History & Reference Books

The cathedrals of England and Wales are remarkable buildings. From the centuries leading up to the Norman Conquest to the tumults of the Reformation to the devastating wars of the twentieth century, they carry traces of our nations’ darkest moments and...

At a time of increased pressure for new urban development, where there is a focus on either object-based architecture or the rolling out of developer-designed suburban sprawl, there is a concern that the lessons learned about the creation of a general...

Everyday life in the teeming metropolis during William Shakespeare's time in the city. Shakespeare's London was a bustling, teeming metropolis that was growing so rapidly that the government took repeated, and ineffectual, steps to curb its expansion...

In July 1998, ten statues of martyrs of the twentieth century were unveiled surmounting the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey. These statues were intended to represent those millions of individuals who suffered for their faith in Christ in the...

Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Millicent Fawcett, Emmeline Pankhurst, Constance Markievicz, Nancy Astor They terrorised the establishment. They fought for the vote. They pushed back boundaries and revolutionised our world. For the...

Meet Charles Ignatius Sancho: his extraordinary story, hidden for three hundred years, is about to be told. I had little right to live, born on a slave ship where my parents both died. But I survived, and indeed, you might say I did more… It’s 1746 and...

This 24 page publication takes an in-depth look at the Tomb of the 'Unknown Warrior' at Westminster Abbey. Written by James Wilkinson, it looks at the idea behind the Unknown Soldier, the selection of the deceased, the journey of the coffin and the...

The first performance of Handel’s 'Messiah' in Dublin in 1742 is now legendary. Gentlemen were asked to leave their swords at home and ladies to come without hoops in their skirts in order to fit more people into the audience. Why then, did this now...

The Queen’s Coronation, on 2 June 1953, should have been celebrated in blazing sunshine. Instead, it was one of the coldest June days in years, and it poured with rain. The enthusiasm of the hundreds of thousands of people who lined the streets waiting...

In our increasingly secular world, holy texts are at best seen as irrelevant, and at worst as an excuse to incite violence, hatred and division. The Quran, the Torah and the Bible are often employed selectively to underwrite arbitrary and subjective...

Ground-breaking new studies of Henry V's chapel, tomb and funeral service have new revelations and insights into the time.Before Henry V set out in 1415 on the campaign which culminated in victory at Agincourt, he made a will laying down precise...

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which opened in June 2018, are an exciting new development in the history of Westminster Abbey.  The eastern triforium, which runs around the Abbey's interior 16 metres above floor level, has been transformed into...