Winner of a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award
What explains the layout of the cathedral and its close? What ideas and beliefs shaped this familiar landscape? Through this pioneering study of the development of Norwich cathedral close [one of the most important buildings in medieval England] from its foundation in 1096 up to c.1700, the author looks at changes in cathedral landscape, both sacred and social. Using evidence from history, archaeology and other disciplines, Professor Gilchrist reconstructs both the landscape and buildings of the close, and the transformations in their use and meaning over time. Much emphasis is placed on the layout and the ways in which buildings and spaces were used and perceived by different groups. Patterns observed at Norwich are then placed in the context of other cathedral priories, allowing a broader picture to emerge of the development of the English cathedral landscape over six centuries.
ROBERTA GILCHRIST is professor of Archaeology at the University of Reading and President of the Society for Medieval Archaeology. From 1993 to 2005 she was Archaeologist to Norwich Cathedral. She has published extensively on medieval monasticism and social archaeology.
Reviews
Given its complementary verbal and illustrative wealth as well as its historical, archival, archaeological, and architectural historical breadth, this is a consequential book that deserves to be broadly consulted. SPECULUMThis splendid book is groundbreaking and fundamental. Immensely learned but also well written and effectively designed to be accessible to a wide audience. Essential. CHOICE
This excellent book is the most detailed treatment to date of such a landscape, packed with detail and new insights. BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGY
Splendid...triumphantly demonstrates how much more can be learnt not only about cathedral priories but about monasteries more generally. SOUTHERN HISTORY
This splendid book provides insights to both the division of a location into sacred, public, private and functional spaces, as well as investigating the various religious and social influences upon changes in a landscape through time. Always an exhilarating read. LANDSCAPE HISTORY
[A] splendid new book. [...] An impressive and important book [which] will deservedly remain for many years a standard work of reference. NORFOLK & NORWICH ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
A seminal work of scholarship: a vital reference for all future historians and archaeologists of this and other cathedral-priories. THE CHURCH TIMES
Comprehensive and well-produced. THE RICARDIAN
