Kneelers

‘I think I may already have discovered the best non fiction book of 2023’ * Reverend Richard Coles, author of A Murder Before Evensong *‘A glorious and delightful salute to some of the UK’s most neglected folk art and its makers’ * Tracy Chevalier, author of A Single Thread *‘For anyone who has been grateful for a kneeler, and found solace in them during a challenging sermon, this book is a Godsend!’ * Alan Titchmarsh, author of The Gardener’s Almanac *‘A treasure of a collection’ * Amber Butchart, of BBC’s The Great British Sewing Bee *Gives praise at last to an overlooked form of British folk art * Sunday Times *[A] lovely book… both touching and surprising * Observer *[A] marvellous book * Reverend Richard Coles, Daily Telegraph *Heart-warming … Includes some of the loveliest kneelers ever made * The Oldie *This book rediscovers a vital vernacular art form…[it] makes new sense of every visit you make to a church, and is funny and wise to boot * Week *‘This is one of those delicious books that take an ostensibly small subject and illuminate a whole world * Literary Review *

Elizabeth Bingham is a leading authority on Anglican church kneelers. Some thirty years ago, aware that the folk art of designing and making kneelers was endangered, she set up the Parish Kneelers. It has grown into a rich and vivid record of the social history of the second part of the twentieth century.