Steeple Chasing

Around Britain by Church

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About this listen

From the author of A Tomb With a View - a celebration of the weird and wonderful churches of Britain

Churches are all around us. Their steeples remain landmarks in our towns, villages and cities, even as their influence and authority has waned. They contain art and architectural wonders - one huge gallery scattered, like a handful of jewels, across these isles.

Award-winning writer Peter Ross sets out to tell their stories, and through them a story of Britain. Join him as he visits the unassuming Norfolk church which contains a disturbing secret, and London's mighty cathedrals with their histories of fire and love. Meet cats and bats, monks and druids, angels of oak and steel.

Steeple Chasing, though it sometimes strikes an elegiac note, is a song of praise. It celebrates churches for their beauty and meaning, and for the tales they tell. It is about people as much as place, flesh and bone not just flint and stone. From the painted hells of Surrey to the holy wells of Wales, consider this a travel book . . . with bells on.

Praise for Peter Ross

'Ross is a wonderfully evocative writer, deftly capturing a sense of place and history, while bringing a deep humanity to his subject. He has written a delightful book.' - The Guardian

'Fascinating . . . Ross makes a likeably idiosyncratic guide and one finishes the book feeling strangely optimistic about the inevitable.' - The Observer

'A phenomenal, lyrical, beautiful book.' - Frank Turner

'The author's humanity has acted as a beacon of light in the darkness.' - The Sunday Times

(P) 2023 Headline Publishing Group Ltd©2023 Peter Ross

Anthropology

Architecture

Sociology

Middle Ages

Anthropology Architecture Sociology Middle Ages

Critic reviews

What makes Steeple Chasing so compelling - and it is a wonderful book; thoughtful and challenging - ... is Ross's essential kindness, his unfailing empathy with the people he meets on his pilgrimage.

A charming odyssey . . . in this lyrical love letter to churches Ross reminds us there is something worth saving and people who will make the effort.

His book is a delicious treat, and one that both believers and sceptics will enjoy.

Reading a book is another reciprocal act: if it's good, it stays with you. Ross's readers will have his words humming through them for a long time.

Lovely, lyrical, whimsical, elegiac ... Ross has a gift for making you feel you're there with him, just as awed as he is.

Ross has always had a quiet charm, and it is perhaps displayed best in this book. . . it is properly interested in humanity, especially in its complexity.

Steeple Chasing is, as you might expect from Ross, itself a beautiful object, full of delicacy and deliberation in the writing. . .a fascinating, beautifully written book full of both the strange and the terrible, but also full of grace and love.

Beautifully observed and evocatively written.

Never less than fascinating.

Steeple Chasing is a rich and often joyful account of the deeply personal roles churches still play in our communities (William Davies)

Most relevant

Splendidly written and read. What a joy this was to listen to - deep and meaningful and refreshing.