A BLACKWELL'S Non-Fiction Book of the Month

'Joyous and illuminating' Sir Tony Robinson

A Book of the Year in The Times, Telegraph, Church Times and BBC History Magazine

Churches are many things to us - they are places of worship, vibrant community hubs and oases of calm reflection. To know a church is to hold a key to the past that unlocks an understanding of our shared history.

Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, acting as an informal guide to curious visitors. Church Going is his handbook to the medieval churches of the British Isles, in which he reveals their fascinating histories, features and furnishings, from flying buttresses to rood screens, lichgates to chancels. Beautifully written and richly illustrated, it is a celebration of British architectural history.

Andrew Ziminski is a stonemason, church conservator and author living and working in Frome, Somerset. He has four decades of experience working on some of the greatest cathedrals and churches in Britain, including the tower of Salisbury Cathedral and the dome of St Paul's in London. He is a SPAB William Morris Craft Fellow, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and conservation advisor to the Salisbury Diocesan advisory committee for the care of churches. He is the author of The Stonemason: A History of Building Britain.