Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Palgrave Macmillan
Book cover

A Wealth of Buildings: Marking the Rhythm of English History

Volume I: 1066–1688

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Richard Barras

    1. Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Uses six cases studies to illustrate the iconic building types that define the vision of England
  • Offers a historical study of the accumulation of wealth through investment in buildings
  • Covers a wide period of history from Gothic cathedrals to Modern office towers

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (5 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Of Works and Monuments

    • Richard Barras
    Pages 1-33

  3. Wealth of the Nation

    • Richard Barras
    Pages 35-88

  4. Norman Conquest

    • Richard Barras
    Pages 89-143

  5. Gothic Ascendant

    • Richard Barras
    Pages 145-213

  6. Magnate Display

    • Richard Barras
    Pages 215-301

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 303-337
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This two-volume book explores how the great buildings of England bear witness to a thousand years of the nation’s history. In every age, investment in iconic buildings reaches a climax when the prevailing mode of production is operating most effectively, surplus wealth is most plentiful, and the dominant class rules supreme. During such periods of stability and prosperity, the demand for new buildings is strong, structural and stylistic innovations abound, and there is fierce competition to build for lasting fame. Each such climax produces a unique vintage of hegemonic buildings that are monuments to the wealth and power of those who ruled their world. 

This first volume provides an introduction to the study of wealth accumulation over the past millennium. There follow three case studies of iconic building investment from the eleventh to the seventeenth century. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries the conquering Norman kings and barons erected castles throughout the country to cement their feudal power. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the great wealth of the ecclesiastical estates funded the lavish construction of Gothic cathedrals and abbeys. During the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries Tudor and Jacobean magnates vied to build the most magnificent palaces and prodigy houses. The English Revolution brought this era to a close.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom

    Richard Barras

About the author

Richard Barras is an urban economist with a special interest in building investment. He is Visiting Professor in the Bartlett School, University College London, UK; one of the founding partners of the consultancy, Property Market Analysis; and author of Building Cycles: Growth and Instability (2009).

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: A Wealth of Buildings: Marking the Rhythm of English History

  • Book Subtitle: Volume I: 1066–1688

  • Authors: Richard Barras

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-31921-0

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan London

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-230-36035-8Published: 19 October 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-31921-0Published: 22 September 2016

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXVI, 337

  • Number of Illustrations: 32 b/w illustrations, 16 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Heterodox Economics, Urban Economics, Architectural History and Theory

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation