Book Description

An Architectural History of Peterborough clarifies the obscure and tangled building history of one of England's most interesting medieval monuments. Lisa Reilly demonstrates how Peterborough offers extensive information concerning both specific buildings such as Canterbury and broader issuesof the period such as the process of cultural assimiliation, patterns of construction and building design as a response to liturgical needs. This study represents an expansion of the traditional use of formal and archaeological analysis to include a discussion of the building's social and politicalcontext. The entire fabric is discussed, from its Anglo-Saxon remains,the Anglo-Norman construction of the nave, choir and transepts, the early Gothic period which produced its well-known west front through to the final construction of its fan-vaulted retrochoir at the very end of the Middle Ages.Peterborough Cathedral is the best-preserved example of Anglo-Norman architecture, and provides an ideal case study for the period.