How the Anglican church responded to population growth and the need for more accommodation, with the building of 1500 new churches, many of the finest quality. This book is the first comprehensive study of late-Georgian church-building. After centuries of post-Reformation inactivity, the Church of England began to address the desperate shortage of accommodation and build on a huge scale. Almost all the leading architects were involved and, amongst approximately 1500 new churches there are some outstanding designs; buildings of the very highest order architecturally. In this pioneering study, the churches are considered free from the Ecclesiological zeal that condemned them and has, for so long, prevented their serious study. It will celebrate the best of them and provide valuable insights into the design and planning of the whole corpus. There will be many revelations. Included is a thorough examination of the stylistic alternatives and contemporary liturgical imperatives, along with their architectural implications. And the book explores a lost world of late-Georgian churchgoing: what people expected and experienced in a church service. Also considered are some of the period's remarkable material and constructional innovations, ones often exploited in church-building, along with the provision of architectural services in the era that preceded full professionalisation.

After the death of his brother, Heorogar, in a battle with the Heathobards, a reluctant Hrothgar is appointed king. He immediately finds himself on the horns of a dilemma: does he fight the Heathobards, or does he offer his daughter, Freawaru, as a 'peaceweaver'? Either decision seems doomed to fail: his army is not big enough to win a decisive victory, but if he makes peace, his nobles will think him weak and want to remove him from the throne. Hrothgar is best known from the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf, where he appears in a background role as the king whose hall is attacked by a troll. This book aims to put Hrothgar in the foreground. His story is fleshed out with information from other sources, particularly the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus. Several other characters from Nordic legend also make an appearance: the dragon-slayer, Frodo, the Northland's greatest warrior, Starkath, and Hrothgar's berserker, Bjarki Bear-Sark.

"Who are you men, armoured in mail, who come sailing upon the sliding sea-road to the land of Britannia? Long have I held the sea-watch in season as the king's coast-warden, that no pirates might pillage the people of Vortigern. Never have I seen a noble more mighty or more haughty " This is how the British coast-warden greets Hengest, the first named Anglo-Saxon to come to Britain. After the failure of the Finnesburh mission, King Hoc exiled Hengest, and he set sail with three ships and three hundred men in the hope of serving King Vortigern as a mercenary. The story that follows is as exciting as the story of Beowulf. It includes several battles, a femme fatale (Hengest's daughter, Rowena), and characters from the Arthurian legend, including Merlin and Uther. It also includes a battle between dragons, a contest between wizards, and a clash of faiths. This reconstruction of the lost Saga of Hengest is told in a modern version of the Anglo-Saxon alliterative line and is closely based on original sources, extracts from which are given at the end of the book along with detailed notes and a bibliography.