devoted to chimneys but this is given somewhat perfunctory treatment and is much better illustrated by Nathaniel Lloyd's classic 1925 'History of English brickwork' (reprinted in 1983). It is a pity that so little is said about terracotta pots. Part Two consists of an illustrated glossary of brickwork together with about 100drawings or photographs. Almost every term is illustrated. If anyone was in any doubt about identifying the 19 types of brick bond or the 16 further alternative names for them, Dr Brunskill clearly illustrates the distinctions. The final part is a chronological survey in six parts covering: Medieval to 1485; Tudor and Elizabethan;Jacobean (including Stuart & Queen Anne); Georgian; Victorian & Edwardian; and Modern. The text for each period is rather short but it is followed by a sequence of a dozen or more photographs of buildings illustrating the development of brick as a building material during that period. It is good in a book of this sort to see coverage of modern brickwork, which is still surprisingly underappreciated. Appendices cover the Brick Tax, cavity walls and the damp-proof courses and a note about brickwork in Scotland which is a little too quick to understate the contribution of that coumry, more known for its stone building heritage. There are extensive notes and a comprehensive bibliography. The book is profusely illustrated throughout in both black and white and colour; many of the photographs are new and have been taken specially by Peter Crawley. It is a pity though that the same view of two buildings, Keble College, Oxford, and Holy Trinity, Newcastle under Lyme, should appear both in colour and black and white when two different buildings could have been shown instead. This book is essential and pleasurable reading not only for all with a professional interest in brickwork but for all those who are interested in the fabric of brick buildings and want to know more. MORTAL REMAINS: THE HISTORY & PRESENT STATE OF THE VICTORIAN & EDWARDIAN CEMETERY Chris Brooks, with Brent Elliott,Julian Litten, Eric Robinson, Richard Robinson and Philip Temple. (Wheaton, in association with The Victorian Society, 1989). 186 pp. ISBN 0-08-037098-5. £14.95. This book should be required reading for all Conservation Officers, cemetery managers and parks departments. It will also interest anyone concerned about the cultural, historic and landscape significance of these CONTEXT 27 major architectural and artistic features of the 19th century. It not only chronicles their past but suggests some solutions to their future conservation. There are numerous excellent black and white photographs (including several informative panoramas), layout plans, and a selective gazetteer of a representative crosssection of the important historic cemeteries in England. Death remains the principal taboo subject in contemporary society, and the Victorians often mawkish, sentimental preoccupation with the subject seems repugnant today. Cemeteries are shunned except by the recently bereaved. It is hardly surprising that their legacy of buildings and monuments should be so neglected. This should not be so and the book sets out very clearly why. Part One outlines the dreadful social conditions and corrupt burial practices which encouraged the first commercial cemeteries of the 1820s and 1830s. These catered for the Victorian bourgeois who wanted to rest in an environment which reflected their temporal wealth. Recurring epidemics among the working classes initiated a series of campaigns for public health reforms in the 1840s, culminating in the establishment of publicly funded cemeteries after the passing of the 1857 Burial Act. This enabled working people to have a dignified and economical burial for the first time. Subsequently, municipal cemeteries appeared throughout the country. For the prestige cemeteries of the middle classes,the architects and craftsmen who had built and decorated the houses of the living were commissioned to design the final resting places of the dead. The results were numerous small masterpieces of architecture and sculpture. The second part covers the state of these cemeteries today. It is a chronicle of destructive philistinism. Since the 1950s there has been a combination of municipal expediency, official and unofficial vandalism, rising maintenance costs and indifference on the one hand, matched on the other by the attitudes of an increasingly secularised society. A trend towards cremations rather than interments has led to drastic and seemingly irreversible neglect or to clearance. Significant cemetery landscapes, many of them influenced by the work of C H Loudon, have ended up as treeless municipal lawns. If all this continues the situation will be irrecoverable. Case studies of several major cemeteries show the great difficulties that have arisen in recent years when trying to reconcile building conservation and nature conservation objectives. The lessons from Highgate, perhaps Britain's most celebrated cemetery, are particularly sobering, but there are successes as well, notably repairs at The Rosary in Norwich. The point is well made that cemeteries have an ecological and geological interest which can provide a very valuable environmental educational resource. Part Three suggests how historic cemeteries can be protected and preserved. There is specific advice on maintenance and conservation techniques. Legislative and administrative changes are suggested to encourage appropriate management. Given the past record of local authority care, the book strongly recommends that it is only Conservation Officers who have the range and variety of expertise for forming the appropriate management strategies and have the necessary appreciation of the impact of proposals on buildings, monuments and landscape. Victorian and Edwardian cemeteries exist in almost every town. Many still retain their gate lodges, their chapels and their monuments intact, but many do not. Nevertheless the depressing catalogue of destruction can be halted. The problems and pressures described in this book could be faced by any local authority cemetery manager. That is why Conservation Officers should read this book and act upon it. THE TRADITIONAL BUILDINGS OF ENGLAND Anthony Quincy (Thames & Hudson, 1990). 224 pp. ISBN 0-500-34110-9. ..(14.95. What is traditionaP Is it merely what is old:1 If it is not, what are the traditions and how are they made manifest? Do they represent the age before improvement in communications undermined local custom and blurred regional distinctions? Anthony Quiney's book describes how customs handed down through history, by practice and orally, have left a legacy of the most diverse and varied range of vernacular building types in the world. It is superbly illustrated with over 80 colour photographs, and numerous black and white photographs, maps, plans and axonometric drawings. These ably demonstrate the influence of the English climate, topography and the availability and suitability of local building materials. We are fortunate that so much has survived. Chapter 1 concludes by reminding us that, despite the depredations of the Black Death and the Wars of the Roses, medieval wealth and Tudor and Jacobean prosperity created a stability to enable vernacular building to flourish, but this success led finally to the Industrial Revolution which left little of'the old way of life unscathed. Building traditions were a major casualty. The author has not covered materials in any great detail, rightly leaving this to the 13
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