The Georgian parish church - Terry Friedman

This is the first substantial study of Georgian church
architecture for over 40 years and is full of new discoveries and
surprises. It consists of an overview of major developments
during the period followed by six in-depth studies of important
individual, though neglected, churches. These draw on
contemporary records which reveal much about the designing and
building of Anglican parish churches during the 18th century.
Together they explore issues which go to the very heart of the
Georgian church both as a building type and as a house of
worship: the intimate links between design materials and
technology as revealed by craftsmen's building accounts; bitter
quarrels among disgruntled parish factions; the thorny question
of 'restoring' medieval fabrics; controversies over imagery in
Protestant churches; secularising design through the use of
Palladian pattern books; dramatic reinterpretations of ancient
pagan forms for new churches; and much more besides. The six
episodes which form the heart of the book deal with St John,
Westminster; St Paul, Sheffield; St Margaret, Westminster,
Binley, Warwickshire, Ayot St Lawrence, Herts, and All Saints,
Newcastle upon Tyne.