The English Country House Chapel: Building a Protestant Tradition

Annabel Ricketts, Spire Books Ltd. This unique study shows how the aristocracy and gentry provided their houses with places of worship after the upheavals of the Reformation. Dr Ricketts makes illuminating discoveries, explodes deeply-rooted misconceptions, and shows how, by the end of the 17th century, and after many false starts, a new and more enduring form of private Protestant chapel had evolved as a fundamental part of the English country house. Before her untimely death in 2003, the architectural historian Annabel Ricketts had made the study of the 16th- and 17th-century private chapel her own. Under the editorship of her husband, Simon Ricketts, academic friends and colleagues have helped adapt her doctoral thesis for a wider readership without diluting its scholarly value. The study ranges across a number of disciplines - social, ecclesiastical, decorative, and architectural - and adds greatly to the understanding of the English country house.