Secrets of medieval churches

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Churches were central to life in the Middle Ages. But with the Reformation wreaking havoc on religious buildings, nowadays it's hard to get a sense of what a medieval church would actually have looked like. As a stonemason and conservator, Andrew Ziminski has spent his working life restoring medieval churches, and he is the author of a new book, Church Going, all about the ins and outs of these historic religious buildings. Andrew speaks to David Musgrove about how churches originally looked and worked – and explains some of their oddities. (Ad) Andrew Ziminski is the author of Church Going: A Stonemason's Guide to the Churches of the British Isles (Profile Books, 2024). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Fchurch-going%2Fandrew-ziminski%2F9781800818682. Hear more from Andrew Ziminski, as he talks about some of Britain’s most impressive stone buildings and monuments: https://link.chtbl.com/vxYSMNqA. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Shopify.
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0:23.1	That's Shopify.combeek slash special offer.
0:30.7	Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine.
0:40.5	When you visit a medieval church, what oddities should you be looking out for?
0:46.4	What's the difference between a gargoyle and a grotesque?
0:49.9	And why in such holy places do you find rude and explicit statues?
0:57.1	As a stonemason and conservator, Andrew Zaminsky has spent his working life restoring medieval churches.
1:04.7	And he's the author of a new book, Church Going, which is all about the ins and outs of these medieval religious buildings.
1:12.1	Andrew spoke to David Musgrove.
1:14.5	Today I am delighted to be joined by Andrew Zaminski, whose new book is churchgoing.
1:20.3	Now Andrew is a bit different to the normal guests we have on the History Extra podcast.
1:24.7	He's not a historian by trade.
1:27.0	He is a stone mason.
1:29.0	Give us a little sense of you and your background and the sort of work that you do.
1:34.0	Well, I'm a church, Stone Mason and conservator, and I've been doing this for getting on for
1:38.6	40 years now. And the reason I wrote my book, Churchgoing, is that I was always giving impromptu tours to
1:47.9	people on our scaffolding and around our church conservation projects, just explaining to them
	...

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