September 2020

Three months later than originally planned, the new Notts Pevsner has finally been published by Yale University Press. It’s launch has been discreet, the party to celebrate several years of hard work is on hold, the exhibition to celebrate the architecture and images of it, shelved until summer 2021. How sad.

Despite this, there is much to quietly celebrate – this county has a contemporary and robustly researched guide to its built environment by a talented pen – Clare Hartwell. She has done Nikolaus Pevsner (and Elizabeth Williamson, writer for the 1979 volume) proud, and gone far further and deeper than both of her predecessors. One may hope to say the same for the imagery too, the book is in colour throughout and barring 5 stained glass plates by Dr.Chris Brooke and a couple of ‘difficult’ interpretations of Welbeck Abbey sourced via Getty, the rest are by Martine, all 121 of them.

Given that the previous volume was in print for 41 years, its a terrific legacy, and for the beast that’s 2020, it feels good to have something meaningful to mark it.