Books exclusively devoted to the subject of the English parish church are few in number, and generally are in the form of descriptions of the churches of special districts, or of monographs on individual churches.

1. Among the older books in which special attention is paid to parish churches, the following may be mentioned:

• Bloxam, M. H., Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, 11th ed., 2 vols., London, 1882.
• Brandon, J. R. and J. A., Parish Churches, London, 1888. [Perspective views, ground plans, and short descriptions.]
• Ecclesiological [Cambridge Camden] Society, A Hand-Book of English Ecclesiology, London, 1847.
• Neale, J. P., and Le Keux, J., Views of the most interesting collegiate and parochial churches in Great Britain, 2 vols., London, 1824–5.
• Parker, J. H., Introduction to the study of Gothic Architecture, 12th ed., Oxford and London, 1898.
• Rickman, T., An attempt to discriminate the styles of English Architecture, 7th ed., Oxford and London, 1881.
• Wickes, C., The spires and towers of the mediaeval churches of England, London, 1859.

2. More modern works, in which the development of the ground plan is treated as part of the general subject, are:

• Bond, F., Gothic Architecture in England, London, 1905.
• Brown, G. Baldwin, The Arts in Early England, vol. II, London, 1903.
• Prior, E. S., A history of Gothic art in England, London, 1900.
• Scott, G. G., An essay on the history of English Church Architecture, London, 1881.

3. Among volumes dealing with special districts, the following may be mentioned:

• Buckler, G., Twenty-two churches of Essex, London, 1856.
• Cox, J. C., Notes on the churches of Derbyshire, 4 vols., Chesterfield and London, 1875–9.
• Cranage, D. H. S., An architectural account of the churches of Shropshire, Wellington (in course of publication).
• McCall, H. B., Richmondshire Churches, London, 1909.
• Northampton, Architectural notices of the churches of the Archdeaconry of, London, 1849.
• Sharpe, E., An account of the churches visited during the Lincoln excursion of the Architectural Association, London, 1871.
• Sharpe, E., and others, Churches of the Nene Valley, London, 1880.
• Wilson, F. R., An architectural survey of the churches in the Archdeaconry of Lindisfarne, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1870.

4. Books upon individual churches cannot be mentioned here, nor can any detailed list be given of the numerous valuable articles in such publications as Archaeologia and the Archaeological Journal. Some of the most enlightening work upon the subject is to be found in the papers contributed by the late J. T. Micklethwaite to the transactions of various societies. Those on Saxon churches in vols. LIII and LIV of the Archaeological Journal, and the plans contributed by him to J. W. Walker’s History of All Saints, Wakefield (Wakefield, 1888), may be specially mentioned.

5. Books on the subject of church furniture are numerous. The most comprehensive modern handbook on the subject is J. C. Cox and A. Harvey’s English Church Furniture, London, 1907. More detailed treatment of separate articles of furniture is given in F. Bond’s Screens and Galleries, Fonts and Font-Covers, etc., volumes of a series now in course of publication. J. T. Fowler’s edition of The Rites of Durham (Surtees Society, 1903), and Rock’s Church of our Fathers, edited by G. W. Hart and W. H. Frere (4 vols., London, 1903–4), are a mine of information on points connected with church services and furniture.

6. The historical aspect of the parish church is treated excellently by E. L. Cutts, Parish Priests and their People in the Middle Ages (London, 1898). But, to gain an adequate knowledge of this side of the question, the study of original documents is necessary, and chiefly of the contents of episcopal registers. Of these invaluable texts some have been printed in full, and of others there are printed abstracts, but the vast majority remain in manuscript. The fullest printed series is the Exeter Episcopal Registers (ed. F. C. Hingeston-Randolph), covering the period 1258–1455: the York registers from 1216 to 1285 (ed. J. Raine and W. Brown for the Surtees Society), and the Hereford registers from 1275 to 1327 (ed. W. W. Capes and others for the Cantilupe and Canterbury and York Societies) are also full and accurate editions. Much information with regard to the foundation of chantries and other important subjects may be obtained from the Calendars of the Patent Rolls and of Letters from the Papal Registers, published under the direction of the Master of the Rolls. The Chantry Certificate Rolls and Inventories of Church Goods drawn up between 1547 and 1549 are also sources of great value: these have been printed for some counties, but the greater number are still unpublished.

J. C. Cox and R. M. Serjeantson’s History of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton (Northampton, 1897) may be cited as a model history of a parish church. The arrangement of the topographical sections of the various Victoria County Histories makes it possible to study the history of a large number of churches in company with their architecture.