Alfred Street (University of Auckland Store)
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The Pinecone : The Story Of Sarah Losh Romantic Heroine Architect And Visionary
Paperback Edition: -
In the village of Wreay, near Carlisle, stands the strangest and most magical church in Victorian England.
This vivid, original book tells the story of its builder, Sarah Losh, strong-willed and passionate and unusual in every way. Born into an old Cumbrian family, heiress to an industrial fortune, Sarah combined a zest for progress with a love of the past.
In the church, her masterpiece, she let her imagination flower - there are carvings of ammonites, scarabs and poppies; an arrow pierces the wall as if shot from a bow; a tortoise-gargoyle launches itself into the air. And everywhere there are pinecones, her signature in stone.
The church is a dramatic rendering of the power of myth and the great natural cycles of life and death and rebirth. Sarah's story is also that of her radical family - friends of Wordsworth and Coleridge; of the love between sisters and the life of a village; of the struggle of the weavers, the coming of the railways, the findings of geology and the fate of a young northern soldier in the Afghan war.
Above all, though, it is about the joy of making and the skill of local, unsung craftsmen.
Pages : 344
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Publication date : 2013-09-01
Subjects: Non-fiction, Humanities, History