Birthday Trip, Part One

This year on my birthday I rented a car and went to visit some sites I've wanted to go to since we moved to the North East last January.

The first was Escombe Saxon Church.  Escombe is a small village in County Durham, just to the south of us, with a church that dates from about 675 AD.  As far as I am aware it is the oldest complete Saxon church in the country (St Mary's in Canterbury is older, but almost entirely rebuilt, with only a few Saxon remnants). Besides the building showing architectural and artistic remnants of the Saxon, Celtic church, the stones it is made of are re-used Roman pieces showing a connection back past the Saxons.

It is a very small church, with only a nave and a chancel.  Older portions are now missing, such as a possible charnel house at the west end (a building used to house the bones of the dead after their graves were re-used. This was a common practice until the 19th century) and a sacristy or vestry off the north wall of the chancel.

The church is kept locked, but you can grab a key from a lady who lives across the road to let yourself in.

The main body of the church is Saxon, but the large windows are later additions, are is the porch you enter through.

The east end of the church.

The west end.  You can see the remains of the possible charnel house on the wall, where you can make out the old roof line that forms a triangle with the apex at the higher window. In the grass you can see the footprint of the walls that once stood here. There is no evidence of a way directly into the church (like a door), but you can see where a separate door into the charnel house was on the left.

The north wall.  This part of the church shows some of the most interesting pieces of Roman masonry re-used in the church. In the red box is a Roman altar stone (you can tell from the knob, or boss, carved in the centre). In the Fuchsia box (you won't be able to make it out, but trust me) is a stone inscribed with LEG VI, the sign fo the Sixth Legion of the Roman army that was stationed in the area at the time the Romans withdrew from Britain. 

The north east corner. In the green box there is a stone with a deep groove cut in it.  Similar stones exists from Pompei, and are most likely the remains of paving stones with chariot wheel grooves made in them over time. It may be hard to make out, but in the yellow box is a mounting block (or some other form of step), used in the corner of the building.

This is a Saxon sundial, just above and to the right of the main door.  It is the oldest Saxon sundial in the UK still in its original location.  The three lines show the times for the main services in the church, rather than giving actual times.

A small museum of artefacts found in and around the church, located in the south porch.

So you can get an idea of how small the church is, here is a (distorted) view of the whole church, from end to end.

The font. The date on this is uncertain, most likely 12th-13th century, but possibly earlier. In the late Saxon period it was custom to baptise through full immersion, which accounts for the large size and depth of the font (in order to fully immerse a baby).

The original Church would have been painted with images of saints and stories from the Bible.  However, that would have been washed over or removed in the 16th century during the Reformation. The church was 'restored' by the Victorians, who white washed the interior.

The nave, looking west.

The nave, looking east towards the chancel.

The arch separating the nave and chancel. You can make out earlier painting better here than anywhere else in the building.

Chancel arch.

The altar.  The stone cross in the centre is believed to be as old or older than the church  itself. The large window is a later addition, possibly the 12th-13th century.

The former sacristy or vestry door off the north wall of the chancel.You can make out a carved design on what used to be the doorway.  It likely shows Adam, Eve, and the tree.

Close up of the carving around the bricked up doorway.You can jut make out the figure of a person, likely Adam, that is under a tree.

The wall to the north of the chancel arch. You can see a cross inscribed on the wall here.  The cross is a symbol that this was the point from which preaching took place. In the Celtic church itinerant priests traveled the countryside to preach, and would draw congregations to a preaching cross (think of the Celtic standing crosses).  Once churches were built a preaching cross was still used, even if only inscribed on a wall.  

Me, looking very pleased with myself.