Series:

Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England

69 total works

Cover of Kent: North East and East

Kent: North East and East

by John Newman

Published 15 October 2013

The exceptionally rich architecture of eastern Kent is covered by this fully revised, updated, and expanded edition of John Newman's classic survey, first published in 1969. This city of Canterbury is the county's greatest treasure, and its glorious cathedral is the first mature example of Gothic architecture in England. The influence of Canterbury appears also in the remains of St Augustine's 17th-century mission churches, and in sophisticated Norman carved work at churches such as Barfrestone. Kent is also a maritime county, and its coastal towns are excitingly diverse: the royal stronghold of Dover with its mighty medieval castle; the medieval port of Sandwich; and resorts large and small, from genteel Folkestone to lively Margate, with its bold new art gallery.

Cover of Sussex: East

Sussex: East

by Nicholas Antram and Nikolaus Pevsner

Published 27 August 2013

The East Sussex volume of The Buildings of England covers an area ranging from the High Weald in the north of the county to the massive ridge of the South Downs and the resort towns and ancient ports of the coast. Its coastal resorts are particularly distinguished, none more so than Brighton and Hove, where John Nash's oriental Pavilion for the Prince Regent sets the tone. Elsewhere castles at Camber, Bodiam and fortified town walls at Rye and Winchelsea attest to its military past and Battle Abbey to its medieval endowments. The towns and villages are especially rich in timber-framed, brick and tile houses for which the county is famous. The twentieth century makes its mark in the exhilarating De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill, and the uncompromising forms of the 1960s University of Sussex campus.

Cover of Kent: West and the Weald

An expanded and fully revised edition of John Newman's classic survey of the buildings of West Kent, first published in 1969. Here is an extraordinary concentration of architecture of the first rank, and an immense variety of landscape and townscape, from the deep woods of the Weald to the shingles of Dungeness, the cathedral city of Rochester with its Norman castle, and the remarkable Georgian naval dockyard at Chatham. Domestic buildings of note range from plentiful timber-framed hall houses to the Palladian masterpiece of Mereworth Castle and the planned modernist village of New Ash Green, as well as country houses on the grandest scale, such as Cobham Hall and Knole. The parish churches can show rich and memorable work of almost every period, especially the middle ages and the Gothic Revival. This new edition includes detailed explorations of many rewarding urban areas, and fresh perspectives on such famous landmarks as Ightham Mote, Sissinghurst and Hever Castle.

Cover of Warwickshire

Warwickshire

by Chris Pickford and Nikolaus Pevsner

Published 1 July 1966
Highlights of this fully revised and updated guide are the magnificent medieval fortresses of Warwick and Kenilworth Castles, but this county is also home to some of the most significant developments of England's postwar modern architecture, notably the rebuilt city center of Coventry destroyed in the Blitz. Leamington Spa has fine terraces of the Regency period but most famous of all is the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon where William Shakespeare was born and educated and the houses associated with his family are preserved. Also featured are the area's greatest country houses, from Tudor Compton Wynyates and the moated Baddesley Clinton to Baroque Stoneleigh, Palladian Ragley, and Arbury Hall, one of the finest mansions of the Gothic Revival.

Cover of Somerset: South and West
This expertly revised and enlarged survey is the perfect architectural companion to one of England's most beautiful regions. From the misty Levels to the heights of Exmoor and the Mendips, the Somerset landscape is enriched by buildings of outstanding quality and interest. The early medieval ruins of Glastonbury Abbey and the Elizabethan great house of Montacute are among the finest works of their time. Also famous are the lavishly decorated church towers of the Perpendicular period, such as those at Taunton, Evercreech, and Huish Episcopi. Many of these churches serve towns and villages of exceptional charm, marked by an unusual diversity of building stones and materials. From Porlock to Burnham-on-Sea, the ports and resorts of the long coastline all have their own distinctive architectural inheritance. Well-kept vernacular houses and other rural buildings complete the inland picture.

Cover of Derbyshire
This is the essential guide to the architecture of Pevsner's "county of contrasts," home to an amazingly diverse assortment of landmarks. Among Derbyshire's many distinguished country houses are Haddon Hall and Hardwick Hall. 17th-century highlights include the adventurous architecture of Bolsover Castle and the Baroque splendors of Chatsworth, while the dazzling Neoclassical interiors of Kedleston Hall are the summit of the county's many Georgian achievements. Numerous spa towns, pioneering industrial settlements, and parish churches from Anglo-Saxon to modern are also included. The settings range from the Trent valley to the sublime landscape of the Peak District, making Derbyshire one of England's most visually arresting counties.

Cover of Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South
This authoritative guide, the companion to Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North, covers a vast area marked by tremendous diversity of both landscape and buildings. The territory is rich in medieval churches and castles, 17th-century houses and 18th-century mansions, yet it is also deservedly famous for its outstanding 19th- and 20th-century ecclesiastical, civic, commercial and industrial buildings. Major examples of every period of English architecture are represented, from Selby Abbey to the palatial country house of the Earls Fitzwilliam at Wentworth Woodhouse, and from Halifax Town Hall to Sheffield's Park Hill flats and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield. In the fine Pevsner tradition, this book situates the region's full array of buildings within geological, local, national, and international contexts.

Cover of Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West
This comprehensive guide to the buildings of South-West Lancashire treats each city, town, and village in a detailed gazetteer. The great port city of Liverpool dominates, with its cathedrals, mighty commercial buildings and warehouses, and Georgian inner city. Full accounts are also given of the suburbs and industrial towns beyond. But most of the area remains rural, and in this distinctive landscape are found such memorable buildings as Sefton church, Speke Hall, and the Georgian country houses of Knowsley, ancestral seat of the Earls of Derby, and Ince Blundell, with its extraordinary Neoclassical sculpture gallery. Numerous maps and plans, color photographs, indexes, and an illustrated glossary complete this volume.

Cover of Suffolk: East

Suffolk: East

by James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner

Published 23 April 2015
This authoritative survey of east Suffolk includes some of England's most beautiful landscapes, including "Constable Country," the land surrounding the River Stour that was home to John Constable. East Suffolk's rural landscape includes a variety of intriguing medieval buildings: brick and timber-framed houses, stunning churches, and the grand castles of Orford and Framlingham. Additionally, Suffolk's coast is home to a number of charming resorts, as well as the Viking ship burial site at Sutton Hoo. This volume also includes the town of Ipswich, where medieval buildings are situated alongside Norman Foster's offices for Willis Faber, one of the major works of 20th-century British architecture.

Cover of Suffolk: West

Suffolk: West

by James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner

Published 23 April 2015
From small timber-framed houses to sprawling manors, this comprehensive guide to west Suffolk presents an impressive range of buildings from across the centuries. At its center lies the town of Bury St. Edmunds, site of one of Norman England's most powerful abbeys, whose monolithic gates remain as a local landmark. Other towns boast impressive architecture as well, including Newmarket, where the racetrack and other unique structures support its role as a historic and international center for horse breeding and racing. Also attesting to the remarkable variation of west Suffolk's buildings are a number of impressively grand residences, such as the fine Elizabethan manors of Long Melford, Majarajah Duleep Singh's palace at Elveden, and the extraordinary circular mansion of Ickworth.

Cover of Oxfordshire North and West

This volume is a fully expanded and revised architectural guide to the greater part of Oxfordshire, based on Jennifer Sherwood's 1970s account, full of new information and with specially commissioned photography.The vernacular architecture of the villages and farms is well represented here, as well as notable town architecture and the medieval parish churches for which the area is well known. Oxfordshire is also a county of great houses, from the romantic medieval ruins of Minster Lovell to the late flowering of Lutyens's 1930s Middleton Park; the grandest, however, is Blenheim Palace, the Baroque masterpiece designed by John Vanbrugh (1664-1726).

Cover of Sussex: West
This volume covers some of the finest landscape and architecture in southern England, much of it set within the South Downs National Park. The county's small towns and villages feature a pleasing mix of stone, timber, and brick houses of every period. Among numerous atmospheric country houses are the Tudor ruins of Cowdray, the Elizabethan mansion at Parham, and the French-inspired Petworth in its great park, famously captured in Turner's paintings. On the grandest scale is the mighty Arundel Castle, seat of the Duke of Norfolk, while Chichester, the only city in West Sussex, boasts one of the country's most important 12th-century cathedrals. Among many major ecclesiastical and educational establishments built in the 19th century, none is more impressive than Lancing College set high above the coast. New research accompanies 130 specially commissioned color photographs in this authoritative and expert guide.

Cover of Leicestershire and Rutland
Pevsner wrote that "Leicestershire is not a county of extremes" and agreed that "no other county in England surpasses Rutland for unspoiled quiet charm". The large and the small Midland county possess a varied and rewarding range of buildings. Church architecture encompasses the classical Normanton, preserved in remote isolation from the flood of Rutland Water, to Market Harborough with its elegant medieval steeple, and a fine group of Victorian churches in Leicester. The major country houses include Belvoir Castle, Staunton Harold and Burley-on-the-Hill, while the more modest homes of the late 19th century include notable work by Ernest Gimson,Voysey and a garden city at Leicester by Parker & Unwin. Leicestershire also posseses fine modern buildings, from its architecturally progressive schools to the justly renowned buildings of Leicester University, dominated by Stirling & Gowan's Engineering Building.

Cover of Surrey

Surrey

by Ian Nairn, Nikolaus Pevsner, and Bridget Cherry

Published 11 March 1971
Surrey's architecture is a constantly surprising mix of the rural and urban with many of its most important buildings, such as 17th century Ham House, found amongst the outgrowth of London itself. The landscape gardens of Painshill and Claremont attest to Surrey's popularity in the 18th century and the county's enthusiasm for follies and remarkable garden buildings. More recent architecture includes notable early works by Lutyens, with gardens by Gertrude Jekyll, inspired by the rich stock of late medieval farmhouses and tile-hung cottages in the county's southern villages. Among inter-war suburban housing there are some exceptional Modernist homes, such as The Homewood by Patrick Gwynne. Church architecture in Surrey includes work by all of the great names of the Gothic Revival; not least of its surprises is the luminous and spacious interior of Guildford Cathedral.

Cover of Yorkshire: York and the East Riding
This volume sheds light on the pride of the region - the great medieval churches of York Minster, the Minster and St Mary at Beverley, and Holy Trinity, Hull but also on less well known architectural pleasures of town and county. Outstanding Victorian village churches, including masterpieces by Street & Pearson, are as rewarding as the major country houses of Burton Agnes, Burton Constable and Sledmere. The countryside offes a wide range of monuments, from the beautifully sited ruins of Kirkham Priory to the spectacular Humber Bridge. Farmhouses and cottages of the Wolds, picturesque estate villages and chapels, and industrial structures are all brought into focus. A large section is devoted to York and includes a survey of the historic buildings of the city centre from the Roman period onwards. This is complemented by a detailed exploration of York's eighteenth and nineteenth-century suburbs. Equal care has been applied to the descriptions of Beverley, with its attractive townscape, and the port of Hull, where unexpected highlights include seventeenth-century merchant houses, Georgian almshouses, ornate Victorian pubs, and grand Edwardian public buildings.

Cover of London 6: Westminster
This essential guide opens up the treasures of London’s most alluring quarter. At its core are Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and the palatial Government buildings of Whitehall, together with the great band of Royal Parks stretching westward toward Kensington. It also includes London’s West End (Covent Garden, Soho, Mayfair, and St. James’s) and the less well-known Belgravia and Pimlico.

For each area there is a detailed gazetteer and brief introduction. A general introduction provides a historical and artistic overview. Numerous maps and plans, over 100 new color photographs, full indexes, and an illustrated glossary help to make this book invaluable as both reference work and guide.

This is the fifth of six Pevsner Architectural Guides volumes on London available in cloth.

Cover of Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean
Most famous for Gloucester Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey, this county also boasts intriguing monastic remains at Gloucester, fine houses in stucco and stone in the great Regency spa town of Cheltenham, and post-war suspension bridges reaching over the Severn.

Cover of Devon

Devon

by Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner

Published 23 March 1989
Exeter Cathedral is but the crowning glory of Devon's wealth of medieval churches, replete with sumptuous fittings and monuments. The county's peak of prosperity from the late Middle Ages to the seventeenth-century is reflected too in its castles, its secluded manor houses, and its scores of sturdily built farmhouses. The delights of Devon's well loved seaside and country towns are explored from the distinctive merchants' houses of Totnes and Topsham to the elegant Regency crescents of Teignmouth and Sidmouth. The picture is completed by accounts of the creation of the docks at Plymouth, industrial relics, and the substantial but little known store of Devon's Victorian churches.

Cover of Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds
A comprehensive and up-to-date guide to the buildings in one of the best-loved and most beautiful areas of England. Major buildings include great medieval wool churches and grand country houses such as Badminton and Dyrham, besides some remarkable relics of the early Industrial Revoltion and much fine work by the Arts and Crafts Movement. The architecture of such celebrated towns as Cirencester and Chipping Campden is covered in depth, as are the many villages and smaller houses. An expert overview is given in the introduction, which also surveys the rich prehistoric and Roman remains and the subtleties of the famous Cotswold stone. This revised and expanded volume is the latest addition to the famous Pevsner Architectural Guides, the fruit of extensive new research and deep local knowledge. Numerous maps, plans and new photographs, full indexes and a glossary help make this the indispensable guide for any lover of the Cotswolds.

Cover of Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East
Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East and its companion, Norfolk 2: North-West and South, aim to provide a lively and uniquely comprehensive survey of the architectural treasures of Norfolk. Extensively revised and expanded, these new editions of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's original volumes bring together the latest research on a county which has some of the most attractive buildings in England. The gazetteer is enhanced by an introduction which provides a perceptive overview of the region's architectural inheritance, and is illustrated by numerous text figures, maps and 130 photographs (many specially commissioned). Pre-eminent in this volume is the city of Norwich, rich in major buildings of outstanding quality, from Norman cathedral and castle to twentieth-century city hall and university. Supreme among the ports described in this volume is the medieval walled town of Great Yarmouth, whose highly individual history and buildings are here examined in detail for the first time. There are also full descriptions of many appealing market towns, whilst the rest of the county is revealed through succinct accounts of its parish churches and less well-known buildings. Abbey ruins, brick eighteenth-century farmhouses and estate cottages in quiet inland villages contrast with coastal fishing settlements and resorts. Great barns testify to the significance of agriculture. Country houses range from the magnificent Jacobean Blickling Hall to seaside extravaganzas by Lutyens. Detailed indexes make this not only an essential reference book, but also a guide book for anyone interested in the rich region of Norfolk.