The Old Rectory
The Story of the English Parsonage
by Anthony Jennings
GoodBookStall Review:
Written by the director of Save Our Parsonages, this book is more than a history of English rectories and vicarages, as it looks at a multitude of issues concerned with selling-off, rural retreat, and the future of the countryside community – indeed, the future of England itself (the foreword is by Clive Aslett (of Country Life), a distinguished advocate of building conservation); thus, chapters are headed ‘The Present’, ‘The Legacy’, ‘The Future’, etc. But it is also a history of clergy accommodation from earliest times to 1939. Appendices and indexes allow readers to search for detailed information by location (village names; the book can become a travelling companion), architects, and published accounts/evaluations. One extra advantage is the quality and frequency of the 68 photographs (and others in the text), almost half of which are in colour.
Reviewer: John Thomas (09/01/10)
Written by the director of Save Our Parsonages, this book is more than a history of English rectories and vicarages, as it looks at a multitude of issues concerned with selling-off, rural retreat, and the future of the countryside community – indeed, the future of England itself (the foreword is by Clive Aslett (of Country Life), a distinguished advocate of building conservation); thus, chapters are headed ‘The Present’, ‘The Legacy’, ‘The Future’, etc. But it is also a history of clergy accommodation from earliest times to 1939. Appendices and indexes allow readers to search for detailed information by location (village names; the book can become a travelling companion), architects, and published accounts/evaluations. One extra advantage is the quality and frequency of the 68 photographs (and others in the text), almost half of which are in colour.
Reviewer: John Thomas (09/01/10)
