Pevsner Architectural Guides

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The Pevsner Architectural Guides are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. The Buildings of England series was begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its 46 original volumes published between 1951 and 1974. The fifteen volumes in the Buildings of Scotland series were completed between 1978 and 2016, and the ten in the Buildings of Wales series between 1979 and 2009. The volumes in all three series have been periodically revised by various authors. The Buildings of Ireland series was begun in 1979 and remains incomplete, with six volumes published. A standalone volume covering the Isle of Man was published in 2023.

The series were published by Penguin Books until 2002, when they were sold to Yale University Press.

Origin and research methods[edit]

After moving to the United Kingdom from his native Germany as a refugee in the 1930s, Nikolaus Pevsner found that the study of architectural history had little status in academic circles, and that the amount of information available, especially to travellers wanting to inform themselves about the architecture of a particular district, was limited. To rectify this shortcoming, when he was invited to suggest ideas for future publications by Allen Lane, the founder of Penguin Books, he proposed a series of comprehensive architectural guides to the English counties.

Work on the The Buildings of England began in 1945. Lane employed two part-time assistants, both German refugee art historians, who prepared notes for Pevsner from published sources. Pevsner, who held positions at Birkbeck College, University of London and the University of Cambridge, spent the academic holidays touring the country to make personal observations and to carry out local research, before writing up the finished volumes. The first of the original forty-six volumes, Cornwall, was published in 1951, and the last, Staffordshire, in 1974.

Pevsner wrote thirty-two volumes himself and ten with collaborators. A further four of the original series were written by other authors: the two Gloucestershire volumes by David Verey, and the two volumes on Kent by John Newman. The first volume of The Buildings of Scotland was published in 1978, and the first volumes in The Buildings of Wales and The Buildings of Ireland in 1979. Revisions to the original English series began in 1962, and continued after Pevsner's death in 1983. Several volumes are now in their third or fourth revisions, and the last unrevised first edition, Staffordshire, will be updated in June 2024.

The Buildings of England[edit]

The books are compact and intended to meet the needs of both specialists and the general reader. Each contains an extensive introduction to the architectural history and styles of the area, followed by a town-by-town – and in the case of larger settlements, street-by-street – account of individual buildings. These are often grouped under the heading "Perambulation", as Pevsner intended the books to be used as the reader was walking about the area. The guides offer both detailed coverage of the most notable buildings and notes on lesser-known and vernacular buildings; all building types are covered but there is a particular emphasis on churches and public buildings. Each volume has a central section with several dozen pages of photographs, originally in black and white, though colour illustrations have featured in revised volumes published by Yale University Press since 2003.

Boundaries[edit]

The volumes originally used the boundaries of the historic counties of England, which were current at the time of writing.[1] They largely continue to use the historic boundaries, but have been partially updated to reflect changes in London, Birmingham and the Black Country, and Cumbria. The volume on the historic county of Middlesex, for example, has been superseded by three of the six volumes covering the Greater London area, whereas Tyne and Wear, which was established from parts of County Durham and Northumberland in 1974, is covered in the volumes about those two counties.

Volumes in print and their editions[edit]

The list below is of the volumes that are currently in print.

Since 1962, the guides have undergone a gradual programme of updating to reflect architectural-history scholarship and to include significant new buildings. Pevsner left virtually all the revisions to others, acting as supervisor only. He ultimately revised only two of his original editions alone: London 1: The Cities of London and Westminster (1962) and Cambridgeshire (1970). Both were later revised again by others. The programme of revision of first editions will be completed in June 2024 with publication of the second edition of Staffordshire, the first edition of which was published in 1974.

Until 1953, all volumes were published in paperback only, after which both hardback and paperback versions were issued. The revision of London: 1 in 1962 was the first volume to be issued in hardback alone, and no further paperbacks were issued after 1964. Until 1970 volumes bore a sequential BE reference number, with Cornwall being BE1. The last volume to be so numbered was Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and the Forest of Dean (BE41). Thereafter ISBNs identify each volume. Beginning in 1983, a larger format was introduced, and all subsequent new editions have been issued in this format. Volumes revised pre-1983 were reprinted in the original, smaller format. As of 2024, Staffordshire is the last remaining edition to be available in this smaller format. All editions are now published by Yale University Press.

Where revisions have been spread over more than one volume, the preceding edition remains in print until the whole area has been revised.

Current volumes
Title Publication date Authors Revision Current ISBN
Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough 2014 Charles O'Brien, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-20821-4
Berkshire 2010 Geoffrey Tyack, Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12662-4
Birmingham and the Black Country 2022 Andy Foster, Nikolaus Pevsner, Alexandra Wedgwood Second 978-0-300-22391-0
Buckinghamshire 1994 Nikolaus Pevsner, Elizabeth Williamson Second 978-0-300-09584-5
Cambridgeshire 2015 Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0-300-20596-1
Cheshire 2011 Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-17043-6
Cornwall 2014 Peter Beacham Third 978-0-300-12668-6
County Durham 2021 Martin Roberts, Nikolaus Pevsner, Elizabeth Williamson Third 978-0-300-22504-4
Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland, and Furness 2010 Matthew Hyde, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12663-1
Derbyshire 2016 Clare Hartwell, Nikolaus Pevsner, Elizabeth Williamson Third 978-0-300-21559-5
Devon 1991 Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-09596-8
Dorset 2018 Michael Hill, John Newman, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-22478-8
Essex 2007 James Bettley, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0-300-11614-4
Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds 1999 David Verey, Alan Brooks Third 978-0-300-09604-0
Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and Forest of Dean 2002 David Verey, Alan Brooks Third 978-0-300-09733-7
Hampshire: South 2018 Charles O'Brien, Bruce Bailey, Nikolaus Pevsner, David W. Lloyd Second 978-0-300-22503-7
Hampshire: Winchester and the North 2010 Michael Bullen, Rodney Hubbuck, John Crook, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12084-4
Herefordshire 2012 Alan Brooks, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12575-7
Hertfordshire 2019 James Bettley, Nikolaus Pevsner, Bridget Cherry Third 978-0-300-09611-8
Isle of Wight 2006 David W. Lloyd, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-10733-3
Kent: North East and East 2013 John Newman Fourth 978-0-300-18506-5
Kent: West and the Weald 2012 Nikolaus Pevsner, John Newman Third 978-0-300-18509-6
Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West 2006 Richard Pollard, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-10910-8
Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East 2004 Clare Hartwell, Matthew Hyde, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-10583-4
Lancashire: North 2009 Clare Hartwell, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12667-9
Leicestershire and Rutland 1984 Nikolaus Pevsner, Elizabeth Williamson Second 978-0-300-09618-7
Lincolnshire 1989 Nikolaus Pevsner, John Harris, Nicholas Antram Second 978-0-300-09620-0
London 1: The City of London 1977 Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner Fourth 978-0-300-09624-8
London 2: South 1983 Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-09651-4
London 3: North West 1991 Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-09652-1
London 4: North 1998 Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-09653-8
London 5: East 2005 Charles O'Brien, Bridget Cherry, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0-300-10701-2
London 6: Westminster 2003 Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner Fourth 978-0-300-09595-1
Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East 1997 Nikolaus Pevsner, Bill Wilson Second 978-0-300-09607-1
Norfolk 2: North-West and South 1999 Nikolaus Pevsner, Bill Wilson Second 978-0-300-09657-6
Northamptonshire 2013 Bruce Bailey, Nikolaus Pevsner, Bridget Cherry Third 978-0-300-18507-2
Northumberland 1992 Nikolaus Pevsner, Ian Richmond, John Grundy, Grace McCombie, Peter Ryder, Humphrey Welfare Second 978-0-300-09638-5
Nottinghamshire 2020 Clare Hartwell, Nikolaus Pevsner, Elizabeth Williamson Third 978-0-300-24783-1
Oxfordshire North and West 2017 Alan Brooks, Jennifer Sherwood Second 978-0-300-20930-3
Oxfordshire: Oxford and the South-East 2023 Simon Bradley, Nikolaus Pevsner, Jennifer Sherwood Second 978-0-300-20929-7
Shropshire 2006 John Newman, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12083-7
Somerset: North and Bristol 2011 Andrew Foyle, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-12658-7
Somerset: South and West 2014 Julian Orbach, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-20740-8
Staffordshire 1974 Nikolaus Pevsner First 978-0-300-21835-0
Suffolk: East 2015 James Bettley, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0-300-19654-2
Suffolk: West 2015 James Bettley, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0-300-19655-9
Surrey 2022 Charles O'Brien, Ian Nairn, Bridget Cherry Third 978-0-300-23478-7
Sussex: East: with Brighton and Hove 2013 Nicholas Antram, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-18473-0
Sussex: West 2019 Elizabeth Williamson, Tim Hudson, Jeremy Musson, Ian Nairn Second 978-0-300-22521-1
Warwickshire 2016 Chris Pickford, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-21560-1
Wiltshire 2021 Julian Orbach, Nikolaus Pevsner, Bridget Cherry Third 978-0-300-25120-3
Worcestershire 2007 Alan Brooks, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-11298-6
Yorkshire: The North Riding 2023 Jane Grenville, Nikolaus Pevsner Second 978-0-300-25903-2
Yorkshire: West Riding: Bradford, Leeds, and the North 2009 Peter Leach, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0-300-12665-5
Yorkshire: West Riding: Sheffield and the South 2017 Ruth Harman, Nikolaus Pevsner Third 978-0300-22468-9
Yorkshire: York and the East Riding 1995 Nikolaus Pevsner, David Neave Second 978-0-300-09593-7

City Guides[edit]

The first of the paperback City Guides, covering Manchester, appeared in 2001. It featured a new format with integrated colour illustrations. In most cases the City Guides have preceded a revision of the county volume in which they are located, although they do go into greater detail than the county volumes and have more illustrations. Thus the Birmingham guide completely supersedes the central Birmingham section of the Warwickshire volume, which is now almost fifty years old. Two of the guides, covering Newcastle and Gateshead and Hull, are more recent than the hardback editions for the surrounding counties, and therefore update as well as expand the coverage of those cities. This series appears to be on a hiatus, with no new volumes published since 2010 and none confirmed as in planning.

Title of current edition First
edition
Co-author(s)
or sole author
Current ISBN
Bath 2003 Michael Forsyth 978-0-300-10177-5
Birmingham 2005 Andy Foster 978-0-300-10731-9
Brighton and Hove 2002 Nicholas Antram, Richard Morrice 978-0-300-12661-7
Bristol 2008 Andrew Foyle 978-0-300-10442-4
Hull 2010 David Neave, Susan Neave 978-0-300-10702-9
Leeds 2005 Susan Wrathmell 978-0-300-14172-6
Liverpool 2003 Joseph Sharples 978-0-300-10258-1
Manchester 2001 Clare Hartwell 978-0-300-09666-8
Newcastle and Gateshead 2009 Grace McCombie 978-0-300-12664-8
Nottingham 2008 Elain Harwood 978-0-300-12666-2
Sheffield 2004 Ruth Harman, John Minnis 978-0-300-10585-8

Two supplementary works – thus far the only of their type – were published in 1998, one covering London's City Churches and the other the Docklands area (see London Docklands in Superseded and unpublished volumes below). Both were issued in the format of the main series rather than the City Guides. However, unlike the Docklands edition which represented preliminary work for an expanded main volume, the City Churches volume augmented the text in London 1: The City, published the previous year. The continued development of the Docklands area meant that the volume was superseded when London 5: East was published seven years later, but the City Churches volume remains current and was reissued by Yale in 2002.

The Buildings of Scotland[edit]

The first volume of The Buildings of Scotland was Lothian, except Edinburgh, which was written by Colin McWilliam and published in 1978. Nikolaus Pevsner was enthusiastic about establishing a Scottish series, having responded warmly to an unrealised 1959 suggestion by the architectural historian Andor Gomme that the latter could produce the series. A major contributor to the Scottish series is John Gifford, who before his death in 2013 authored five volumes and oversaw research on all but one of the remainder.[2]

After Lothian, which was the only volume published in the original small format, a major task was producing Edinburgh (1984) and Glasgow (1990), which were ambitious in their scope of coverage of urban buildings. The remainder of Scotland was covered in the following decades, with the final volume, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire, published in 2016.[2] A revision of Lothian was published in 2024, the first full revision of a Scottish volume.[3]

The series is organised using a mixture of Scotland's current council areas (e.g. Highland and Islands) and its historic shires (e.g. Fife and Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire). Some of the Scottish volumes are internally subdivided; for example, Argyll and Bute has separate gazetteers for mainland Argyll, its islands, and Bute. Unlike The Buildings of England, none of the Scottish volumes adopt a hierarchy of ecclesiastical buildings, instead grouping them together.

Current volumes
Title Publication date Authors Revision Current ISBN
Aberdeenshire: North and Moray 2015 David W. Walker, Matthew Woodworth First 978-0-300-20428-5
Aberdeenshire: South and Aberdeen 2015 Joseph Sharples, David W. Walker, Matthew Woodworth First 978-0-300-21555-7
Argyll and Bute 2002 Frank Arneil Walker First 978-0-300-09670-5
Ayrshire and Arran 2012 Rob Close, Anne Riches First 978-0-300-14170-2
Borders 2006 Kitty Cruft, John Dunbar, Richard Fawcett First 978-0-300-10702-9
Dumfries and Galloway 1996 John Gifford First 978-0-300-09671-2
Dundee and Angus 2012 John Gifford First 978-0-300-14171-9
Edinburgh 1984 John Gifford, Colin McWilliam, David Walker First 978-0-300-09672-9
Fife 1988 John Gifford First 978-0-300-09673-6
Glasgow 1990 Elizabeth Williamson, Anne Riches, Malcom Higgs First 978-0-300-09674-3
Highland and Islands 1992 John Gifford First 978-0-300-09625-5
Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire 2016 Rob Close, John Gifford, Frank Arneil Walker First 978-0-300-21558-8
Lothian 2024 Jane Geddes, Ian Gow, Aonghus Mackechnie, Chris Tabraham, Colin McWilliam Second 978-0-300-09626-2
Perth and Kinross 2007 John Gifford First 978-0-300-10922-1
Stirling and Central Scotland 2002 John Gifford, Frank Arneil Walker First 978-0-300-09594-4

The Buildings of Wales[edit]

The series has also been extended to Wales, and was completed with the issue of Gwynedd in 2009. Only the first volume, Powys (1979), appeared in the original small format style; this volume has now been superseded by a revised large-format edition, published in 2013. The volumes of the series are organised using a combination of the current principal areas (e.g. Pembrokeshire), the preserved counties (e.g. Gwynedd), and the historic counties (e.g. Glamorgan).

Current volumes
Title Publication date Authors Revision Current ISBN
Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion 2006 Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach, Robert Scourfield First 978-0-300-10179-9
Clwyd (Denbighshire and Flintshire) 2003 Edward Hubbard Second 978-0-300-09627-9
Glamorgan 1995 John Newman First 978-0-300-09629-3
Gwent/Monmouthshire 2000 John Newman First 978-0-300-09630-9
Gwynedd 2009 Richard Haslam, Julian Orbach, Adam Voelcker First 978-0-300-14169-6
Pembrokeshire 2004 Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach, Robert Scourfield First 978-0-300-10178-2
Powys: Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire 2013 Robert Scourfield, Richard Haslam Second 978-0-300-18508-9

The Buildings of Ireland[edit]

The Irish series is incomplete, with six volumes being published between 1979 and 2020. Research is underway some of the remaining five volumes: Belfast, Antrim, and County Down; Connacht/Connaught; Dublin: County; Munster, except Cork; and South Leinster[a]. The series generally uses the traditional provinces and counties of Ireland as its boundaries and ignores the Irish border.

Current volumes
Title of current edition First
edition
Co-author(s)
or sole author
Current ISBN
Cork: City and County 2020 Frank Keohane 978-0-300-22487-0
Dublin 2005 Christine Casey 978-0-300-10923-8
North West Ulster: the Counties of Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh and Tyrone 1979 Alistair Rowan 978-0-300-09667-5
Central Leinster: Kildare, Laois and Offaly 2019 Andrew Tierney 978-0-300-23204-2
North Leinster[b] 1988 Alistair Rowan, Christine Casey 978-0-300-09668-2
South Ulster: the Counties of Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan 1992 Kevin Mulligan 978-0-300-18601-7

The Buildings of the Isle of Man[edit]

A standalone volume covering the island, authored by Jonathan Kewley, was published in early 2023.[4]

Treatment of bridges[edit]

A number of bridges connect areas covered by different volumes. However, there is no single approach for which volume should include the structure in its main gazetteer. In some cases, one volume refers the reader to the other, and in other cases only a few lines appear in one volume and a fuller entry appears in the other. In a very few cases (listed below) a full entry appears in both volumes.

Bridge Connection Volume(s) of main entry
Coldstream Bridge Berwickshire–Northumberland Borders
Northumberland
Erskine Bridge Renfrewshire–Dunbartonshire Stirling and Central Scotland
Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire
Forth Bridge
Forth Road Bridge
West Lothian–Fife Lothian
Humber Bridge Lincolnshire–Yorkshire Lincolnshire
Kincardine Bridge Stirlingshire–Fife Fife
Queen Elizabeth II Bridge Essex–Kent Essex
Kent: West and the Weald
Severn Bridge Monmouthshire–Gloucestershire Gloucestershire 2
Second Severn Crossing Monmouthshire–Gloucestershire Gwent/Monmouthshire
Tamar Bridge Devon–Cornwall Cornwall
Tay Bridge
Tay Road Bridge
Dundee–Fife Dundee and Angus

Superseded and unpublished volumes[edit]

The revision of the series has rendered some original volumes obsolete, usually as the area of coverage has changed. For example, the county of Cumbria was created after the publication of Cumberland and Westmorland and North Lancashire, leading to the merger of material from both volumes in a single volume Cumbria, a revision with a new geographical focus. The following volumes have been wholly or partially superseded:

Original volume publication date Current volume(s)
Cumberland and Westmorland 1967 Cumbria
Hampshire & the Isle of Wight 1967 Hampshire: South
Hampshire: Winchester and the North
Isle of Wight
London: the Cities of London and Westminster 1957 London 1: The City of London
London 6: Westminster
London, except the Cities of London and Westminster 1952 London 2: South
London 3: North-West
London 4: West
London 5: East
London Docklands 1998 London 5: East
Middlesex 1951 London 2: South
London 3: North-West
London 4: West
Northamptonshire 1961 Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough
Northamptonshire
North Devon 1952 Devon
South Devon 1952
Lancashire 2: The Rural North 1969 Cumbria
Lancashire: North
Lancashire 1: The Industrial and Commercial South 1969 Lancashire: Manchester and the South East
Lancashire: Liverpool and the South West
Suffolk 1961 Suffolk: East
Suffolk: West
Yorkshire: The West Riding 1959 Yorkshire: The West Riding: Bradford, Leeds, and the North
Yorkshire: The West Riding: Sheffield and the South

In some published volumes and in advance publicity, certain titles were announced which were ultimately never published. A number of factors accounted for this, including the readiness of parts of the text covering certain areas and the anticipated size of the volumes. Unpublished titles included:

  • Argyll, Bute and Stirling[1]
  • Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire[5]
  • Dublin: City and County[1]
  • London III [6]
  • South Strathclyde[7]

Related works[edit]

In 1995 Penguin, in conjunction with English Heritage, released a publication based on the guides entitled Looking at Buildings. Focusing on the East Riding of Yorkshire volume, Pevsner's text was adapted as an introduction, with a greater number of illustrations than the main guides. No further print publications were issued, but the title survives as an introductory website to architectural terms and selected buildings which feature in the Pevsner guides.[8]

In 1995 a CD-ROM entitled A Compendium of Pevsner's Buildings of England was issued by Oxford University Press, designed as a searchable database of the volumes published for England only. A second edition was released in 2005. Bibliographies of the guides themselves were published in 1983, 1998 and 2012 by the Penguin Collectors Society.

In 2016, Yale University Press published three volumes, each serving as an introduction to some of the buildings and the architectural terms mentioned in the text of the guides. Published as Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions these are: an architectural glossary (also available as an app), a volume focusing on church buildings and another on dwelling houses (including vernacular architecture).

Celebratory volumes[edit]

In 1986, Penguin published an anthology from Pevsner's volumes edited by Bridget Cherry and John Newman, The Best Buildings of England, ISBN 0-670-81283-8. It has an introduction by Newman assessing Pevsner's aims and methods. In 2001, the Penguin Collectors Society published The Buildings of England: a Celebration, edited by Simon Bradley and Bridget Cherry, fifty years after BE1 was published: it includes twelve essays and a selection of text from the series.[9] In 2012, Susie Harries, one of Pevsner's biographers, wrote The Buildings of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales: A Sixtieth Anniversary Catalogue of the Pevsner Architectural Guides, which was published in a limited edition of 1,000 copies by the Penguin Collectors Society.[10]

Travels with Pevsner[edit]

In 1997, the BBC broadcast a series of documentaries[11] entitled Travels with Pevsner, in which six writers and broadcasters travelled through a county which had particular significance to them. They revisited buildings mentioned by Pevsner, critically examining his views on them. A further series was broadcast in 1998. John Grundy, who presented the programme on Northumberland, was one of the revisers of that county volume. Both series were accompanied by booklets published by the BBC, describing the buildings featured in the programmes and suggesting others to explore. The counties visited and the travellers were:

In both series, extracts from Pevsner's text were read by Benjamin Whitrow.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Cherry 1998, p. ?.
  2. ^ a b O'Brien, Charles (20 Oct 2016). "A Brief History of Pevsner's Buildings of Scotland series". Yale University Press London Blog. Retrieved 10 Feb 2024.
  3. ^ "Lothian". Yale University Press London. Retrieved 2024-02-10.
  4. ^ "Pevsner Architectural Guides". Yale University Press. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  5. ^ Announced in the Dumfries and Galloway volume (1996)
  6. ^ Announced in the first edition of the West Kent volume (1969)
  7. ^ Announced in the Fife volume (1992)
  8. ^ "Looking at Buildings". Pevsner Architectural Guides. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  9. ^ Cherry & Bradley 2001, Introduction.
  10. ^ Harries & Mackay 2012, p. 2.
  11. ^ Travels with Pevsner (BBC site)

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Which will cover the counties of Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Wicklow.
  2. ^ Covers the counties of Longford, Louth, Meath and Westmeath.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]