Westminster Abbey contains a unique and important group of effigies, some familiar, many little-known, including kings, queens, statesmen and national heroes, ranging in time from the middle ages to the early nineteenth century. They derive from a time when an effigy of the dead monarch, statesman or national hero played an important part in funeral ritual, offering a visible likeness as a focus to the ceremonial of the funeral. This richly illustrated book, which is the first substantial publication on the effigies since 1936, is both a history of the collection and of the origins and development of the funeral effigy, and a full descriptive catalogue of the twenty-one examples in the Abbey. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

An account of the history, architecture and monuments of the chapel, the final, exquisite flowering of the gothic style.

This text examines the Chapter House and Pyx Chamber, in the Great Cloister of Westminster Abbey, which formed part of the medieval Benedictine monastery. Both Chapter House and Pyx Chamber are now in the care of English Heritage.

The Westminster Retable was conserved at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge.

Why were so many religious images and objects broken and damaged in the course of the Reformation? Margaret Aston's magisterial new book charts the conflicting imperatives of destruction and rebuilding throughout the English Reformation from the desecration of images, rails and screens to bells, organs and stained glass windows. She explores the motivations of those who smashed images of the crucifixion in stained glass windows and who pulled down crosses and defaced symbols of the Trinity. She shows that destruction was part of a methodology of religious revolution designed to change people as well as places and to forge in the long term new generations of new believers. Beyond blanked walls and whited windows were beliefs and minds impregnated by new modes of religious learning. Idol-breaking with its emphasis on the treacheries of images fundamentally transformed not only Anglican ways of worship but also of seeing, hearing and remembering.

A comprehensive and authoritative history that explores the significance of one of the most famous buildings and institutions in England Westminster Abbey was one of the most powerful churches in Catholic Christendom before transforming into a Protestant icon of British national and imperial identity. Celebrating the 750th anniversary of the consecration of the current Abbey church building, this book features engaging essays by a group of distinguished scholars that focus on different, yet often overlapping, aspects of the Abbey's history: its architecture and monuments; its Catholic monks and Protestant clergy; its place in religious and political revolutions; its relationship to the monarchy and royal court; its estates and educational endeavors; its congregations; and its tourists. Clearly written and wide-ranging in scope, this generously illustrated volume is a fascinating exploration of Westminster Abbey's thousand-year history and its meaning, significance, and impact within society both in Britain and beyond. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in association with the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of St Peter Westminster (Westminster Abbey)/Distributed by Yale University Press

Vic Keegan's Lost London (2) is the second of two books that together have taken over six years of research and are still yielding surprises Vic had no idea that the mundane Highbury and Islington station used to look like an Italian Palazzo before being shamefully pull down, nor that there was an extraordinary cricket match in Walworth between a team from Greenwich with only one leg and the other from Chelsea with only one arm, nor that in 1810, a black bare knuckle fighter was swindled out of being world champion by white subterfuge. There are dozens of similar tales which he hopes you will enjoy. The author spent most of his working life at the Guardian writing among other things a fortnightly economics column for nearly 25 years before finishing off with a weekly column on consumer technology ranging from mobile phones to virtual worlds. He has written six poetry books including London My London with over 80 poems about the capital and the Thames. He is married to Rosie with two children Dan and Chris. David Aaronovitch's review of the first book is here: https: //www.onlondon.co.uk/book-review-vic-keegans-lost-london/