Nicola Coldstream – författare

Medieval architecture comprises more than the traditional image of Gothic cathedrals and the castles of chivalry. A great variety of buildings - synagogues, halls, and barns - testifies to the diverse communities and interests in western Europe in the centuries between 1150 and 1550.This book looks at their architecture from an entirely fresh perspective. It shifts the emphasis away from such areas as France towards the creativity of other regions, including central Europe and Spain. It treats the subject thematically, seeking what all buildings, both religious and secular, have in common, and how they reflect the material and spiritual concerns of the people who built and used them. It considers how and why, after four centuries of shaping the landscapes and urban patterns of Europe, medieval styles were superseded by classicism.

Originally published in 1981, The Later Middle Ages bridges the gap between modern and medieval language and literature, by introducing the social and intellectual milieu in which writers like Chaucer, Malory and Margery Kempe lived. It provides a unified and coherent account of the culture of late medieval England, and of the problems involved in viewing it, in relation to English literature. The book covers the history of ideas and education, art and architecture, and changes in the social, economic and political structure.

Originally published in 1981, The Later Middle Ages bridges the gap between modern and medieval language and literature, by introducing the social and intellectual milieu in which writers like Chaucer, Malory and Margery Kempe lived. It provides a unified and coherent account of the culture of late medieval England, and of the problems involved in viewing it, in relation to English literature. The book covers the history of ideas and education, art and architecture, and changes in the social, economic and political structure.

Oxfordshire, once part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, has always been a wealthy county. Its landscapes vary from the chalk and beechwood Chiltern Hills in the south to the limestone uplands of the Cotswolds in the north-west, which give very fine building stone. The land supports arable and sheep farming, and is watered by the River Thames and its many tributaries. All this is reflected in the variety of its church buildings, architecture that is not necessarily grand but is exceptionally beautiful and atmospheric.This book looks at a small, representative selection of buildings and their contents, some proudly in towns, others settled into their rural landscapes. Since church buildings were almost always modified over the centuries, any that date from the Middle Ages are apt to contain features from several periods. Some have been chosen because they still show their Anglo-Saxon origins. Some are here for their surviving wall paintings, some for remarkable tombs. Work of exceptional Gothic Revival architects is included, as are one or two twentieth-century buildings. Nonconformists are represented by the eighteenth-century Baptist Chapel at Cote and the contemporary Quaker Meeting House at Burford.Illustrated throughout, Churches of Oxfordshire will be of interest to local historians, residents and visitors to the county.

The county of Gloucestershire has a rich and varied past which is reflected in its historic churches. The landscape is dominated by two principal features – the River Severn and the Cotswold hills – and Gloucestershire’s churches help demonstrate the changing face of the county, from the Forest of Dean to the Cotswold escarpment, the Severn Vale to the watery southern boundary by the River Thames. In Churches of Gloucestershire, author Nicola Coldstream explores a selection of the most interesting churches across the whole of the county, both well known and those waiting to be discovered by a wider audience. The buildings range from rural and urban churches, dating from the Anglo-Saxons to the modern age, some displaying Gloucestershire’s wealth from the medieval wool trade, others its industrial past. Selected for their architectural interest or their contents such as tombs, fonts and wall paintings, interesting Roman Catholic and Nonconformist buildings are also included.This fascinating picture of an important part of the history of Gloucestershire over the centuries will be of interest to all those who live in or are visiting this attractive county in England.