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Church Going: A Stonemason's Guide to the Churches of the British Isles
Churches are many things to us - they are places of worship, vibrant community hubs and oases of calm reflection. To know a church is to hold a key to the past that unlocks an understanding of our shared history.
Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, acting as an informal guide to curious visitors. Church Going is his handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles, in which he reveals their fascinating histories, features and furnishings, from flying buttresses to rood screens, lichgates to chancels. Beautifully written and richly illustrated, it is a celebration of British architectural history.
Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, acting as an informal guide to curious visitors. Church Going is his handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles, in which he reveals their fascinating histories, features and furnishings, from flying buttresses to rood screens, lichgates to chancels. Beautifully written and richly illustrated, it is a celebration of British architectural history.
417 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 17, 2024
32 people are currently reading
435 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
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May 12, 2025If you like noodling around old churches, this is the book for you. Informative about what to look out for and what it means, plus some very funny stories.
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December 2, 2024You never quite know what you’ll find when you open the door to one of England’s many ancient parish churches. Perhaps there will be a glorious, overblown tomb, or perhaps some miraculously preserved remnant of pre-Reformation faith. Sometimes, it is true, the results are disappointing; but there is usually at least something worth seeing, even if it takes a little time to find it. Taken together, our churches are the single greatest museum this country possesses.
Open the door to a church in the West Country and you might encounter Andrew Ziminski. A craftsman and antiquary, his first book, The Stonemason, drew on three decades of experience to tell the story of how Britain’s buildings were created. He can write with real authority – and no little style – on that fascinating alchemy by which masons turn living stone into standing structures. In Church Going, he looks at a single type of building, one that he knows extremely well, having restored several dozen over the years. Organised thematically, rather than chronologically, the book begins at the lychgate and ends in the crypt. In between, there are short, informative and often witty sections on everything from spires to beehives and fonts to knockers.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
William Whyte is Professor of Social and Architectural History at the University of Oxford.
Open the door to a church in the West Country and you might encounter Andrew Ziminski. A craftsman and antiquary, his first book, The Stonemason, drew on three decades of experience to tell the story of how Britain’s buildings were created. He can write with real authority – and no little style – on that fascinating alchemy by which masons turn living stone into standing structures. In Church Going, he looks at a single type of building, one that he knows extremely well, having restored several dozen over the years. Organised thematically, rather than chronologically, the book begins at the lychgate and ends in the crypt. In between, there are short, informative and often witty sections on everything from spires to beehives and fonts to knockers.
Read the rest of the review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
William Whyte is Professor of Social and Architectural History at the University of Oxford.
May 14, 2025
A great book, that taught me a lot about both architecture and religion. The passion of the author, a stonemason who travels around the British Isles repairing and conserving churches, is evident in every page. It’s like you become part of his world, one in which the most minute detail reveals something of these ancient buildings, or the people for whom they formed one of the centers of their lives.
Ziminksi is a good writer, and his descriptions are at times fascinating and full of vigour. Much is made of some fascinating churches, and you really do begin to understand their importance and share in his journey and viewpoint. When mixed with his personal anecdotes he’s accrued over 40 years of being a stonemason, what you get is an awesome piece of non-fiction that at once teaches and entertains.
The book as a whole, however, suffers severely from a lack of illustrations and/or pictures. The amount of detail these chapters go into is quite staggering, and I suppose because of the authors great knowledge on the subject, he tends to move on from a certain description fairly quickly, and assumes the audience has understood it after having it explained once; added to the fact that the entire work is description after description of this or that feature, means that at times this does not make for easy reading.
I think that a picture or illustration should have covered every chapter and sub-chapter, just to show readers what to imagine. Many images are indeed included, but some of the more specific features in particular suffer from under-representation. It’s true that we can now simply search these on a phone, but I found that stopping mid-paragraph to look up what a quatrefoil was or what a rood screen looks like, or what this or that church looked like, broke my immersion quite a bit and even became a bit tiresome. The duty of the author is to create immersion and by way of that make it so that the reader is engrossed totally, and doesn’t feel the pages slip by: since I had to constantly check this thing or that thing, this was not the case.
Stil though, a fantastic read on a topic that is not commonly given this sort of attention on this accessible medium. I enjoyed it very much, and know just that little bit more about churches that will make me want to do more research.
Ziminksi is a good writer, and his descriptions are at times fascinating and full of vigour. Much is made of some fascinating churches, and you really do begin to understand their importance and share in his journey and viewpoint. When mixed with his personal anecdotes he’s accrued over 40 years of being a stonemason, what you get is an awesome piece of non-fiction that at once teaches and entertains.
The book as a whole, however, suffers severely from a lack of illustrations and/or pictures. The amount of detail these chapters go into is quite staggering, and I suppose because of the authors great knowledge on the subject, he tends to move on from a certain description fairly quickly, and assumes the audience has understood it after having it explained once; added to the fact that the entire work is description after description of this or that feature, means that at times this does not make for easy reading.
I think that a picture or illustration should have covered every chapter and sub-chapter, just to show readers what to imagine. Many images are indeed included, but some of the more specific features in particular suffer from under-representation. It’s true that we can now simply search these on a phone, but I found that stopping mid-paragraph to look up what a quatrefoil was or what a rood screen looks like, or what this or that church looked like, broke my immersion quite a bit and even became a bit tiresome. The duty of the author is to create immersion and by way of that make it so that the reader is engrossed totally, and doesn’t feel the pages slip by: since I had to constantly check this thing or that thing, this was not the case.
Stil though, a fantastic read on a topic that is not commonly given this sort of attention on this accessible medium. I enjoyed it very much, and know just that little bit more about churches that will make me want to do more research.
December 6, 2025
This book covers very interesting material from the perspective of someone intimately involved with the maintenance of churches. I like the idea of the book, but it was spoiled for me by what I found to be a lack of clarity of expression. I kept on encountering sentences which made me wonder what they meant, or what they were trying to say. I did persevere to the end of the book, and I do feel that it was worth the effort, but it could have been a more pleasant and enlightening experience if I didn't have to keep stopping to ponder what exactly the author was trying to get across.
March 7, 2025
Really interesting book, lots of information about the various bits and pieces that are in and around churches. Another really good book to complement the other books that are out there if one is interested in churches.
August 25, 2025
A wonderful book. Packed full of insights and anecdotes gained over a life spent as a stonemason. Walks you through the churches of Great Britain from lychgate to crypt. Really enjoyed reading this.
March 13, 2025
Church Going is far more than a historical or architectural guide; it is an intimate exploration shaped by the author's deep passion for the craftsmanship and beauty of Britain's medieval churches. Drawing from his extensive experience as a stonemason and conservator, Ziminski vividly describes different architectural details and enriches each chapter with personal anecdotes from his own visits to these churches both as a church crawler and a conservator. The book's thoughtful structure guides readers methodically through the anatomy of a church, starting from the churchyard and progressing inward. It has taken me months to finish reading, I started it on boxing day, primarily because I've frequently paused to jot down mentioned churches I now feel compelled to visit firsthand. I think the sign of a good book can be seen by its state when finished, mine is absolutely full of colour coded page markers. Indeed, this work convinced me of visiting the Dingle peninsula in Ireland in search of the Kilmalkedar bullaun stone and its magic cow (something the rest of my family did not appreciate).
April 13, 2025
Liking churches as I do I like books on churches, I spotted this at Saltaire and was interested but I have stopped buying books as I just have too many so I wanted the ebook. I am also trying to de americanis or amercanize myself so bought it from ebook.com which after a review I discovered is Australian.
It's a slow but informative description of church buildings from a point of view of the mason. I cannot find myself agreeing all the time with him and some of his inclusions and omissions equally frustrating. He also has a southern bais. However I have a few more churches to go visit and they are not all down south. Worthy of a read.
It's a slow but informative description of church buildings from a point of view of the mason. I cannot find myself agreeing all the time with him and some of his inclusions and omissions equally frustrating. He also has a southern bais. However I have a few more churches to go visit and they are not all down south. Worthy of a read.
December 3, 2025
A well written, captivating book.
Don't be put off by the title as this is far more than a "Stonemason's Guide...": it is more of a social history book as Ziminski dives into the local history behind the stone features, the timbers, bell towers, ancient graffiti, nave, vaults, chancel, roods and doom paintings and much more. He covers many items that were hidden or somehow survived both Cromwell's destruction and the destruction of the Reformation.
How else would you know that a church contains a bone crypt, with the bones of some 2,500 dead parishioners, with some skulls placed in a line and the rest in a heap?
Don't be put off by the title as this is far more than a "Stonemason's Guide...": it is more of a social history book as Ziminski dives into the local history behind the stone features, the timbers, bell towers, ancient graffiti, nave, vaults, chancel, roods and doom paintings and much more. He covers many items that were hidden or somehow survived both Cromwell's destruction and the destruction of the Reformation.
How else would you know that a church contains a bone crypt, with the bones of some 2,500 dead parishioners, with some skulls placed in a line and the rest in a heap?
May 7, 2025
I’ve met Andrew a few times and he is the most engaging of people utterly dedicated to and passionate about his craft. He manages to convey this through his writing. This is quite a technical guide and if I have a criticism it is that every time he mentions a church I found myself doing an internet search to find photographs of it so it took a long time to read the book! But I will never look at an ancient church in the same way again. I spend much longer in each one I visit looking out for the features large and small that Andrew so beautifully describes.
April 18, 2025
A charming, chatty, anecdotal introduction to British parish churches. It is at once encyclopaedic in that it covers every part of a church and very limited as it only covers those visited by the author (a wonderful guide though). A great introduction to church going though!
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August 26, 2025So much wonderful information. However I would have liked more photographs of what AZ was referring to- I found myself constantly looking things up on my phone, which is a recipe for distraction!
Apart from that, this is a beautiful, informative tour around ancient and sacred dwellings.
Apart from that, this is a beautiful, informative tour around ancient and sacred dwellings.
October 22, 2025
This is a thoroughly engaging and informative guide to the all the weirdnesses of Church buildings. I gave it three stars only because I am less interested in the buildings than I am in the society which created the buildings.
March 18, 2025
Beautiful book, and while admittedly of niche interest, it is an incredible reference for those interested in church architecture, and history of same.
July 5, 2025
If you are interested in a guide to what you are looking at as you are looking around at British churches, this is the book for you. I'll be taking it along.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews