not a fan of gothic architecture. Her family were also friendly with prominent Unitarians, which may have also influenced the lack of iconography. Another puzzle were several arrows stuck into the walls. Much has to remain a puzzle as Losh’s journals have not been found, so Uglow has to work around that gap.
This is also a story of sisters and Uglow draws a parallel with the Austen sisters. She also compares Losh to Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch. It is clear to me that had Losh been born later she would have been a remarkable and world renowned architect. We do have her church and some other buildings local to her and Uglow does a good job of charting herlife and accomplishments.
March 16, 2013
I really can't remember where I first learned about The Pinecone, but I am so very glad that I did, that I met a remarkable woman who lived in Georgian England and created an extraordinary church.
Sarah Losh's own voice is missing, because none of her letters and journals survive, and yet Jenny Uglow has still found the resources to create a compelling story of her life, her times, her world, and most of all the church that she created
The story is well served by the distance that brings. It gives clarity, and it keeps the focus on the course of her life and work rather than particular details and incidents.
She was born in 1786, the daughter of a Cumberland Squire. Her family had made a fortune in industry; they were politically radical; they were religious dissenters; they took a great interest in art and culture; and they were deeply involved in the life of their community.
All of that meant that Sarah & her sister, Katharine, had the best of upbringings. They attended balls and receptions, they mixed with all manner of interesting people, they travelled, and they had the freedom to determine how they would live their lived.
Neither sister chose to marry and they lived their lives together, in the family home that they would inherit from their father. They were close, and both were happy with the path they had chosen. Sarah loved to read and she had a deep and abiding interest in history. She continued to travel, and as she did her interest in architecture, and especially in the style she saw in Italy & France, grew.
Both sisters were involved in the running of their estate and in the affairs of their village. That involvement came from an understanding of the privileged position they had been given, and genuine caring for the people around them.
When the local graveyard was full they gave more space from their own land. Sarah designed a chapel to be built there, inspired by a recent visit to a Cornish Chapel. She wanted to employ local craftsmen, to use traditional materials and method, and to create something for her community.
That was her first work, and the same principle would underpin all of her work, culminating in the extraordinary church she built at Wreay.
Katherine had died and her church became everything to her. She drew on all she knew about architecture, all that she had seen on her travels, all that she had studied, to create that church. It was a simple, classical building richly adorned with carvings, stained glass and statues, drawn from nature and from legend, and from far and wide. Trees, angels, lotus flowers, snakes, eagles, pine cones ....
In 1869, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, staying with friends near Carlisle, reported in a letter to his mother that he had come across ‘some most remarkable architectural works by a former Miss Losh. She must have been really a great genius,’ he wrote, ‘and should be better known.’
She should.
Jenny Uglow puts the creation of Sarah's church at the centre of her story, but she also tells the bigger story. The story of her family, and the story of her age. An age when lives were still being lived as they had for centuries but change was coming. Industry, science, railways ...
And she draws some interesting parallels, between Sarah and Katherine Losh and Jane and Cassandra Austen; and between Sarah Losh and Dorothea Brooke.
All of these strands are woven together perfectly, and the story is told beautifully, and with obvious love.
"The gargoyles are turtles and dragons. Instead of saints and prophets, the window embrasures are carved with ammonites and coral, poppies and wheat, caterpillar and butterfly. Inside, the light is filtered through strange stained glass, bright leaves on black backgrounds, kaleidoscopic mosaics, alabaster cut-outs of fossils. The pulpit is a hollow tree trunk made from black oak, dug from the bog. An eagle and stork of ferocious energy hold up the lectern and reading desk and on the altar table, instead of a cross, are two candlesticks in the shape of the lotus, immortal flower of the East."
Sarah Losh's own voice is missing, because none of her letters and journals survive, and yet Jenny Uglow has still found the resources to create a compelling story of her life, her times, her world, and most of all the church that she created
The story is well served by the distance that brings. It gives clarity, and it keeps the focus on the course of her life and work rather than particular details and incidents.
She was born in 1786, the daughter of a Cumberland Squire. Her family had made a fortune in industry; they were politically radical; they were religious dissenters; they took a great interest in art and culture; and they were deeply involved in the life of their community.
All of that meant that Sarah & her sister, Katharine, had the best of upbringings. They attended balls and receptions, they mixed with all manner of interesting people, they travelled, and they had the freedom to determine how they would live their lived.
Neither sister chose to marry and they lived their lives together, in the family home that they would inherit from their father. They were close, and both were happy with the path they had chosen. Sarah loved to read and she had a deep and abiding interest in history. She continued to travel, and as she did her interest in architecture, and especially in the style she saw in Italy & France, grew.
Both sisters were involved in the running of their estate and in the affairs of their village. That involvement came from an understanding of the privileged position they had been given, and genuine caring for the people around them.
When the local graveyard was full they gave more space from their own land. Sarah designed a chapel to be built there, inspired by a recent visit to a Cornish Chapel. She wanted to employ local craftsmen, to use traditional materials and method, and to create something for her community.
That was her first work, and the same principle would underpin all of her work, culminating in the extraordinary church she built at Wreay.
Katherine had died and her church became everything to her. She drew on all she knew about architecture, all that she had seen on her travels, all that she had studied, to create that church. It was a simple, classical building richly adorned with carvings, stained glass and statues, drawn from nature and from legend, and from far and wide. Trees, angels, lotus flowers, snakes, eagles, pine cones ....
In 1869, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, staying with friends near Carlisle, reported in a letter to his mother that he had come across ‘some most remarkable architectural works by a former Miss Losh. She must have been really a great genius,’ he wrote, ‘and should be better known.’
She should.
Jenny Uglow puts the creation of Sarah's church at the centre of her story, but she also tells the bigger story. The story of her family, and the story of her age. An age when lives were still being lived as they had for centuries but change was coming. Industry, science, railways ...
And she draws some interesting parallels, between Sarah and Katherine Losh and Jane and Cassandra Austen; and between Sarah Losh and Dorothea Brooke.
All of these strands are woven together perfectly, and the story is told beautifully, and with obvious love.
May 15, 2020
It's hard to write a biography of a woman who burned much of the material that would help the research get close to her. Uglow's biography instead provides a mass of material on Losh's family in times. Sometimes this is fascinating, but I tended to drown in the details. However, the chapters about Losh's church and photos were fascinating.
I have to admit I skimmed some of the details about the alkali business, but I enjoyed this biography even more the second time through. Losh's enormous energy as a benefactress and her unique and erudite approach to spirituality came through more powerfully as did the love and curiosity that fires Uglow's research and writing.
I have to admit I skimmed some of the details about the alkali business, but I enjoyed this biography even more the second time through. Losh's enormous energy as a benefactress and her unique and erudite approach to spirituality came through more powerfully as did the love and curiosity that fires Uglow's research and writing.
August 15, 2014
This is a First Reads for me - I won this as a Giveaway.
I was intrigued about this woman - another Sarah living a life in another time, building a very unusual church before women could officially be architects.
The idea was more romantic than the actual writing down of it. The illustrations in the book were very helpful, but larger pictures would have helped me visualize this church better. I struggled with really seeing this church in my mind with all of the odd and unique designs.
This book was filled with characters and I struggled with that, also. I was grateful for the family tree that was included in the book, but I never was able to get the names straight and really remember who was what. There seemed to be a lot of filler in the book. Good in the sense the author was trying to give us background of the times, but there was often so much information that I found myself drifting in and out as I'm reading through this.
I enjoy non-fiction. Non-fiction can be a bit difficult to read but informative, and I like to read about things I did not even know existed - like this church, for instance. However, I had a hard time following the story of Sarah Losh. So much of her life history was lost when she burned her papers before her death and the author went into detail about other people in her life to make up for this shortage. I'm also not British and I struggled with the places, trying to figure out where exactly this place is and where all these other towns are. There is a map and I studied it, but it wasn't enough for me.
At the end, I was still confused about what exactly this church was like and who all of these people were and I had difficulty getting through all of it.
I was intrigued about this woman - another Sarah living a life in another time, building a very unusual church before women could officially be architects.
The idea was more romantic than the actual writing down of it. The illustrations in the book were very helpful, but larger pictures would have helped me visualize this church better. I struggled with really seeing this church in my mind with all of the odd and unique designs.
This book was filled with characters and I struggled with that, also. I was grateful for the family tree that was included in the book, but I never was able to get the names straight and really remember who was what. There seemed to be a lot of filler in the book. Good in the sense the author was trying to give us background of the times, but there was often so much information that I found myself drifting in and out as I'm reading through this.
I enjoy non-fiction. Non-fiction can be a bit difficult to read but informative, and I like to read about things I did not even know existed - like this church, for instance. However, I had a hard time following the story of Sarah Losh. So much of her life history was lost when she burned her papers before her death and the author went into detail about other people in her life to make up for this shortage. I'm also not British and I struggled with the places, trying to figure out where exactly this place is and where all these other towns are. There is a map and I studied it, but it wasn't enough for me.
At the end, I was still confused about what exactly this church was like and who all of these people were and I had difficulty getting through all of it.
February 22, 2013
‘She must have been a really great genius, and should be better known.’ (Dante Gabriel Rossetti, letter to his mother, 1869)
On Candlemas Eve in 1836, the Twelve Men of Wreay met to consider Miss Losh’s request to make improvements on the road through Wreay where it passes the church and burial ground, to expand the churchyard. Miss Sarah Losh, then aged 50 and unmarried, was the largest landowner and wealthiest resident in her part of Cumbria, near Carlisle and close to the border with Scotland.
Miss Losh’s petition was successful, and six years later she constructed a new church of yellow sandstone. While the style of this new church, called St Mary’s, anticipated the Romanesque revival, it incorporated symbolism from different pasts: turtles and dragons were gargoyles, an eagle perched on top of the belfry, and the interior included ‘strange stained glass, bright leaves on black backgrounds, kaleidoscopic mosaics, alabaster cut-outs of fossils.’ There are snakes and tortoises, lotus flowers and pomegranates. And everywhere there were pinecones - ‘an ancient symbol of regeneration, fertility and inner enlightenment’ – carved onto the walls, into the roof beams and on the front door-latch.
‘To call herself an ‘architect’ would have been unthinkable: that was a man’s profession, and she was a woman and an amateur.’
We know what Miss Losh achieved, but not really why she did it. Miss Losh destroyed most of her personal papers, and the house she lived in has long been cleared of its contents.
In this biography, Ms Uglow writes that she first saw St Mary’s as a girl, and ‘years later crossing the road from the green in a haze of Cumbrian rain… I became curious about its creator’. Dante Gabriel Rossetti visited the church in 1869, sometime after Sarah Losh’s death, and described it as ‘full of beauty and imaginative detail, though extremely severe and simple’.
Sarah Losh (1785-1853) was the eldest of the three legitimate children of John Losh. John Losh himself was the eldest of four surviving brothers, who made their fortune in an alkali works, and then from iron foundries and railways. Sarah and her sister Katharine became their father’s heirs – examples, in Ms Uglow’s words of ‘how the industrial revolution made some women independent.’ Well, independent up to a point. In a different era, Sarah Losh might have designed and built cathedrals, but in 19th century Britain this could not be possible.
I found this book fascinating. I enjoy the way Ms Uglow writes (which was the main reason I picked up this book in the first place). In another place and time, Ms Losh might well have achieved more and different things. But St Mary’s, finished in 1842 with the Pennines to the east, and the mountains of the Lake District to the west, has its own mystery and charm. The photographs included in the book are a great adjunct to the text: I wanted to see and to know more about Sarah Losh and her work.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
On Candlemas Eve in 1836, the Twelve Men of Wreay met to consider Miss Losh’s request to make improvements on the road through Wreay where it passes the church and burial ground, to expand the churchyard. Miss Sarah Losh, then aged 50 and unmarried, was the largest landowner and wealthiest resident in her part of Cumbria, near Carlisle and close to the border with Scotland.
Miss Losh’s petition was successful, and six years later she constructed a new church of yellow sandstone. While the style of this new church, called St Mary’s, anticipated the Romanesque revival, it incorporated symbolism from different pasts: turtles and dragons were gargoyles, an eagle perched on top of the belfry, and the interior included ‘strange stained glass, bright leaves on black backgrounds, kaleidoscopic mosaics, alabaster cut-outs of fossils.’ There are snakes and tortoises, lotus flowers and pomegranates. And everywhere there were pinecones - ‘an ancient symbol of regeneration, fertility and inner enlightenment’ – carved onto the walls, into the roof beams and on the front door-latch.
‘To call herself an ‘architect’ would have been unthinkable: that was a man’s profession, and she was a woman and an amateur.’
We know what Miss Losh achieved, but not really why she did it. Miss Losh destroyed most of her personal papers, and the house she lived in has long been cleared of its contents.
In this biography, Ms Uglow writes that she first saw St Mary’s as a girl, and ‘years later crossing the road from the green in a haze of Cumbrian rain… I became curious about its creator’. Dante Gabriel Rossetti visited the church in 1869, sometime after Sarah Losh’s death, and described it as ‘full of beauty and imaginative detail, though extremely severe and simple’.
Sarah Losh (1785-1853) was the eldest of the three legitimate children of John Losh. John Losh himself was the eldest of four surviving brothers, who made their fortune in an alkali works, and then from iron foundries and railways. Sarah and her sister Katharine became their father’s heirs – examples, in Ms Uglow’s words of ‘how the industrial revolution made some women independent.’ Well, independent up to a point. In a different era, Sarah Losh might have designed and built cathedrals, but in 19th century Britain this could not be possible.
I found this book fascinating. I enjoy the way Ms Uglow writes (which was the main reason I picked up this book in the first place). In another place and time, Ms Losh might well have achieved more and different things. But St Mary’s, finished in 1842 with the Pennines to the east, and the mountains of the Lake District to the west, has its own mystery and charm. The photographs included in the book are a great adjunct to the text: I wanted to see and to know more about Sarah Losh and her work.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
February 13, 2013
Sarah Losh, a wealthy, bright and self-taught architect of 1830's England, sounds amazing. I'd like to know more about her. Even more so after finishing this book that told me so little about her. The book itself is painfully boring. It includes too much detail about general history of the time and not much about the heroine herself. Her family is more the focus of the story with their fortunes made in the Industrial Age and their progressive politics. But there is nothing personal about Sarah, her relationships, thoughts, or dreams. It is really not a book about her. And it's truly painfully boring.
August 28, 2017
I would call this a labour of love. Uglow was fascinated by Sarah Losh's chapel in Wreay (and rightly so!) and tried to solve the riddle that this untimely work by an architectural amateur poses to posterity. As sadly not much Sarah herself has written has survived, Uglow can only amass circumstantial proof of people and ideas that may well have influenced her via family, friends and publications. Much to her credit Uglow abstains from any assumptions or flights of fancy and stays firmly with facts.
June 15, 2014
I've been wading through this book one page at a time for weeks. It is a wonderful sleeping pill.
Really, for folks who live in and around Carlisle, and Wreay, and Newcastle, this would be a wonderful book of local history and lore. But for someone planted on the beaches of California, hoping to be inspired by the life, thinking, art and daring of Sarah Losh, the book falls short. I was mired in backstory, family histories and details that didn't interest me. I wanted a deeper look into her own daily life, and just a lot fewer words...
I made it almost all the way to the end and then just gave up. Maybe I'm missing the very best part? Oh, well. On to the next book. Goodbye, Miss Losh, and hope to stumble into the region someday and visit the fascinating church at Wreay.
Really, for folks who live in and around Carlisle, and Wreay, and Newcastle, this would be a wonderful book of local history and lore. But for someone planted on the beaches of California, hoping to be inspired by the life, thinking, art and daring of Sarah Losh, the book falls short. I was mired in backstory, family histories and details that didn't interest me. I wanted a deeper look into her own daily life, and just a lot fewer words...
I made it almost all the way to the end and then just gave up. Maybe I'm missing the very best part? Oh, well. On to the next book. Goodbye, Miss Losh, and hope to stumble into the region someday and visit the fascinating church at Wreay.
March 16, 2013
Not a very interesting read I'm afraid. I would hate it if my biography was filled with my parents friends. Ms. Uglow did not make this woman truly come to life as so many great biographers can.
December 9, 2015
The book is subtitled: 'The story of Sarah Losh, forgotten Romantic heroine – antiquarian, architect and visionary.' This captures only part of the story.
She was a remarkable woman from a pretty remarkable family of the Whig tradition. Her uncle James, with whom she had much in common, was a life long Unitarian and she shared his social conscience and many of his interests. The story is therefore partly about this family and its wide circle. It is also about the growth of the industrial north in the railway age, which I found to be compelling reading.
Sarah lived in the big house on the outskirts of the village of Wreay, pronounced 'Rear', a few miles south of Carlisle. She and her forebears owned much of the village. After the death of her parents she and her sister, neither of whom married, continued living there until sister Katharine's death. Her death affected Sarah profoundly, not in the sense of moping around in her black dress, though she wore one. Rather, it seemed to ratchet up her energy level, throwing herself into many projects, many centred around Wreay. Not least of these was the building of a new church in place of the old one, conveniently decaying. She was its architect and her design flew in the face of the then popular gothic revival in church architecture.
Working with local craftsmen, she seemed to anticipate the arts and crafts movement decades before its time. Inside and out the church seems to be a homage to Nature, or at least Her creator God. This glorious little building could be the setting for any religion it seems to me.
Sarah drew on many sources, her travels in Europe, her interest in archaeology, the natural world and foremost, perhaps, her family heritage. Her father was keenly interested in geology and had a sizeable collection of fossils and minerals. There are many symbols in and around the church which seem to reference this. The family were patrons of local literary and archaeological societies. Sarah would replicate the Bewcastle Cross with all its intricate Saxon carving as a memorial to her parents. Close by, she would build a druidic mausoleum to the memory of her sister, whose marble effigy it houses. It could be a hermits cell or even a shelter for local cattle!?
A woman of energy and determination, Sarah Losh was something of an enigma. She seems to have destroyed most of her personal papers during her lifetime. So, Jenny Uglow must look for clues wherever she can find them, including all the symbolism of Sarah's work, not least her signature of the pine cone. She planted a special pine tree to the memory of her friend and neighbour William Thain, killed in Afghanistan at the time her church was nearing completion. The Khelat pine was raised from seed from a cone that he had given her. And what of the mysterious arrow which is fixed in the baptistery wall of the church?
She was a remarkable woman from a pretty remarkable family of the Whig tradition. Her uncle James, with whom she had much in common, was a life long Unitarian and she shared his social conscience and many of his interests. The story is therefore partly about this family and its wide circle. It is also about the growth of the industrial north in the railway age, which I found to be compelling reading.
Sarah lived in the big house on the outskirts of the village of Wreay, pronounced 'Rear', a few miles south of Carlisle. She and her forebears owned much of the village. After the death of her parents she and her sister, neither of whom married, continued living there until sister Katharine's death. Her death affected Sarah profoundly, not in the sense of moping around in her black dress, though she wore one. Rather, it seemed to ratchet up her energy level, throwing herself into many projects, many centred around Wreay. Not least of these was the building of a new church in place of the old one, conveniently decaying. She was its architect and her design flew in the face of the then popular gothic revival in church architecture.
Working with local craftsmen, she seemed to anticipate the arts and crafts movement decades before its time. Inside and out the church seems to be a homage to Nature, or at least Her creator God. This glorious little building could be the setting for any religion it seems to me.
Sarah drew on many sources, her travels in Europe, her interest in archaeology, the natural world and foremost, perhaps, her family heritage. Her father was keenly interested in geology and had a sizeable collection of fossils and minerals. There are many symbols in and around the church which seem to reference this. The family were patrons of local literary and archaeological societies. Sarah would replicate the Bewcastle Cross with all its intricate Saxon carving as a memorial to her parents. Close by, she would build a druidic mausoleum to the memory of her sister, whose marble effigy it houses. It could be a hermits cell or even a shelter for local cattle!?
A woman of energy and determination, Sarah Losh was something of an enigma. She seems to have destroyed most of her personal papers during her lifetime. So, Jenny Uglow must look for clues wherever she can find them, including all the symbolism of Sarah's work, not least her signature of the pine cone. She planted a special pine tree to the memory of her friend and neighbour William Thain, killed in Afghanistan at the time her church was nearing completion. The Khelat pine was raised from seed from a cone that he had given her. And what of the mysterious arrow which is fixed in the baptistery wall of the church?
June 18, 2014
Sarah Losh, contemporary of Jane Austen, was a victim of a crime against women beyond the systematic lack of economic freedom and opportunity so well presented in Jane Austen's novels. This crime was so pervasive, and so long a part of the culture that I doubt if even Jane Austen realized it.
Reading between the lines in the biography of Sarah Losh (The Pinecone by Jenny Uglow), one can not miss the reality that women were conditioned to perform historical suicide. In Jane Austen's case, even though her survivors published her unpublished novels, they also destroyed much of her correspondence.
This is a wonderful book for people interested in English history for the early 19th century, maybe especially for the many Jane Austen enthusiasts. However, if you are looking for a biography of the extraordinary Sarah Losh, you might be disappointed by the dearth of fact or feeling. I was constantly wishing that Sarah Losh had instead been a subject of a historical novel.
For much see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2014/0...
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on May 25, 2014. I received my copy on June 7, 2014.
Reading between the lines in the biography of Sarah Losh (The Pinecone by Jenny Uglow), one can not miss the reality that women were conditioned to perform historical suicide. In Jane Austen's case, even though her survivors published her unpublished novels, they also destroyed much of her correspondence.
This is a wonderful book for people interested in English history for the early 19th century, maybe especially for the many Jane Austen enthusiasts. However, if you are looking for a biography of the extraordinary Sarah Losh, you might be disappointed by the dearth of fact or feeling. I was constantly wishing that Sarah Losh had instead been a subject of a historical novel.
For much see: http://1book42day.blogspot.com/2014/0...
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway on May 25, 2014. I received my copy on June 7, 2014.
October 13, 2014
noted for her church and other structures in northern england, near carlise, sarah losh synthesized the huge changes in knowledge taking place (especially in england and scotland) in the early 1800's, ideas about geology, fossils, industrialization and the end of hand craft,travel, communication, art and antiquities, and changing roles for women. her st mary church is a romanesque or 'lombard" style, much against the grain of oxbridge egg head thought of gothic being the "true" enlish medium for the "classic" look of modern architecture. from pictures of her building and interior wood carvings, stained glass, pews, it seems the very beginning of craftsman style (or early 1900s')
author uglow is a master too of synthesizing disparate tangles into a comprehensible whole picture, using families histories, commerce, religion, art, travel, education, politics, farm and poor folk life, and more to build a well told history and biography of her subjects.
this books has wonderful line drawings, reproductions of historical art, photographs, map, family tree, end note citations, index. and will bring a sympathetic fascination for sarah losh and her family and times.
author uglow is a master too of synthesizing disparate tangles into a comprehensible whole picture, using families histories, commerce, religion, art, travel, education, politics, farm and poor folk life, and more to build a well told history and biography of her subjects.
this books has wonderful line drawings, reproductions of historical art, photographs, map, family tree, end note citations, index. and will bring a sympathetic fascination for sarah losh and her family and times.
July 24, 2014
I received this as a Good Reads giveaway, and though I found many things of interest in this book, I was surprised at how little Sarah Losh appears in her own story. It's really more of a capsule history of Carlisle and the village of Wreay during the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The author assumes that the reader has more than a passing acquaintance with British history, politics and social mores of the period, so for an American reader this can be somewhat bewildering. As for Miss Losh herself, she was rich, cultured, unmarried and in command of a comfortable fortune which allowed her to do pretty much as she pleased. She, to her credit, choose to be a generous benefactor to the neighborhood, and indulged her interests in art, nature and architecture in her building projects. I can't say from reading this book that at the end I admired her much as a person, though. Perhaps that is because I never really caught more than a glimpse of the person behind the projects in this biography.
March 31, 2016
I really enjoyed Jenny Uglow's biography of Sarah Losh. I first came across St Marys Wreay in a Songs of Praise program. I was captivated by that unique church and the story of it's designer and benefactor. The author's discussion of the intellectual and theological context of Sarah Losh's unique achievement was enlightening. I'm fascinated by the Lake District and the lives of some of its famous inhabitants, including William Wordsworth, John Ruskin, Beatrix Potter and Sarah Losh.
July 11, 2013
Pretty boring. I found myself skimming over so much material that really had nothing to do with her life. Pretty technical stuff about other people that got in the way of finding out who she was and what made her tick. I was disappointed.
August 22, 2016
Abandoned on page 35. Jumps about to much and full of disconnected facts. It's like the author needs to show off her knowledge by giving a piece of info on everything she mentions even if they're not relevant to the story.
December 20, 2014
I tried and I tried and I tried... and just couldn't. Maybe another time.
July 6, 2015
Fascinating. I want to read all of her biographies. I loved her book about Thomas Bewick the engraver.
December 14, 2020
DNF
Didn't even get half of the way through. The premise of this book sounded so interesting, and Sarah Losh and her church were something I really wanted to learn about, and STILL DO, but this book did nothing to help me. It is SO unbelievably dry and full of useless knowledge that I doubt I absorbed a single particle of relevant information from the pages of family relations I couldn't care less about and, more family relations and friends. Was the author just trying to impress by shoving every tiny detail and name that I couldn't care less about into the pages of this piece of trash?
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, is about the chemical structures of pesticides, and their impact on the environment. It sounds boring, but Rachel Carson is a talented author, and her book was not only important, and crucial for the banning of DDT, but actually interesting and enjoyable to read. This book was... not.
It sounds like the biography of an amazing woman, where her life is fleshed out and turned into a gripping story, but again, it's not. It's the 286 page list of historical facts and names of people that have nothing to do with Sarah Losh. A complete and utter disappointment.
Didn't even get half of the way through. The premise of this book sounded so interesting, and Sarah Losh and her church were something I really wanted to learn about, and STILL DO, but this book did nothing to help me. It is SO unbelievably dry and full of useless knowledge that I doubt I absorbed a single particle of relevant information from the pages of family relations I couldn't care less about and, more family relations and friends. Was the author just trying to impress by shoving every tiny detail and name that I couldn't care less about into the pages of this piece of trash?
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, is about the chemical structures of pesticides, and their impact on the environment. It sounds boring, but Rachel Carson is a talented author, and her book was not only important, and crucial for the banning of DDT, but actually interesting and enjoyable to read. This book was... not.
It sounds like the biography of an amazing woman, where her life is fleshed out and turned into a gripping story, but again, it's not. It's the 286 page list of historical facts and names of people that have nothing to do with Sarah Losh. A complete and utter disappointment.
June 8, 2024
Great biography of a very interesting but hardly known woman living in the late 18th and early 19th century, who amongst other achievements designed and had built a church in her village near Carlisle. Jenny Uglow makes the story of Sarah Losh the centre of the book, but widens it out into a social history of the time, and in particular looks at the influence of the Enlightenment on Sarah and her family.
December 4, 2013
A highly interesting and informative book on Sarah Losh and her family. Although I don't consider myself a religious person, however, her creation of the church in Wreay is exactly my idea of how some aspects of the Christian faith should focus itself. The focus of life and renewal, not the aspect of the death and suffering of Jesus for the people of faith. Indeed Sarah combined in the church not just of the Christian faith but of other ancient faiths from other countries. Sarah Losh was astonishingly well educated and had travelled extensively and fairly open minded for women and even men of the period. Other religions of her time and of the past she didn't consider backward, barbaric or false, she saw them as an extension to the belief in God she had and married them into the design of the church. In a rather unique and exceptional way her church was not crowded with designs and influences. Instead may things were carved and arrayed in such a way that it had the appearance as if an amateur had added to the design. Many things were coarsely made, plain and simple, which compliments the rest of the building. Although there are many mysteries to the church and not necessarily of the ecumenical kind. One could add the Miss Losh herself was something of a mystery, it is hoped by the author that some of her papers will come to light to lessen some of those mysteries. For myself one mystery being, and this is for the area, as to why Wreay is pronounced 'Rhea' to rhyme with near, when it doesn't really seem to rhyme at all. Another thing to add is that Sarah Losh comes across most of the time as perfect. Well people are seldom close to being perfect. A few more of her varied aspects of human nature would have given a fuller understanding of the woman, than almost saintliness. A very enjoyable read and I would recommend it to anyone regardless of interests as I believe there is something for everyone and more so if a person has more than one field of interest or study.
September 15, 2014
I won this books through a Goodreads Giveaway, which does not impact my review.
When I read a biography about a woman I tend to suspect that I will also be reading about her family, specifically her male relatives, because of the fact that more often than we want, women's lives were recorded in relation to the men the lives. If a historian encounters letters, or even better a diary, written by their female subject they are lucky. Otherwise they have to sift through countless records looking for the even the most minute evidence of the woman's name, or a relative, or a place, etc. before finally deciding if this record is even relevant. Considering that Sarah Losh burned her diaries and that she was fairly unknown outside her locale, Jenny Uglow had to do quite a bit of sifting.
Unfortunately, a lot of the content Uglow included, to me anyway, seemed to lack some relevancy to the story of Sarah Losh and her church, especially in the first half of the book. When this happens, it feels like you're reading filler. The strongest parts of The Pinecone were when Uglow wrote about what would later influence Sarah's plans for her church at Wreay, and then when she began the construction of her church. Sarah's visit to Pompei was great to read about, not only because we had a first person account to go off of, but because through her personal account you could see the seed being planted in Sarah's brain which would sprout and influence the design of the church in Wreay. I really wanted to rate this book higher, because Sarah Losh is as deeply fascinating as her architecture, but there were just too many pages that seemed like they were in the wrong biography.
When I read a biography about a woman I tend to suspect that I will also be reading about her family, specifically her male relatives, because of the fact that more often than we want, women's lives were recorded in relation to the men the lives. If a historian encounters letters, or even better a diary, written by their female subject they are lucky. Otherwise they have to sift through countless records looking for the even the most minute evidence of the woman's name, or a relative, or a place, etc. before finally deciding if this record is even relevant. Considering that Sarah Losh burned her diaries and that she was fairly unknown outside her locale, Jenny Uglow had to do quite a bit of sifting.
Unfortunately, a lot of the content Uglow included, to me anyway, seemed to lack some relevancy to the story of Sarah Losh and her church, especially in the first half of the book. When this happens, it feels like you're reading filler. The strongest parts of The Pinecone were when Uglow wrote about what would later influence Sarah's plans for her church at Wreay, and then when she began the construction of her church. Sarah's visit to Pompei was great to read about, not only because we had a first person account to go off of, but because through her personal account you could see the seed being planted in Sarah's brain which would sprout and influence the design of the church in Wreay. I really wanted to rate this book higher, because Sarah Losh is as deeply fascinating as her architecture, but there were just too many pages that seemed like they were in the wrong biography.
September 26, 2013
There is a problem writing a biography of Sarah Losh. She wrote copiously but very little has survived. She is remembered by her building, the remarkable Church at Wreay in the Lake District. In a sense the church and its monuments, all designed and sometimes actually made by Sarah herself are her memorial, and perhaps only those who have seen them will want to read the book. Like everyone else who visits I was taken by surprise and enraptured by the tiny Church designed in such an original style, perhaps sixty years before one might have guessed. Dante Gabriel Rossetti instantly recognised it was the work of a 'genius' when he saw it after her death.
Jenny Uglow does about the best job anyone could, putting Sarah in the context of the Westmorland society of the time and the climate of ideas that she was educated to be aware of. She knew Wordsworth in her youth and was widely travelled and widely read. A lot is known about the facts of her life and that of her large family, but sadly there is little evidence of her inner life for a biographer to work with. Over the building, she kept her counsel and was modest, or perhaps deliberately downplayed her originality to deflect possible opposition. Still, anyone interested in a true original artist and architect will find a lot to interest them in the book.
Jenny Uglow does about the best job anyone could, putting Sarah in the context of the Westmorland society of the time and the climate of ideas that she was educated to be aware of. She knew Wordsworth in her youth and was widely travelled and widely read. A lot is known about the facts of her life and that of her large family, but sadly there is little evidence of her inner life for a biographer to work with. Over the building, she kept her counsel and was modest, or perhaps deliberately downplayed her originality to deflect possible opposition. Still, anyone interested in a true original artist and architect will find a lot to interest them in the book.
July 3, 2013
This one of those quirky little books that I put in my "to read" queue, wondering whether I would actually ever get around to reading it. While it sounded interesting from the review I read, I thought it had the potential to be a slog. But I really did get a lot out of it.
Sarah Losh didn't leave behind much in the way of documentation, so this "story of Sarah Losh" is an attempt to figure out this enigmatic woman by looking at her works and accomplishments, and those of her large family. Sarah and her sister were the grand dames of their little Cumbrian village of Wreay, running their estates, managing their interests in local industries, looking out for the poor, and building -- additions to their house, a local school, monuments to their parents, and, most fascinatingly, a strange little church, filled with symbolism that reflects all the new thinking on the origins of life.
I enjoyed this little window into Late Georgian / Early Victorian life, as lived by an unusual woman. Much of the book spends time discussing the business and political ventures of Sarah's fathers, uncles and cousins, but do stick with it. Although Uglow doesn't seem to have a lot to work from, I think she creates a fine portrait of this woman and her times.
Sarah Losh didn't leave behind much in the way of documentation, so this "story of Sarah Losh" is an attempt to figure out this enigmatic woman by looking at her works and accomplishments, and those of her large family. Sarah and her sister were the grand dames of their little Cumbrian village of Wreay, running their estates, managing their interests in local industries, looking out for the poor, and building -- additions to their house, a local school, monuments to their parents, and, most fascinatingly, a strange little church, filled with symbolism that reflects all the new thinking on the origins of life.
I enjoyed this little window into Late Georgian / Early Victorian life, as lived by an unusual woman. Much of the book spends time discussing the business and political ventures of Sarah's fathers, uncles and cousins, but do stick with it. Although Uglow doesn't seem to have a lot to work from, I think she creates a fine portrait of this woman and her times.
October 5, 2014
When the credits rolled up the screen at the end of the movie "Miss Potter", I was surprised and pleased to see Jenny Uglow's name scroll by as a historical researcher for the movie. I enjoy that movie very much. I enjoy the depth, the attention to detail, the accuracy, humanity, and love of creativity that carried the movie along.
The same experience has been mine again as I read Uglow's book The Pinecone. This book has almost too much detail on some pages and I feel a little lost, almost as if I must duck my head as the names go whizzing by. But the depth of research and the love of her topic have made the story of Sarah Losh a read that I will recommend to my history loving friends. Here is a book that I did not know about, about a person I did not know about, but which I am very glad to have stumbled upon. Uglow has found those people of history who did not conform, whose creativity was something they were loyal to despite the surrounding social pressures, and these people had a great time living life. And this book, like the movie "Miss Potter", is about a woman. Sarah Losh has been a wonderful person to learn about, and I feel that as a reader I am in very capable hands as Uglow tells her story.
This book was a GR giveaway, and a serendipitous delight.
The same experience has been mine again as I read Uglow's book The Pinecone. This book has almost too much detail on some pages and I feel a little lost, almost as if I must duck my head as the names go whizzing by. But the depth of research and the love of her topic have made the story of Sarah Losh a read that I will recommend to my history loving friends. Here is a book that I did not know about, about a person I did not know about, but which I am very glad to have stumbled upon. Uglow has found those people of history who did not conform, whose creativity was something they were loyal to despite the surrounding social pressures, and these people had a great time living life. And this book, like the movie "Miss Potter", is about a woman. Sarah Losh has been a wonderful person to learn about, and I feel that as a reader I am in very capable hands as Uglow tells her story.
This book was a GR giveaway, and a serendipitous delight.
December 12, 2015
You might call this a group biography. The main character is Sarah Losh (1786-1853), a well educated, wealthy woman from Northern England who designed and help build a most unusual church (still standing, if somewhat changed) on her family's property. Sarah's life is told along with what sometimes feels like a bit too much detail about her siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, acquaintances, and notable figures of the time (Wordsworth, for example). WE also learn about life on the estate and in town, including the spread of industrialization, the coming of railroads, labor strife, blizzards, poverty,the books and periodicals she read, etc. However, this works well in the end to put Sarah's life and accomplishments in context. She was clearly a remarkable woman, one who used her wealth and family influence to not only carry out projects like the church but to help others. The fact that she never married, by choice, undoubtedly helped her achieve so much, since she could do pretty much what she wanted without having to deal with the responsibilities of a husband and children. The book's subtitle calls her a "forgotten heroine," and I'm glad to have made her acquaintance. Perhaps one day I'll be lucky enough to see her marvelous church.
July 19, 2016
Although many of Sarah Losh's letters and journals are either lost or destroyed, Jenny Uglow builds up a vivid picture of this intelligent and creative woman from an examination of her interesting extended family, the local and national events of the time and the prevailing artistic, scientific and architectural preoccupations of her generation. Most of all, however, it is through her architecture and in particular the highly individual church at Wreay, that one comes closest to understanding her. Jenny Uglow successfully explains the significance of its imagery, design and symbolism, which were highly personal and innovative. Sarah and her sister had independent means and chose not to marry. They were inseparable until the Catherine, the young sister's early death. Although deeply saddened by bereavement, Sarah threw herself into her creative efforts. She was a considerable heiress and beneficent landlord and chose to spend her money on practical and artistic schemes for the benefit of her small community at Wreay. I have seen the church several times and this book has made me keen to return again and see what else still remains of her buildings.
July 12, 2014
I received this book through the Goodreads giveaways. From the title I was thrilled to receive it. However, the title is deceiving.
It should be called a Losh family history. The first half of the book is about Sarah's uncle and general history of the time. I understand that surroundings influence a person but while the history was imparted it was not tied to the influence it had on Sarah.
I would read for pages and pages and want to know where Sarah was, then there would be one sentence to the effect that during this time Sarah was tending her garden. She seems to be just a passing figure in most of the book.
The only place the book really comes to life and is a pleasure to read is when the author describes the church that Sarah built. That is fascinating. I wish all the photographs in the middle of the book had been devoted to the details of that church instead of being wasted on maps that can only be read with a magnifying glass and other things.
As a history book, it is very rich though not particularly gripping. But as a singular biography, I don't think it qualifies.
It should be called a Losh family history. The first half of the book is about Sarah's uncle and general history of the time. I understand that surroundings influence a person but while the history was imparted it was not tied to the influence it had on Sarah.
I would read for pages and pages and want to know where Sarah was, then there would be one sentence to the effect that during this time Sarah was tending her garden. She seems to be just a passing figure in most of the book.
The only place the book really comes to life and is a pleasure to read is when the author describes the church that Sarah built. That is fascinating. I wish all the photographs in the middle of the book had been devoted to the details of that church instead of being wasted on maps that can only be read with a magnifying glass and other things.
As a history book, it is very rich though not particularly gripping. But as a singular biography, I don't think it qualifies.
November 7, 2014
Before reviewing, I'd like to state that I got the book from a GoodReads giveaway and would like to thank the publisher for the copy.
Now to the review....
The best way I can sum this book up is this: It's a beautifully written text book.
I know that may seem silly, but it's quite informative and the writer has written some beautiful sentences to enlighten the audience on Sarah. That being said, I didn't ever truly feel like I new who she was. It gave great detail about the history, her family history, town history, the likes. I never felt as though I knew her.
This is the kind of book I like to call a 'coffee table book'. One you put on a coffee table to glance through on occasion. Personally I likened to the pictures more than the story itself.
All that being said, I will still give the book 3 stars due to the fact that, well, it is a nonfiction book and was well done in that style. I will be passing this book on to my dad though, because he loves history and I think given the fact that he travels abroad often for work that he might find interest in this.
Thanks again GoodReads!
Now to the review....
The best way I can sum this book up is this: It's a beautifully written text book.
I know that may seem silly, but it's quite informative and the writer has written some beautiful sentences to enlighten the audience on Sarah. That being said, I didn't ever truly feel like I new who she was. It gave great detail about the history, her family history, town history, the likes. I never felt as though I knew her.
This is the kind of book I like to call a 'coffee table book'. One you put on a coffee table to glance through on occasion. Personally I likened to the pictures more than the story itself.
All that being said, I will still give the book 3 stars due to the fact that, well, it is a nonfiction book and was well done in that style. I will be passing this book on to my dad though, because he loves history and I think given the fact that he travels abroad often for work that he might find interest in this.
Thanks again GoodReads!
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