Saints in the Landscape
By Graham Jones
Published in 2007 by Tempus Publishing, Chalford, Stroud
(www.tempus-publishing.com)
Price: £16.99
ISBN: 978 0 7524 4108 5
Saints in the Landscape is the sort of book you think
you will dip into for five minutes, perhaps to check
a church dedication, but actually emerge from a
couple of hours later, having been led on by one
fascinating detail after another. Whether you are
interested in a particular saint (say, St. Denis,
patron of horse-fairs, promoted by Royalty and,
notably for us, by Robert Grosseteste, the famous
Bishop of Lincoln who in his early years was
prebendary of Empingham) or intrigued by which
saints were associated with particular landscape
features (St. Michael with high places, St John the
Baptist with wilderness) you will find the
information here.
Dr. Jones says the work is ongoing and he welcomes
contributions but he has, himself, laid the
foundation: his many years of research are here
represented in text, an index (warning: the print is
tiny) and amazingly detailed maps. These show the
distribution of saints' names through most of Britain
and thereby make good his claim that the choice of
dedication was not random but follows patterns,
which with his help we can follow.
Reviewed by Auriol Thomson
Saints in the Landscape
By Graham Jones
Published in 2007 by Tempus Publishing, Chalford, Stroud
(www.tempus-publishing.com)
Price: £16.99
ISBN: 978 0 7524 4108 5
Saints in the Landscape is the sort of book you think you will dip into for five
minutes, perhaps to check a church dedication, but actually emerge from a
couple of hours later, having been led on by one
fascinating detail after another. Whether you
are interested in a particular saint (say,
St. Denis, patron of horse-fairs, promoted by
Royalty and, notably for us, by Robert
Grosseteste, the famous Bishop of Lincoln who
in his early years was prebendary of
Empingham) or intrigued by which saints were
associated with particular landscape features
(St. Michael with high places, St John the
Baptist with wilderness) you will find the
information here.
Dr. Jones says the work is ongoing and he
welcomes contributions but he has, himself, laid
the foundation: his many years of research are
here represented in text, an index (warning: the
print is tiny) and amazingly detailed maps.
These show the distribution of saints' names
through most of Britain and thereby make good
his claim that the choice of dedication was not
random but follows patterns, which with his help we can follow.
Reviewed by Auriol Thomson
