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The evolution of the English country house from 1939 to 2022
Over the past year our architecture editor John Goodall has illustrated a period in the development of the English great house. In this final article in this 12-part series, John looks at the Country House since the outbreak of the Second World War.
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Lincoln Cathedral: The 950-year story of one of Europe's very greatest cathedrals
On the 950th anniversary of the royal transfer of The Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin, Lincoln, John Goodall looks at the medieval development of what is without doubt one of Europe’s most brilliantly conceived cathedrals. Photographs by Paul Highnam for the Country Life Picture Library.
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Country Life's 10 best architecture stories of 2022
A 'heaven on earth in the Cotswolds' and the library of your dreams are among the best this year.
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The real-life places that inspired Jane Austen's most memorable fictional country houses
Country houses serve as an ever-charming backdrop to the novels of Jane Austen. With the help of specially commissioned drawings, Jeremy Musson considers her treatment of their architecture. Illustrations by Matthew Rice.
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Draper's Hall: Inside the exquisite and spectacular place that's one of the finest halls in London
A restoration project revives the spectacular interior of one of Draper's Hall, one of London’s finest Livery Halls. John Goodall looks at the origins and history of the body that created it. Photographs by Will Pryce.
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Buckingham Palace: 'There is not a historical capital in Europe which cannot show a more imposing Royal palace'
A trip through the archives unearths a real treasure in the form of a 1931 book about Buckingham Palace which offers a fascinatingly different perspective on one of the world's most famous buildings.
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How Beeleigh Abbey became the much-loved home of one of Britain's great bookshop owners
In the second of two articles, David Robinson looks at Beeleigh’s chequered history in the centuries after the Dissolution, culminating with ownership by the Foyle family of the eponymous bookshop.
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Beeleigh Abbey: An incredible medieval house that's barely altered since Henry VIII's Dissolution of the monasteries
David Robinson looks at Beeleigh Abbey — the Essex home of Catherine and the late Christopher Foyle — an exceptional and little-known survival of the Premonstratensian canons, one of the less-familiar monastic and religious orders of medieval Britain. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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London's lost masterpieces: The palaces and Georgian gems torn down in 30 years of 20th century madness
London would look very different had it not been for the widespread demolition of Georgian architecture in the 20th century. John Martin Robinson takes a look back at what was lost and what was fortunately saved.
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350 years in the architectural evolution of Lincoln's Inn, from 1672 to 2022: 'Self-consciously Gothic, constitutional and English'
In the second of two articles, John Goodall examines the architectural development of Lincoln’s Inn from the late 17th century to the present day.
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Lincoln's Inn: 'Everything about the origins of the Inns of Court is mysterious'
This year, Lincoln’s Inn celebrates a remarkable 600th anniversary. In the first of two articles, John Goodall examines the origins of this celebrated society of lawyers. Photographs by Will Pryce for Country Life.
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Oxford's forgotten history as the capital city of Britain
During the Civil War, Oxford briefly became Charles I’s capital. Simon Thurley explains how the city was fortified and the university adapted to accommodate the Court.
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Founders' Hall, London: The witty, sensitive, post-Modern building that emerged in the wake of the City's post-war orgy of destruction
Founders’ Hall — at Cloth Fair, London EC1 — is a post-Modern livery hall that is a striking home for The Worshipful Company of Founders, and a building that can teach us something about sensitive development in London. John Martin Robinson reports; photographs by Will Pryce for Country Life.
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Why and how our local churches should live on for the benefit of us all in a secular age
Parish churches may still be physically the centre of communities, but their redundancy as places of worship is becoming a national crisis. Simon Jenkins proffers solutions to the nation’s greatest conservation challenge, including deconsecration and looking to European models.
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The English country house in the Regency period: Fashionable novelty and an unprecedented stylistic eclecticism
John Goodall looks at developments in the English house during the Regency period.
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Balmoral: A Highland paradise, and the much-loved royal family summer escape since 1848
Mary Miers takes a look at a much-loved home of the Royal Family, Balmoral.
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The Royal Yacht Britannia: How The Queen created a floating home and theatre of state
The Queen was the best-travelled monarch in British history. John Goodall looks at the story of the Royal Yacht Britannia, now permanently moored in Leith, Edinburgh. Photographs by Paul Highnam.
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The creation of Holkham Hall
In the second of two articles, John Goodall revisits Holkham Hall — the seat of the Earl of Leicester — to tell the story of its creation in the mid 18th century by the Earl of Leicester and his widow.
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Holkham Hall: 'there are few places a modern visitor can get so close to the realities of life on the grand scale in 18th-century Britain'
John Goodall revisits the splendours of Holkham Hall in Norfolk, a celebrated house — and the seat of the Earl of Leicester — created in the mid 18th century by Thomas Coke, Earl of Leicester.
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Urban streams: The forgotten history of Britain's drinking fountains
The need for clean water in 19th-century Britain led to a new and magnificent genre of street furniture. Kathryn Ferry examines the drinking fountain.
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The great houses of The Strand, 'London's Golden Mile' that 'helped shape England’s architectural identity’
A scheme to pedestrianise parts of The Strand is throwing light on the road’s gilded history, finds Jack Watkins.
