The Secret Language of Churches & Cathedrals by Richard Stemp
A few years ago I went to a talk given by Matthew Rice at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. The talk was about describing architecture and the language we use to do so. He said it is not enough, or indeed accurate, to describe something we see as that ‘twiddly bit on top of the curved thing below the window’ - we need to learn the language! So, there is a language for everything from Bricklaying to Churches and Cathedrals. It felt quite revelatory at the time but also quite obvious. The talk was excellent by the way, and I am now the proud owner of Rice’s Church Primer.