Our February Lecture

Thomas Rickman and Chester

Wednesday, 18th February 2026   7.30pm.

Our February lecture by Alex Buchanan explores the formative role that Chester played in the thinking of one of the most influential figures in the study and revival of Gothic architecture, Thomas Rickman (1776-1841). Celebrated for his innovative use of iron in Liverpool’s St George, Everton and St Michael in the Hamlet, Toxteth and at St Mary, Birkenhead, Rickman was also a pioneering scholar. His classification of medieval architecture, An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture (Liverpool, 1817), provided key terminology still used for architectural description today. It is less well-known that Rickman developed many of his ideas through close observation of Chester Cathedral and other local buildings during visits from 1808 onwards. The lecture traces Rickman’s encounters with Cheshire architecture, showing how the city and its locale helped him to recognise patterns of stylistic change over time. In doing so, it reveals Chester’s importance in shaping a new, systematic way of understanding England’s medieval past and kicking off the Gothic revival.

Alex Buchanan is Reader in Archive Studies at the University of Liverpool, where she is Programme Director of the Masters in Archives and Records Management. By origin an architectural historian, her architectural research has focused on Gothic architecture and its scholarly reception. She currently serves as secretary of the Construction History Society and President of the British Archaeological Association and is an observer member of the Strategic Treasures Advisory Group at Chester Cathedral.

The lecture will take place at the Grosvenor Museum Lecture Theatre at 7.30pm.

Civic Trust members have FREE admission to the lectures at the Grosvenor Museum. Guests are welcome £5 on the door.