An evening with two local authors who share a deep love for the English parish church. Each has spent much of their lives exploring and thinking about these remarkable buildings; each has come to them from a very different starting-point. We expect a fascinating evening as they explore the emotions and ideas such buildings trigger, in the setting of one of our county’s most treasured examples, St John the Baptist Minal. The parish church is a gateway to many things: history, spirituality, the wider landscape. Come along and help us explore.

Andrew Rumsey, Bishop of Ramsbury: Andrew is the author of Parish: an Anglican Theology of Place (2017) and English Grounds: a Pastoral Journal (2021), both of which express his long-held fascination for the spirit of place, especially as understood through his vocation as an Anglican priest and bishop. Andrew is also a musician and performer, whose new recording Evensongs evokes the connection between landscape and Christian heritage.

Jon Cannon, Author and historian: Jon is interested in understanding and communicating about ‘old places’, and what makes them tick: especially sacred places, especially English medieval churches. He is the author of Cathedral: The Great English Cathedrals and the World that Made Them and various other books, and presented BBC TV’s How to Build a Cathedral. His Stones of Britain: Geology and History in the British Landscape will be published next year. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, he lectures and leads tours for the Arts Society and Martin Randall Travel.

Refreshments will be served and there will the opportunity to buy Andrew Rumsey's book 'English Grounds' after the talk.

https://www.themerchantshouse.co.uk/events/details/92

THIS EVENT WILL BE HELD AT ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, MINAL, CHURCH LANE, SN8 2LU.
Parking is available at the village hall which is on the north side of the main road 100m east of Church Lane.