Built for beauty

Andrew Lane on church architecture websites

I GREW UP with a selection of Arthur Mee’s "King’s England" books at home. It was to these that my parents would turn when looking up a parish church they had visited. Later I discovered Pevsner’s "Buildings of England" — invaluable reference books for a DAC secretary. But, in the age of the internet, when Google is the first port of call for any enquiry, what has taken the place of these well-worn volumes? If you are trying to distinguish a corbel from a crocket, where do you start?

There are a number of websites that attempt to replace the county or area guides — many produced by individuals. Such sites are of great assistance to family historians, as well as tourists. For example, the site at www.lancashirechurches.co.uk sets out to promote local churches with straightforward navigation and clear images. Churches can be browsed by place, picture, or from a county map. Periods of church architecture are listed, including a comprehensive section on the Saxons.

An individual delight in church architecture is celebrated at the ChurchCrawler ( www.churchcrawler.co.uk) website. This features an eclectic mix of churches and cathedrals from the UK and around the world, with sections illustrating the annual crawls by members of the ChurchCrawler mailing list.

Many sites provide resources for those wishing to discover more about church architecture, whether for school projects, for "statements of significance" to accompany faculty applications, or for personal interest. The website of the Ecclesiological Society ( www.ecclsoc.org) — "for those who love churches" — provides a wealth of information about current issues, organisations involved in the care of churches, conferences, and much more.

Many architectural-history websites also contain substantial sections on church buildings. The Understanding Buildings section within the Looking at Buildings website ( www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk) features interactive graphics showing the development of cathedrals and parish churches over the centuries. Links to a comprehensive glossary back up this impressive site.

Interest in medieval church architecture is widespread — the New York Carver website ( http://www.newyorkcarver.com ) has pages about all things medieval, including gothic geometry and an extensive list of resources for school homework.

A project undertaken at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts examines the 15th-century autobiography of Margery Kempe — Mapping Margery Kempe ( www.holycross.edu/departments/visarts/projects/kempe/). The site offers a virtual tour of an imaginary but typical 15th-century East Anglian church. The composite church attempts to give the viewer a sense of the elements that make up a parish church of the period, using images from real East Anglian examples.

Those who are interested in building churches for the future might find an article at ChristianityToday.com interesting, entitled "Church Architecture for the 21st Century — a futurist speculates about church buildings that will embrace new ways of learning" ( www.christianitytoday.com ). The author lays out his Ten Commandments for architecture for the post-modern church. New churches today are built to a budget, whereas our ancestors built to the glory of God with little regard, it often seems, to budgets, timescales or health and safety. This article urges us to "provide the sky in which souls may soar", as we provide for the changing needs of worshippers.

Despite the plethora of internet resources, many still like to keep their favourite book on churches close to hand, especially when touring. It is comforting to know that the Pevsner Architectural Guides (www.pevsner.co.uk) are still available and that the King’s England Press ( www.kingsengland.com ) is reprinting Arthur Mee’s classic volumes.

Andrew Lane is Secretary of the Southwark Diocesan Advisory Committee.