Saints in the Landscape By Graham Jones Published in 2007 by Tempus Publishing, Chalford, Stroud (www.tempus-publishing.com) Price: £16.99 ISBN: 978 0 7524 4108 5 Saints in the Landscape is the sort of book you think you will dip into for five minutes, perhaps to check a church dedication, but actually emerge from a couple of hours later, having been led on by one fascinating detail after another. Whether you are interested in a particular saint (say, St. Denis, patron of horse-fairs, promoted by Royalty and, notably for us, by Robert Grosseteste, the famous Bishop of Lincoln who in his early years was prebendary of Empingham) or intrigued by which saints were associated with particular landscape features (St. Michael with high places, St John the Baptist with wilderness) you will find the information here. Dr. Jones says the work is ongoing and he welcomes contributions but he has, himself, laid the foundation: his many years of research are here represented in text, an index (warning: the print is tiny) and amazingly detailed maps. These show the distribution of saints' names through most of Britain and thereby make good his claim that the choice of dedication was not random but follows patterns, which with his help we can follow. Reviewed by Auriol Thomson