The Fates of Sacred Landscape in the Reformation

The Guardian has just published Graham Parry's compeling review of Alexandra Walsham’s The Reformation of the Landscape: Religion, Identity, and Memory in Early Modern Britain and Ireland. St. Patrick’s Purgatory is treated extensively, along with others sites throughout the British Isles — even such as Stonehenge — that were attacked in an effort to purge the natural world of sacred places that attracted worshippers and pilgrims. As the Reformers set about remaking the “popish” and “pagan” landscapes, they attempted to destroy everything from sacred trees to sacred waters.