Well over a hundred great churches were built in the cathedral tradition in the Middle Ages. They are our most important group of historical monuments and embody the finest craftwork of medieval architecture. Despite a great mass of specialist literature and research on other aspects, it was not until Cecil A. Hewett's work over the past three decades that any serious attention was paid to their functional carpentry or, indeed, to their decorative timberwork.

Examining the entire range of 'great' churches, Hewett's carefully reasoned and well-organised text covers all areas of monastic and cathedral carpentry, classifying roof structures, towers and spires in chronological order, while an important section deals with the surviving examples of hoisting machinery still in situ, some from a very early date. In English Cathedral and Monastic Carpentry, he relates the physical evidence to the documentary record supported with over 300 of his own magnificent drawings. In this, Hewett provides both a work of reference and a stimulating analysis of the evolution of the craft.