Trained as both an archaeologist and an art historian, Richard Gem established his specialist interest in pre-Romanesque and Romanesque architecture with his doctoral research at Cambridge University. Since then he has researched, published and lectured widely in this subject, while holding posts in different fields of cultural resource management.

Dr Gem's earlier work aimed to establish an understanding of English architecture in the 11th century that would break away from the view that cultural development in this period could be simply explained in terms of whether buildings were constructed before or after the Norman Conquest. He has taken a wide view of how cultural processes in England need to be seen in the context of broader European trends, in order to understand both English architecture's indebtedness to the Continent, and also what gives it its specific national character. His earlier papers applied this approach to the development of the Romanesque style of architecture in England through the course of the 11th century while more recently he has applied a similar approach to earlier centuries, including the Carolingian period. Taking a broad view of cultural trends as his starting point, he has always anchored his work on a detailed archaeological, historical and stylistic analysis of individual buildings before drawing conclusions.

This publication includes Dr Gem's main work over a period of quarter of a century. Taken together, these studies present an overview of the development of English Church architecture from the 7th century to the 12th.