DEAN churches get a mention in a new book by local artist and author Valerie McLean about the work of medieval stone masons and sculptors.

'Kilpeck and the Romanesque in Herefordshire' follows on from her 2007 book, May Hill, which contained memories and images of the iconic hill and its surroundings.

The new book focuses on the work of the celebrated medieval workers who created the world-famous carvings in Hereford and Gloucestershire churches. The book is a compendium of paintings, drawings, prints and collages, often sketchbook pages, which detail the legacy of the craftsmen who worked on the churches, the most famous of which is at Kilpeck.

But they also worked further afield, as Valerie explains. "At Ruardean in the Forest of Dean an energetic tympanium design of a mounted horseman with a flying cloak gives evidence of a connection with the pilgrim route in Northern France – and there is a connection between beak heads and other carvings around the eastern arch at English Bicknor church," she writes.

"Some of the images are observational drawings and others are a more personal response to the sights and spirit of the sacred places where a group of craftsmen worked at the beginning of the twelfth century."

The text for the book was developed from sections of her dissertation which was submitted whilst studying for a degree in Fine Art at Hereford College of Art.

The book is priced at £19.95 and is available now from local bookshops, galleries, and the author's own website at http://www.valeriemcclean.com">www.valeriemcclean.com