Nigel Yates is a Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Wales, Lampeter and is also is currently Provincial Archives Advisor to the Church in Wales. A leading historian of the period, he has published widely on Britainand Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He has particular expertise on the history of church buildings and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Church of England's Council for the Care of Churches. As an archivist with a special knowledge of church records, he served as Diocesan Archivist to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Portsmouthand Rochester. He was also a member of the General Synod of the Church of England's Archives Advisory Committee.