This relatively slim volume sets itself a demanding agenda, aiming to provide an overview of chantry chapels by ‘synthesising archaeological approaches with relevant documentary sources and discussing aspects of … foundation, design and spatial arrangements’ (p. 15); tracing the origins of such chapels in the Anglo-Saxon period and their subsequent evolution; incorporating them into an analysis of medieval strategies for the afterlife; and examining their function as ‘important components in an increasingly complex ritual landscape’ (p. 15). As the author is an archaeologist, his emphasis on ‘archaeological approaches’ is perhaps to be expected; the prospect that this will produce a novel perspective on a fairly well-ploughed field is alluring. However, what readers might anticipate as a formally ‘archaeological’ contribution to the volume appears limited. Structural histories are addressed (most notably and innovatively in chapter vii, ‘The spatial architecture of medieval chantry chapels’, with an emphasis on what Roffey calls ‘view-shed analysis’, and the book certainly examines and comments on a wide range of medieval buildings. Fabric is the author's main concern; ‘strategies for eternity’ with their suggestion of an analysis of the theological and practical functioning of chantries and their contribution to contemporary spiritual life, receive much less attention. Despite the engagement with the buildings, there seems to be a fundamental difficulty at the heart of the project. Roffey refers to his chapels as ‘chantry chapels’, but in many instances they simply were not – or, more precisely, were not built as such. Too often he treats his structures as chantry chapels, or as chapels with a commemorative function which was equivalent to a chantry, without considering alternative reasons for their existence, so potentially generating confusion rather than clarity. Chapels built for one purpose, whose altars subsequently became the sites of chantry functions, are treated as ‘chantry chapels’ without consistently differentiating them from purpose-built edifices, or structures inserted into pre-existing churches; but as buildings they started with very different purposes. The imprecision, or indecision, about the book's real focus – ‘chantries’ or ‘chapels’ – is exemplified in chapter v, ‘The form and function of chantry chapels in religious houses’. As might be expected, monasteries and friaries are mentioned here, but for the most part the chapter deals with non-regular institutions, including the secular cathedrals, colleges ranging from St George's at Windsor to William of Wykeham's scholarly foundation at Winchester, and (briefly) hospitals and almshouses. Here, and elsewhere, the commentary sometimes suggests over-hasty writing. Lacking notes (not even quotations are referenced, so must be taken completely on trust), the book is clearly intended more for a general rather than academic readership. Nevertheless, all readers will appreciate the illustrations, with eighty-nine black-and-white plans and photographs, and twenty-nine in colour.