“The Eton wall game is a game similar to football and Rugby Union, that originated from and is still played at Eton College. It is played on a strip of ground 5 metres wide and 110 metres long next to a slightly curved brick wall, erected in 1717”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The “Collegers” and the “Oppidans” of Eton College take part in the “Wall Game” as boys in their traditional school uniform watch from on top of the wall on November 17, 2007 in Eton, near Windsor, Berkshire, England. The first recorded “Wall Game” took place in 1766 with competition between the two houses at the boarding school remaining as fierce as ever on the annual St. Andrew's day event. The object of the game is to get the ball to either end of the wall and score a goal, which has not happened since 1909. As well as scoring a goal the players can win points with a “shy”, where the ball is held against the wall and touched by the hand and awarded one point. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan from the T-Mobile Team is chased by eccentric german inventor Didi Senft dressed as the red devil during the stage 16 of the 92nd Tour de France between Mourenx and Pau on July 19, 2005, France. (Photo by Friedemann Vogel/Bongarts/Getty Images)

Young monks laugh at their own photos taken by a German photojournalist in the main courtyard of the Dzong on October 13, 2011 in Punakha, Bhutan. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 31 and Queen of Bhutan Ashi Jetsun Pema Wangchuck, 21 wed in Bhutan's historic 17th century Punakha Dzong the same venue that hosted the King's historical coronation ceremony in 2008. (Photo by Triston Yeo/Getty Images)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.