Andrew Ziminski

Andrew Ziminski has spent decades as a stonemason and church conservator, 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.

Many churches are less well used than at any other time in their existence, and their quietness often gives the impression that they have always been sleepy and out of the way. For many centuries, they were the most prominent and busiest building in their community. They now offer as close an encounter with the past as it is possible to get.

Church Going is a 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.

Andrew Ziminski 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.

‘A beautiful book – in which curiosity, hand-skill and creativity combine in a hymn to craftsmanship, and vernacular and sacred architecture. Ziminski is a rare and wonderful voice’ Rory Stewart

‘Fascinating – a masterly guide to the detail and meaning but also to the glory of Britain’s now most endangered heritage’ Simon Jenkins