Fawcett, Richard

PERSONAL:

Male.

CAREER:

Historic Scotland, Edinburgh, principal inspector of ancient monuments.

WRITINGS:

Scottish Medieval Churches: The Ecclesiastical Architecture of the 12th to 16th Centuries, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1985, published as Scottish Medieval Churches: Architecture and Furnishings, NPI Media Group (Gloucester, Scotland), 2002.

(With John Gifford and Frank Arneil Walker) Stirling and Central Scotland ("Buildings of Scotland’ series), Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2002.

(With Richard Oram) Melrose Abbey, Tempus (Stroud, England), 2004.

Dryburgh Abbey, 2005.

(With John Dunbar and Kitty Cruft) Borders ("Buildings of Scotland’ series, Volume 9), Yale University Press (New Haven, CT), 2006.

Also author of Innerpeffray Chapel: Official Guide, Historic Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland). Editor of Silk and Tin.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richard Fawcett and his coauthors John Dunbar and Kitty Cruft contributed the ninth volume to the ‘Buildings of Scotland’ series, titled Borders. In its more than 800 pages, this book provides a thorough survey of the historical Scottish counties of Selkirkshire, Roxburghshire, Peeblesshire, and Berwickshire, all located in the southeastern part of the state in the modern government council area known as the Scottish Borders. This area, and the character of the people who lived there in the past, was immortalized in various works by the historical novelist Sir Walter Scott. The book begins with a long introduction, presenting the topography, history, and man-made features unique to the Borders, including monuments, castles, railways, and roads. In the ‘Gazetteer’ section, specific localities are introduced and its buildings described in detail. The Borders area is known for beautiful, unspoiled landscapes and interesting historical structures, and so this volume in the series is ‘especially welcome,’ according to Hugh Massingberd in the Spectator. ‘Indeed it should serve more than any other book since the heyday of Sir Walter Scott to open our eyes to the romance and beauty of the old counties.’ Massingberd added: ‘The authors are to be congratulated on a phenomenal achievement in recording an extraordinary range of buildings."

In his book Scottish Medieval Churches: The Ecclesiastical Architecture of the 12th to 16th Centuries, also published as Scottish Medieval Churches: Architecture and Furnishings, Fawcett gives a short history of the church during medieval times in Scotland, focusing on the church's buildings and their role in that history. In the book's second half, the author focuses on tracing the architectural history of the church in Scotland. Reviewing the book for his Web site, Danny Yee's Book Reviews, Danny Yee stated that although the book is short, ‘it fits quite a substantial amount into its 64 pages.’ Praise was also accorded to another volume in the ‘Buildings of Scotland’ series, Stirling and Central Scotland, which Fawcett wrote with John Gifford and Frank Arneil Walker. A writer for the Contemporary Review believed that this book will ‘soon become indispensable."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Antiquity, September, 2005, Glyn Coppack, review of Melrose Abbey, p. 730.

Choice, July 1, 2006, review of Borders, p. 1983.

Contemporary Review, November, 2002, review of Stirling and Central Scotland, p. 319.

Spectator, March 4, 2006, Hugh Massingberd, review of Borders, p. 44.

Times Literary Supplement, January 19, 2007, Henry Potts, review of Borders, p. 10.

ONLINE

Amazon.ca,http://www.amazon.ca/ (October 16, 2007), biographical information about Richard Fawcett.

Danny Yee's Book Reviews,http://dannyreviews.com/ (August 11, 2003), Danny Yee, review of Scottish Medieval Churches: The Ecclesiastical Architecture of the 12th to 16th Centuries.