The book we've been waiting for

Rodwell, W with Atkins, C. St Peter's Church, Barton-on-Humber - A Parish Church and its Community, Volume 1, Parts 1 and 2 (Oxford 2011) £75.

St Peter's church in Barton became redundant in the early 1970s and in 1978 it passed into the hands of the Department of the Environment - now English Heritage. The historical importance of St Peter's - particularly its tower - had been appreciated since the early 19th century so between 1978 and 1984 Warwick Rodwell - without doubt the country's leading church archaeologist - undertook a detailed examination of the whole of the building and excavated most of its interior as well as large areas of the surrounding graveyard. Since then he has also conducted an in-depth survey of St Mary's Parish Church and has examined all of the available documentary evidence relating to the history of our town and its two churches.

Since the publication of the report on the human remains found in graves inside and outside St Peter's Church (Waldron, T. St Peter's Church Barton-on-Humber - A Parish and its Community, Volume 2, The Humand Remains (Oxford 2007) £30) - the final report on the excavations has been eagerly awaited. The wait has been well worth while for here, in over 900 pages of superb text, drawings and photographs, we have what will surely become the last word on the history of our town and its churches for decades to come.

The text, needless to say minutely researched, is very readable. The drawings, including many in colour, are very informative; and the photographs, mostly taken by the author himself, are of the highest quality.

Rodwell and Atkins' chapter - The Town of Barton: its Origins and Development - is particularly revealing in its study of Barton from Anglo-Saxon times up to the present day. What and where were the Castledykes and what was the date and purpose of the great oval encloseure whose remains now surround Tywhitt Hall? What can we glean from a study of Barton's entry in the Domesday Book? Where was Barton's castle, who built it and what happened to it? What do we know of the origins of the town's streets and market places? And finally what of Barton from the reign of Elizabeth I to the present day? A fascinating story.

Not a stone remains unturned in the story of St Peter's Church from its origins to its redundancy.
As for St Mary’s Parish Church, the lack of archaeological evidence has not deterred the authors who have studied every aspect of the above-ground building both inside and outside.

Weighing in at over 5 kilograms (15lbs) these volumes are not books which can be read comfortably in bed! Many will find the price of the book off-putting so make sure you place an order at Barton library – the more people who do so the more likely we are to find a copy on its shelves. But rest assured, the efforts of anyone with an interest in the story of our town will be amply repaid in their reading.

Geoff Bryant