By Jenny Ashby in Wiðowinde issue 197

The church of St John the Baptist, Kirk Hammerton, North Yorkshire, is possibly the most complete Anglo-Saxon church in Yorkshire (Edmondson, 2014), although not the oldest. It stands on top of a mound, which could be of glacial or fluvial origin, in the centre of its village, 9 miles west of York and within a mile of the A59. A Roman road, the Rudgate, runs nearby. The village is listed in the Domesday Book as having “land for several ploughs, a mill, a fishery, a church and a priest”. The earliest church was dedicated to St Quentin, a Roman missionary martyred in Gaul by the Romans in about 267 AD whose cult was favoured by the Carolingian kings. The dedication was changed sometime after 1667 to the current one (britainexpress.com).

The Anglo-Saxon church we see today is now just the south aisle of a much later church. In the early 13^th century, the north walls of the nave and chancel of the old church were removed entirely to create a north aisle, with Early English arches inserted in their place. In 1834, the church was enlarged again, this time on a much grander scale; a new nave was built with a new north aisle beyond it, thus relegating the Anglo-Saxon nave and chancel to the status of a south aisle and chapel. In 1891, the church was restored, with repairs made to some of the pre-Conquest fabric.

Concentrating our gaze onto the Anglo-Saxon part of the church, we see it is constructed of large blocks of roughly square grey-brown gritstone, laid more or less in courses with even larger blocks forming the side-alternate quoins. It began life as a simple 2-cell building, consisting of a nave and chancel, dating to the period 600-800 AD (Taylor and Taylor, 1965, Points, 2007). In the later 10^th century (950-1000 AD), the tower was added at the west end; that it is a later addition is shown by the lack of bonding between the nave and tower walls.

The tower is 50ft (15.24m) high and 9ft 2ins (2.79m) square internally. Its upper stage, which forms less than a quarter of its height, comprises the belfry with double windows on each face, each with 2 round heads cut into the lower sides of large square stones and supported on plain, rectangular imposts and jambs that go right through the wall. Cylindrical shafts provide support in the middle of each window.

A square string course separates the belfry from the taller, lower stage of the tower. This part of the tower is plainer and has 2 narrow openings, one above the other, on each side apart from the east.

The tall (9ft 8ins – 2.95m), narrow (3ft 3ins – 0.991m) west doorway may be slightly later than the tower itself but is still Anglo-Saxon (Taylor and Taylor, 1965). The lower semi-circle of its arch is slightly recessed into the wall. Its jambs are odd in that they are recessed behind the face of the wall to allow for the addition of the mismatched angle shafts, the north one of which, bizarrely, has a more elaborate capital than the southern one.

No original openings remain in use in the nave and chancel, except the south doorway. This has been heavily restored but enough survives to show us what it was like. The western impost, unlike its eastern counterpart, is original and shows vestiges of its moulding. Characteristic Anglo-Saxon stripwork and hood moulding outline the shape of the doorway. This doorway is slightly wider (3ft 5ins – 1.04m) but shorter (8ft 6ins – 2.59m) than the west doorway.

Further east along the south wall, the blocked outline of another Anglo-Saxon doorway can be discerned, both internally and externally. Slightly smaller than its neighbour, it has similar stripwork, although in this case it has been cut back to lie flush with the wall. Why so small a nave should have 2 doorways so close together is a mystery. The Taylors (1965) suggest it could have opened into a porticus (side chapel), although the continuous line of a plinth round the nave walls would tend to refute this theory.

Moving inside the church, the small size of the original nave, 21ft (6.4m) long and 13ft (3.96m) wide, is immediately apparent. The chancel is even smaller at 13ft 4ins (4.06m) long and 8ft 6ins (2.59m) wide. The walls are 2ft 2ins (0.66m) thick.

The tower arch is a bit odd, being slightly lopsided and of an almost horseshoe shape. The Taylors (1965) think it might have been built by inexperienced workmen cutting through the original west wall of the nave to access the tower when it was constructed. The jambs of the tower are massive through-stones penetrating the full width of the wall. High above the tower arch, and partially obscured by later roof trusses, is a blocked rectangular doorway that would have given access to the upper part of the tower.

The chancel arch is of 3 orders (semi-circles), the outer 2 flush with the face of the wall and the inner one recessed to match the line of the large imposts and the jambs. The lower part of the south jamb has been hacked away at a later date, possibly to give a better view of the altar. The northern side of the archway is a Victorian restoration. The arch is 13ft (3.96m) tall and 5ft 10ins (1.78,) wide; the tower arch is of very similar size.

In the south wall of the chancel, there are traces of a blocked Anglo-Saxon window, the only vestige of the original windows left. The piscina in the chancel may, or may not, be Anglo-Saxon.

Finally, the origin of the name of the settlement seems to be subject to different interpretations – or at least the “Hammer” part does. “Kirk” is generally agreed to be Old Norse for church and “tun” Old English for enclosure, estate or farmstead. Kepn.nottingham.ac.uk, usually the first source I check, declares the “hammer” in this instance means steep rock, cliff or hammer-shaped crag. As Kirk Hammerton lies just above the river Nidd on flattish land just 65 ft (20m) above sea level, I find the steep rock/cliff interpretation hard to believe, let alone the hammer-shaped crag (whatever that would look like!). Aboutbritain.com, going back to Domesday Book, finds the village name in 1086 was “Ambretone” or “Hanbretone” and derives from this a meaning of “village on a hill”. This is more likely as “ham” is Old English for village and “bre” is Old Welsh for hill. However, the similar word “hamm” denotes land in a river bend, a promontory, dry ground in a marsh or a river meadow (anniewhitehead2.blogspot.com quoting Margaret Gelling) and I suggest this is a more appropriate meaning in this case. So, I think Kirk Hammerton means “church in an enclosure on a (small) hill above a water meadow/river bend”, which best describes the site of the settlement. The multi-lingual mix of the name, moreover, is not uncommon in the North.

References

Edmondson, D. Anglo-Saxon England in 100 Places. 2014. Amberley. Stroud.

Points, G. Yorkshire: A Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon and Viking Sites. 2007. Rihtspell. Kings Lynn.

Taylor, H.M and Taylor, J. Anglo-Saxon Architecture. Vol l. 1965. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.

www.aboutbritain.com

www.anniewhitehead2.blogspot.com

www.britainexpress.com

www.historicengland.org.uk

www.kepn.nottingham.ac.uk

Jenny Ashby in Wiðowinde issue 180

ALL SAINTS, BRIXWORTH, in Northamptonshire, is one of our most famous and complete Anglo-Saxon churches. It is likely that it was founded in AD 675 as a daughter house of the monastery of Medeshamstede (Peterborough), but the earliest parts of the church as it stands today were built around AD 750 during the reign of King Æþelbald of Mercia (716 757). However, Brixworth is not a typical Anglo-Saxon church; it seems to be a copy of a Roman basilica and is architecturally unique.

As you approach the church, you see a brown-gold building with a rounded stair turret (one of only four remaining in the country) attached to the tower, which has a spire. Then you notice, in the north and south walls, the oversized, blind arches with their double rings of radially-placed thin bricks which once led to 10 side chapels (or porticus). Walking round to the east end, you notice what a narrow building this is and then you see the apse, polygonal and with a “ditch” surrounding it, which is actually the remains of a ring crypt or ambulatory.

Its original ground plan, with its separate choir, ring crypt and porticus, echoes that of the 8th century St Peter’s in Rome. Both buildings looked back to Rome’s Classical past. The arches built with those radial bricks resemble those of Leicester’s “Jewry Wall”, which formed part of the 2nd century baths. Similar two-ringed arches occur in churches contemporary with Brixworth in Rome, such as Sant’Anastacia. This aspiration to “Romanitas” (Romanness) is also reflected in the countrywide uniformity of liturgy and services decreed by the church councils from the 7th century onwards. Things had to be done the “Roman way” to prove orthodoxy.

The church now is smaller than it was originally. The porticus, each of which was probably dedicated to a different saint, are gone. At the west end, where the tower and stair turret are now, there was a substantial forebuilding, or narthex, comprising 5 compartments which spanned the whole width of the building including the porticus. At the east end was the apse with its low-level ambulatory surrounding it. This “Period l” church was built all in one go on an ambitious scale, which must indicate a royal patron. It was constructed of stones from a variety of distant sources – recycled Roman bricks, probably from Leicester; non-local oolitic limestone; various igneous rocks from Leicestershire (Charnwood Forest); non-local Triassic sandstones and local Northamptonshire ironstone. Four metres above ground this mix of building stones abruptly stops and the rest of the Anglo-Saxon church is constructed mainly of the local ironstone. The first phase was probably commissioned by Æþelbald or his successor Offa, both of whom had the power and resources to build such a large church. The change in building stone indicates a hiatus in construction; the project was completed in the 9^th century, possibly under the patronage of Burgred of Mercia (852 74). This Period ll church differed from the original in that 4 of the 5 chambers of the narthex were removed, leaving just the central porch, which was then built up as a tower with adjoining stair turret, access to a ringing chamber. The original north and south doors from the side chambers of the narthex into the tower can still be seen. A possible fire sometime between the 10^th and 12^th centuries destroyed the porticus roof and resulted in the dismantling of the porticus. You can see the original porticus roof line below the clerestory on the north side of the nave and choir; it has a distinct band of fire-reddened stone.

The church now had its current tall, narrow form. Over the centuries it has seen alterations, but on a relatively small scale. The south door, inserted into one of the porticus arches, is early Norman. A lady chapel was added to the south side and the upper part of the tower added in the 13th century. The choir arch dates from the 14th century. The church underwent extensive restoration – back to its Anglo-Saxon appearance – by the Rev C. F. Watkins in the 19th century, when the apse was reconstructed on its original foundations, repairs made and the present windows inserted within the arches in the nave and choir walls. The timber ceiling was rebuilt in 1965-66. Yet Brixworth is still essentially an Anglo-Saxon church.

Inside, the church is whitewashed except for the arches (and roof ), which only serves to emphasise their “otherness”. The west wall of the nave contains the doorway at ground level which was the original entrance to the church from the pre-tower porch (the great west door on the outer side of the porch was blocked when the stair turret was built). The blocked doorway above it may have been an entrance from the upper floor of the porch to a supported wooden gallery which would have protruded into the nave. The triple arched window above that was possibly added at the same time as the tower and stair turret – and cuts through the arch below! The Period l roofline can be discerned at the level of this window. The Anglo-Saxon clerestory windows in the nave would have let much-needed light in when the porticus were in place. The choir separates the nave and the apse and was intended for the clergy; it is an early example of this practice. The 14th century chancel arch that today divides the nave from the choir cuts through the original three-arched Anglo-Saxon masonry screen – you can see the remains of the original arches at each side. The Anglo-Saxon arch into the apse has entrances to the ambulatory, now blocked of course, either side of it and low down. The apse would have contained the high altar in the Anglo-Saxon period, underneath which, in the crypt, was probably a holy relic (see below). The ambulatory, which had a vaulted roof, shown by a projecting brick course outside, would have enabled pilgrims to get close to it.

Apart from its incredible Anglo-Saxon architecture, Brixworth Church contains three Anglo-Saxon antiquities. Just inside the modern entrance there is a carving of an eagle, which is part of an Anglo-Saxon cross head of about AD 800, hewn from a Roman stone cross.

By the pulpit there is the lower portion of a 10th century Anglo-Scandinavian cross. It is of non-local dark red sandstone and some faint carving can still be made out of a dog with long legs facing left.

And then there is the relic. In the nave there is a 14th century stone reliquary in a glass case. It has a square base and a lid with 4 gables. It was found hidden beneath the middle window of the Lady Chapel in 1809. It is believed it was bricked up to save it by the last chantry priest, Thomas Bassenden, in around 1550. Inside was a wooden box containing a fragment of a human throat bone and a scrap of parchment. It is widely believed to be that of St Boniface (Winfrith), 675 754, the (English) Apostle of Germany. It could have been presented to the church by Offa and been the reason for the building of the crypt and ambulatory. Usually locked away, the relic was brought out for the Yorkshire Gesiðas to view when we visited on our way to Hastings on 14^th October.

Brixworth, a flourishing religious community in the 8th and 9th centuries, if not the 7th too, may have another claim to fame. At the Council of Hertford, 672, it was decided that a synod of all the bishops should be held once a year at a place called Clofesho. These synods ended up being held in a variety of venues, however, of which Clofesho was one. There is no direct evidence, but it is possible that Brixworth was Clofesho. Brixworth village is situated on two slight hills separated by a deep cleft – Clofesho means “cloven height”.

There is no other church like Brixworth. It is so early and so distinctive in style that it is a “must see” for any Anglo-Saxon enthusiast. It is open every day.

References

Cooper, K and Parsons, D. All Saints Church, Brixworth. 2010. Anthony Watkins.

Gem, R. Architecture, Liturgy and Romanitas at All Saints Church, Brixworth. 2011. Friends of All Saints Church, Brixworth.

Keynes, S. The Councils of Clofesho. 1994. Friends of All Saints Church, Brixworth.

Sutherland, D S. The Building of Brixworth Church. 2014. Friends of All Saints Church, Brixworth