This unique study shows how the aristocracy and gentry provided their houses with places of worship after the upheavals of the Reformation. The author makes illuminating discoveries, explodes deeply-rooted
misconceptions, and shows how, by the end of the 17th century, and after many false starts, a new and more enduring form of private Protestant chapel had evolved as a fundamental part of the English country house. Before her untimely death in 2003, the architectural historian Annabel Ricketts had made the study of the 16th- and 17th-century private chapel her own. Under the editorship of her husband, Simon Ricketts, academic friends and colleagues have helped adapt her doctoral thesis for a wider readership without diluting its scholarly value. The study ranges across a number of disciplines - social, ecclesiastical, decorative, and
architectural and adds greatly to the understanding of the English country house.