Forgotten Churches: Exploring England's Hidden Treasures: The Sunday Times Bestseller

The Sunday Times bestseller Discover England’s Most Beautiful and Overlooked Churches with Forgotten Churches: Exploring England’s Hidden Treasures  For centuries, England’s churches have stood as quiet witnesses to history, filled with remarkable craftsmanship, untold stories, and layers of cultural heritage. Yet many of these extraordinary buildings remain overlooked – until now.  Luke Sherlock, or @englishpilgrim, has spent years travelling the length and breadth of England, uncovering hidden architectural gems and sharing their beauty with thousands online. In Forgotten Churches, he invites you on a journey through 70 of the country’s most atmospheric churches, from thousand-year-old Saxon chapels and striking Gothic landmarks to hidden Romanesque sanctuaries and ornate Victorian treasures.  From the remote landscapes of Cornwall to the Norfolk fens, the Derbyshire dales and the Somerset hills, Sherlock reveals the forgotten stories of these extraordinary places – of local communities, master builders, and the shifting tides of history – while capturing the magic of stepping into these timeless spaces. Whether you love history, architecture, or simply the charm of England’s rural landscapes, this book is your guide to discovering some of the nation’s best-kept secrets.  Forgotten Churches is the perfect compendium for history enthusiasts, architecture lovers, and anyone who finds inspiration in England’s vivid and storied past. 

Table of Contents:
Full list of churches included in the book: St Peter Edensor, Derbyshire St John the Baptist Chelmorton, Derbyshire St Mary and St Barlok Norbury, Derbyshire St John the Baptist Tideswell, Derbyshire All Saints Brixworth, Northamptonshire St Martin Canterbury, Kent St Peter-on-the-Wall Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex St Lawrence Eyam, Derbyshire St Mary Breamore, Hampshire St Laurence Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire St John the Baptist, Barnack Cambridgeshire St John’s Chapel Tower of London St Mary & St David Kilpeck, Herefordshire Hospital of St Cross and Almshouse of Noble Poverty, Winchester, Hampshire St Germans Priory St Germans, Cornwall Dore Abbey Abbey Dore, Herefordshire St Mary the Virgin Iffley, Oxfordshire St Mary the Virgin West Walton, Norfolk The Church of St Margaret Little Faringdon, Oxfordshire Hexham Abbey Hexham, Northumberland The Church of St Margaret of Antioch  Stoke Golding, Leicestershire St Cuthbert Fishlake, Yorkshire St Andrew Heckington, Lincolnshire Collegiate Church of Holy Trinity  Tattershall, Lincolnshire Priory Church of St Mary the Virgin  Steeple Ashton, Wiltshire St Mary the Virgin Berkeley, Gloucestershire St Mary the Virgin Isle Abbotts, Somerset St Mary the Virgin Woolpit, Suffolk St Mary Magdalene Croome D’Abitot, Worcestershire St Mary Old Dilton, Wiltshire St John Westminster, London St Mary Woolnoth City of London St James Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire St Giles Wimborne St Giles, Dorset St Michael Duntisbourne Rouse, Gloucestershire St Enodoc Trebetherick, Cornwall St Senara Zennor, Cornwall St Just St Just in Roseland, Cornwall Watts Cemetery Chapel Compton, Surrey St Bartholomew the Great City of London St Peter Southease, East Sussex St John Duxford, Cambridgeshire St Peter Walpole St Peter, Norfolk St Beuno Culbone, Somerset St John the Baptist Inglesham, Wiltshire All Saints Babworth, Nottinghamshire Binham Priory Binham, Norfolk St John the Baptist Burford, Oxfordshire St Mary & All Saints Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire Jordans Meeting House Jordans, Buckinghamshire The Church of St Andrew Mells, Somerset Temple Church City of London The Church of the Holy Trinity Blythburgh, Suffolk St Mary of the Assumption Ufford, Suffolk St John the Baptist Plymtree, Devon St Helen Ranworth, Norfolk St Mary the Virgin Ewelme, Oxfordshire St Mary the Virgin Sparham, Norfolk St Peter & St Paul Chaldon, Surrey St Peter Wenhaston, Suffolk St Michael Castle Frome, Herefordshire St Edward Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire The Church of St Mary Fairford, Gloucestershire St Mary the Virgin Higham, Kent St Peter Wiggenhall St Peter, Norfolk St John the Baptist Sutterby, Lincolnshire All Saints Saltfleetby, Lincolnshire All Saints Walesby, Lincolnshire St Cuthbert Bewcastle, Cumbria St Ninian Brougham, Cumbria St Cyriac Lacock, Wiltshire

About the Author :
Luke Sherlock is a writer, pilgrim and book shop owner with a boundless enthusiasm for heritage and art. There's little he enjoys more than throwing on a backpack, heading off down some unknown footpath and pausing to explore a hushed, ancient church along the way. His writing covers historic landmarks and the landscapes they sit within. Luke grew up exploring the Peak District of Derbyshire, a landscape that inspired his deep yearning to hit the ancient routes that criss-cross England. On social media Luke shares photos of his travels on instagram as @englishpilgrim.Ioana Pioaru is a Romanian-British artist living in West Sussex, UK. She works with a variety of media, ranging from traditional drawing and printmaking to VR art-making and holography. She has exhibited internationally with both group and solo shows.

Review :
'A truly lovely collaboration between writer and artist; born of expertise, skill and shared passion for these "forgotten churches", and the treasures of craft, knowledge and memory that they hold.' 'Beautifully written and illustrated, Forgotten Churches makes me want to embark upon small pilgrimages to all the wonderful places in its pages.' ‘This is a beautiful book of green footpaths, cool shadows and sunbeams through stained-glass: a lovingly crafted portal to a precious, precarious inheritance.’  'A perfect combination of text and image working together to convey a sense of exploration, discovery and fascination with England's past...Doing for the English church what Robert Macfarlane and others have done for personal Nature writing.' 'Luke brings his experience and knack for story-telling into print, coupled with the gorgeous artwork of loana Pioaru…Luke’s poetic writing will transport you to the cobwebbed rafters and flagstone floors of these national treasures.'