The Stones of Britain by Jon Cannon

The Stones of Britain by Jon Cannon

'Cannon has a keen descriptive eye and a striking, lyrical turn of phrase . . . a rich, warm, authoritative book' TLS


This is the definitive tale of how our island history is written in stone.

The Stones of Britain is about how rocks make places, exploring the connection between geology and landscape, the stones beneath the surface and the history that has played out above it. It movingly investigates the diverse character of the British landscape, and the rich variety of places that have come to be as a result.

We discover that the shattered granite landscape of Dartmoor is different from the soft red sandstone hills of east Devon; the rolling chalk downs distinct from the gritty moors of Yorkshire - and each has a unique, fascinating story to tell.

Interweaved with beautiful meditations on place, home and belonging, The Stones of Britain interprets these stories. It explains the nature of place on the island of Britain, revealing the landscape as the joint product of geology and man: an extraordinary history rooted in stone.

Jon Cannon (1962-2023) was an architectural historian, lecturer and Canon Historian for Bristol Cathedral, and also worked for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and English Heritage. Unfortunately Jon passed away in the process of making this book, but his passion for landscape, history and culture lives on and leaps defiantly off the page - culminating in a richly researched and hugely special offering.

Jon Cannon (1962 - 2023), architectural historian, lecturer and author, worked for the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England and English Heritage. Jon is the author of several highly acclaimed books, including Cathedral: The Great English Cathedrals and the World that Made Them (Constable, 2007), The Secret Language of Sacred Places (Duncan Bird Publishing 2013), and Medieval Church Architecture (Shire Publications 2014). Jon presented the TV documentary How to Build a Cathedral on BBC4 (2008).

Jon died in May 2023, shortly after writing this book.

For more than a decade, Jon was 'Keeper of the Fabric', then 'Canon Historian' at Bristol Cathedral, and his memorial, carved into the fabric of the Cathedral's Berkeley Chapel, recognises his contribution to the building, and his wider contribution to the understanding and appreciation of religious buildings.

Jon wrote: 'I have a vocation, and it's to do with places; with communicating, enthusing, analysing - in short, extollagising - about the nature of 'old places', and what makes them tick.'