Liturgy, Architecture, and Sacred Places in Anglo-Saxon England

a deeply thoughtful and important volume that brings together divergent and disparate sources, and combines them into a persuasive and well-argued whole it is certainly a masterful introduction to the subject, adding an important new perspective to the Anglo-Saxon sacred place. It is of great value to historians and archaeologists alike. * Ian Riddler, The Archaeological Journal *
excellent and timely ... a learned book, with gratifyingly wide references ... beautifully written by someone with a gift for communication. This is a book we have needed for years. * David Stocker, Landscape History *
a serious attempt to establish an understandinig of how sacred places were used and experienced ... a welcome addition to our understanding of many aspects of the relationship between buildings and the celebration of the worship of God. * Graham Duncan, Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae *
a wide-ranging work of considerable erudition, examining the architectural context of a variety of religious rites: consecration of churches and cemeteries; processions; relics and shrines. * Northern History *
this exciting research sheds new light on the Anglo-Saxon Church and offers a new way of understanding church buildings and liturgy more generally. * Revd Dr William Whyte, Church Times *
Gittos's success in achieving her primary aim of explaining how Anglo-Saxon churches were used and experienced. She has produced an authoritative and convincing exploration of the liturgical uses of Anglo-Saxon architecture, and of the architectural awareness of early medieval liturgists. Future studies of the other, less concrete, aspects of worship and belief in pre-Conquest England will be indebted to this book for so fully reconstructing the physical setting that framed and shaped them. * Richard Sowerby, Early Medieval Europe *
Gittos raises important questions about religious practices and the evidence for them * Helen Foxhall Forbes, Current Archaeology *
Taken as a whole, the book is successful in showing how different kinds of evidence can be brought together in a mutually illuminating way. Those with serious interest in the Anglo-Saxon Church and in Anglo-Saxon churches should find much of interest in both the method and the content. * P.S. Barnwell, Ecclesiology Today *
a substantial contribution to Anglo-Saxon and liturgical studies... a doorway to further study in this fascinating field. * David Thomson, Anaphora *
a very solid piece of scholarship, likely to be of lasting value. Anyone with an interest in sacred places in Anglo-Saxon England will find something useful in this book; indeed, it will doubtless be a key jumping-off point for new research on the subject for many years to come. * T.B. Lambert, The English Historical Review *
This is an excellent book. * Paul Everson, Archa Verbi *