Cornwall Peter Beacham, Nikolaus Pevsner

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Series:: Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England
Format:: Hardback
Publication date:: 05 Jun 2014
ISBN:: 9780300126686
Imprint:: Yale University Press
Dimensions:: 800 pages: 216 x 108mm
Illustrations:: 120 color illus.

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Architecture »

Cornwall was the first volume in the Buildings of England series, published in 1951. This extensively revised edition brings much new research to bear on the history of the county’s buildings, beginning with its rich prehistoric remains and early Christian structures and monuments including numerous Celtic crosses and holy wells. The high towers of the village churches, manor houses such as Cotehele, and the distinctive white-walled cottages in the villages and fishing towns contribute to Cornwall’s unique, picturesque landscape. Cornwall is home to major country houses, including the spectacular castle of St Michael’s Mount, as well as the greatest English cathedral of the Victorian age at Truro. The architectural legacy of industry is also of considerable importance, from the net houses of the fishing industry to the tapering engine-house chimneys of the tin mines.

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Peter Beacham is an Anglican priest who was until recently heritage protection director for English Heritage. He is a member of the Architectural Panel of the National Trust. He contributed to the Devon volume of The Buildings of England.

‘Undeniably, the Buildings of England is a stupendous achievement, unequalled in any other country, and any lover of architecture, pottering around with a volume at his side, must sing a constant Te Deum for its beneficent present publisher Yale.’—Christopher Howse, The Daily Telegraph

‘An important milestone in Yale’s revision of the whole series. . .the variety and idiosyncrasy of Cornwall’s heritage that this books conveys is compelling, from the fogou at Chysauster or the preaching pit at Gwennap to the Old Post Office at Tintagel, Prideaux Place and the biomes of the Eden Project. How can you not visit again with the new Pevsner in hand?’ —John Goodall, Country Life

‘The Pevsner series is gradually being updated, and Peter Beacham and colleagues have made a splendid job of the Cornish volume. . .the modern scholars, more than the Herr Professor, have conveyed that mysterious thing, a sense of place.’—A.N.Wilson, The Daily Telegraph

‘While revering both Pevsner and Betjeman, what Peter Beacham has done with the latest Cornwall is to perform magic: he has brought the two together. In consequence it’s a wonderful guidebook. . .Yale University Press made an inspired choice in Beacham. Not only is he a lyrical and sometimes funny writer with a true gift for evoking place, but he also cares passionately about architecture and about doing full justice to Cornwall. . .If anyone understands and loves Cornwall, Peter Beacham does.’—Candida Lycett Gree, The Spectator

‘Germanic correctness has been supplanted by something more English, closer to Betjeman’s poetical evocations of standing stones, holy wells and the small fry of fisher cottages, miners’ terraces, tabernacles and windy tamerisk-fringed holiday houses.’—Ruth Guilding, Times Literary Supplement

'Wonderful year for Pevsner, or rather for us who use the guides as we potter about. Four new vols: Bedfordshire, Somerset, Cornwall, Cambridgeshire, too big for the pocket, but a reasonable £35 a kick, thanks to Yale. A triumph of perseverance.'—Christopher Howse, The Spectator