“Arts and Crafts Churches of Great Britain” by Roger Button, 2QT, 2020.

+ “Arts & Crafts Churches” by Alec Hamilton, Lund Humphries, 2020.

Two books on the same subject. My recommendation is to read them both, reading Roger Button’s first, and then Hamilton’s which you can keep on display under the coffee table.

Button’s book covers 53 churches in England, Wales and Scotland. Each church has several colour photos and information on the history of the church, the architect and their thinking and interesting features of the church. The book has 15 chapters that give you a helpful introduction as to what the Arts and Crafts movement was all about and its chronology. It is an easy and interesting read without technical terms.

Dr Hamilton’s book is a sumptuously produced, with a lovely picture of St Andrew’s Church, Roker on the cover, showing the beauty that the Arts and Crafts movement can achieve. The book, after a couple of introductory chapters, has a chapter on each region of the country. So, you can either read the book from start to finish, learning a little about each of the churches and marvelling at the immaculately produced photographs. Or you can turn to the chapter on your region of the country to use it to explore churches near you. For example, the chapter on the South East of England covers 9 churches in detail and then lists another 36 churches with a line about each. So, in total, the book covers more churches than Button’s does. It also indicates whether the church is usually open.

Button’s book is reasonably neutral and factual in his descriptions of the churches, where as Hamilton is much more likely to have the cutting phrase if there is something he doesn’t like, which makes it a more entertaining read, but which is why I recommend reading Button’s first so that you can have the neutral background. But after you’ve read that, it is Hamilton’s that I would be using to refer to churches in any particular area because it covers more churches and it is such a beautifully produced book.

Adrian Vincent. January 2021.