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Round the Cloisters (Mick Escott) 49 Cathedrals of England, Wales & the Isle of Man
Product Description
Mick Escott has visited 42 Anglican cathedrals in England, six in Wales and one in the Isle of Man. They are the best, and biggest, pieces of working art we have.
This book will appeal to the curious tourist with a penchant for cathedrals, or anyone who wants a good read. It could serve as an off-beat guide to cathedral hopping.
Through tours all over the country, with companions, the author writes with passion and wit of what is special about the buildings, introducing topics of the past and present. Among others he meets bishops and deans, contraltos and cleaners, organists and organ builders.
The trek is sometimes combined with other enjoyment, from refectory to pub, from stage to pitch. The remit extends to an occasional abbey or church in the course of the tour, a Roman Catholic foray or two, even a quarry.
Appendices are included giving intriguing information, some bizarre, such as a survey of cathedral cats and league tables of favourite cathedrals.
'… a fascinating journey undertaken in the spirit of fresh engagement with the cathedrals of England and Wales… full of interest, acute observation and anecdote, but does not ignore the impact of current events and social change… As ever, in our cathedrals, old and new worlds meet.'
Simon Russell Beale
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Product Reviews
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A Book of Delights
Posted by Dorothy Benison on 31st Dec 2011
This is a lovely book full of interesting insights.It is like wandering round a Cathedral with a friend and gently pointing things out to each other. It comes highly recommended to be read before or after visiting a Cathedral - a pocket guide it is not!
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Beautifully written
Posted by Unknown on 14th Dec 2011
The book is beautifully written, fascinating and most original...'
Retired school teacher/academic (Gloucestershire).
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A beautiful book
Posted by Michael Hoadley on 2nd Dec 2011
Mick Escott who has already established himself as a social historian with his book Round The Turnstyles has turned his attention to Cathedrals.
This is a tome. But it is not a dry and dusty one. For all of its 582 pages it is a surprisingly easy, quick, and engaging read due, in part, to the author's facility with the English Language, but also due to his ability to draw the reader along with him, like a personal friend, on a Pickwickian tour of the Cathedrals of England, Wales, and the Isle of Man.
In Round The Cloisters, past and present meet and Mick Escott, more capably than anyone else I have read on the subject, shows that our Cathedrals are vibrant, living places and not mere mausoleums.
The author waxes elegiacally over the art, architecture, music, history, archaeology, and cats of our Cathedrals.
The photographs, arranged like tantalizing vignettes, have been taken with imagination and consummate skill by the author.
My favourite chapters (Cathedrals) are Winchester, for family connections, St Albans, for the memory of a visit more than 40 years ago with the author, and Ely for its haunting fenland location.
This is a beautiful book that I will be dipping in and out of for years to come.
Michael Hoadley
author of A Romany Tapestry
