Best-selling historian Peter Stanford unlocks a unique history of Christianity in the British Isles, told through 21 of its sacred buildings – from ancient wooden churches and medieval priories to remote island monasteries and lofty cathedrals – one chosen for each thousand years.

The author of Angels: A History journeys through England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to churches, abbeys, chapels and cathedrals, grand and humble, ruined and thriving, ancient and modern, to chronicle how Christianity went from its beginnings in the Middle East to its defining role in our past and present. In exploring the stories of these buildings that are still so much a part of the landscape, the details of their design, the treasured objects that are housed within them, the people who once stood in their pulpits and those who sat in their pews, he builds century by century the narrative of what Christianity has meant to the nations of the British Isles. He shows how it is reflected in the relationship between rulers and ruled and the sense it gives about who we are and how we live with each other.

‘A heavenly book, elegant and thoughtful. Get one for yourself and one for the church-crawler in your life!’  Lucy Worsley