Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the
There are many remains of Anglo-Saxon church architecture. At least fifty churches are of
The architectural character of Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical buildings range from Celtic influenced architecture in the early period;
Houses and other secular buildings
Anglo-Saxon secular buildings were normally rectangular post built structures, where timber posts were driven into the ground to form the framework of the walls upon which the thatched roofs were constructed. Only ten of the hundreds of settlement sites that have been excavated in England from this period have revealed masonry domestic structures and confined to a few quite specific contexts. The usual explanation for the tendency of Anglo–Saxons to build in timber is one of technological inferiority or incompetence. However it is now accepted that technology and materials were part of conscious choices indivisible from their social meaning. Le Goff suggests that the Anglo-Saxon period was defined by its use of wood,[2] providing evidence for the care and craftsmanship that the Anglo–Saxon invested into their wooden material culture, from cups to halls, and the concern for trees and timber in Anglo–Saxon place–names, literature and religion.[3] Michael Shapland suggests:
The stone buildings imposed on England by the Romans would have been 'startling' and 'exceptional', and following the collapse of Roman society in the fifth century there was a widespread return to timber building, a 'cultural shift' that it is not possible to explain by recourse to technological determinism.[4]
Anglo–Saxon building forms were very much part of this general building tradition. Timber was 'the natural building medium of the age':[5] the very Anglo–Saxon word for 'building' is 'timbe'. Unlike in the Carolingian world, late Anglo–Saxon royal halls continued to be of timber in the manner of Yeavering centuries before, even though the king could clearly have mustered the resources to build in stone.[6] Their preference must have been a conscious choice, perhaps an expression of 'deeply–embedded Germanic identity' on the part of the Anglo–Saxon royalty.
Though very little contemporary evidence survives, methods of construction, including examples of later buildings, can be compared with methods on the continent. The major rural buildings were sunken-floor (Grubenhäuser) or post-hole buildings, although Helena Hamerow suggest this distinction is less clear.[7] An excavated example is at Mucking in Essex. In addition to the sunken huts, vernacular buildings from the migration period found at Mucking included more substantial halls up to 50 feet (15 m) long and 25 feet (7.6 m) wide with entrances in the middle of both longer sides.[8]
Even the elite had simple buildings, with a central fire and a hole in the roof to let the smoke escape and the largest of which rarely had more than one floor, and one room. Buildings vary widely in size, most were square or rectangular, though some round houses have been found. Frequently these buildings have sunken floors; a shallow pit over which a plank floor was suspended. The pit may have been used for storage, but more likely was filled with straw for winter insulation. A variation on the sunken floor design is found in towns, where the "basement" may be as deep as nine feet, suggesting a storage or work area below a suspended floor. Another common design was simple post framing, with heavy posts set directly into the ground, supporting the roof. The space between the posts was filled in with wattle and daub, or occasionally, planks. The floors were generally packed earth, though planks were sometimes used. Roofing materials varied, with thatch being the most common, though turf and even wooden shingles were also used.[9]
The most archaeologically striking example of a royal palace is found at
During the 9th and 10th centuries, fortifications (
Church architecture: historical context
The fall of Roman Britain at the beginning of the fifth century, according to Bede, allowed an influx of invaders from northern Germany including the Angles and Saxons.
The Angles and the Saxons had their own religion, but Christianity was on its way. St Patrick, a Romano-British man, converted Ireland to Christianity, from where much of Western Scotland was converted and much of Northumbria was reconverted. Links were also established between the Christian communities in Ireland and those in Wales and the West country at sites such as St Piran's Oratory which represents some of the earliest Christian architecture extant on the British mainland. The architecture though was initially influenced by Coptic monasticism.[14]
Examples of this can be seen today in the form of rectangular dry-stone
In 597, the mission of
with side chambers.In 664 a
The
Subsequent Danish (
7th century
In contrast to secular buildings, stone was used from very early on to build churches, although a single wooden example has survived at Greensted Church, which is now thought to be from the end of the period. Bede makes it clear in both his Ecclesiastical History and his Historiam Abbatum that the masonry construction of churches, including his own at Jarrow, was undertaken morem Romanorum, "in the manner of the Romans", in explicit contrast to existing traditions of timber construction. Even at Canterbury, Bede believed that St Augustine's first cathedral had been 'repaired' or 'recovered' (recuperavit) from an existing Roman church, when in fact it had been newly constructed from Roman materials. The belief was "the Christian Church was Roman therefore a masonry church was a Roman building".
The earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon architecture dates from the 7th century, essentially beginning with Augustine of Canterbury in Kent from 597; for this he probably imported workmen from Frankish Gaul. The cathedral and abbey in Canterbury, together with churches in Kent at Minster in Sheppey (c.664) and Reculver (669), and in Essex at the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall at Bradwell-on-Sea (where only the nave survives), define the earliest type in southeast England. A simple nave without aisles provided the setting for the main altar; east of this a chancel arch, perhaps a triple arch opening as at Reculver, separated off the apse for use by the clergy. However there is no surviving complete 7th-century church with an apse. Flanking the apse and east end of the nave were side chambers serving as sacristies; further porticus might continue along the nave to provide for burials and other purposes. Exceptions to this include the Old Minster, Winchester.
Church designs at the time differed between the
- All Saints' Church, Brixworth, Northamptonshire
- St Martin's Church, Canterbury (7th century nave with parts of possible earlier origin)
- Old Minster, Winchester (648) (only foundations remain, but are marked out)
- St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex (c. 654, on the site of a Roman fort, with reused materials[19])
- Ripon Cathedral crypt (c. 670)
- Hexham Abbey crypt (674)
- Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory, Northumberland(c. 675)
- Escomb Church, County Durham (c. 680)
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St Peter's on the Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex.
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7th-century archway atSouthend on Sea, Essex.
8th to 10th centuries
Little is attributable to the 8th and 9th centuries, due to the regular
- St Wystan's Church, Repton, Derbyshire (crypt c. 750, chancel walls ninth century)
- St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire (c. 930)
- All Saints' Church, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire
- St Helen's Church, Skipwith, North Yorkshire (tower c. 960)
- St Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire (tower c. 970, baptistery possibly ninth century)
- St Laurence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire
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A 19th-century engraving of the crypt at Repton where Æthelbald was interred.
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Detail of tower at St Mary's, Deerhurst.
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Double triangular arch windows in the tower of St Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber.
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Blocked Anglo-Saxon round-arched window at St Michael's Church in Fobbing, Essex
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St Laurence's Church, Bradford on Avon, seen from the south, 2005
11th century
The 11th century saw the first appearance of the High
Recent arguments and recent archaeological discoveries have raised the possibility that the 11th-century
- Greensted Church, Essex (1013 with oak palisade walls)
- Stow Minster, Lincolnshire (c. 1040 with a small part surviving from 975)
- St Bene't's Church, Cambridge (c. 1040)
- St Michael at the Northgate, Oxford(c. 1040)
- St Nicholas' Church, Worth, West Sussex(c. 950 – 1050)
- Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting, West Sussex (c. 1050)
- Odda's Chapel, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire (1056)
- St Matthew's Church, Langford, Oxfordshire (formerly Berkshire) (after 1050)
- The tower of Holy Trinity Church in pre-Conquest 11th century tower built out of Roman rubble[20]
- St George's Tower, Oxford, Oxfordshire (now a part of Oxford Castle but possibly of pre-Conquest construction date)
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St Bene't's Church, Cambridge.
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Odda's Chapel, Deerhurst, attached to later house.
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Holy Trinity Church, Colchester, the tower and west doorway of which are Anglo-Saxon
Diagnostic features
This article is part of the series: |
Anglo-Saxon society and culture |
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People |
Language |
Material culture |
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Power and organization |
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Religion |
There are many churches that contain Anglo-Saxon features, although some of these features were also used in the early Norman period.
- long-and-short quoins;
- double triangular windows;
- narrow, round-arched windows (often using Roman tile);
- herringbone stone work;
- west porch (narthex).
It is rare for more than one of these features to be present in the same building. A number of early Anglo-Saxon churches are based on a basilica with north and south porticus (projecting chambers) to give a cruciform plan. However cruciform plans for churches were used in other periods. Similarly, a chancel in the form of a rounded apse is often found in early Anglo-Saxon churches, but can be found in other periods as well.
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Quoin stones in the south transept of Stow Minster, Lincolnshire
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Double triangular windows at St Mary's, Deerhurst
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Herringbone stonework at Corringham, Essex parish church
See also
- Anglo-Saxon England
- History of Anglo-Saxon England
Notes
- ^ York and London both offer examples of this trend.
- ^ Le Goff, J. (1988), Medieval Civilization 400–1500 (Oxford: Blackwell):203
- ^ Bintley, Michael DJ, and Michael G. Shapland, eds. Trees and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World. Oxford University Press, 2013
- ^ Shapland, Michael G. "Meanings of Timber and Stone in Anglo-Saxon Building Practice." Trees and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World (2013): 21.
- ^ Turner, H. L. (1970), Town Defences in England and Wales: An Architectural and Documentary Study A. D. 900–1500 (London: John Baker)
- ^ Higham, R. and Barker, P. (1992), Timber Castles (London: B. T. Batsford):193
- ^ Hamerow, Helena. Early medieval settlements: the archaeology of rural communities in Northwest Europe, 400–900. Oxford University Press, 2004.
- ^ "Thurrock Heritage factfile". thurrock.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ Hamerow
- ^ Hope-Taylor. Yeavering: An Anglo-British centre of early Northumbria. ?.
- ^ Blair, John (2015). "The Making of the English House: Domestic Planning, 900-1150". Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History. 19 (1): 184.
- ^ Gardiner (2018). Manorial Farmsteads and the Expression of Lordship Before and After the Norman Conquest. p. 94.
- ^ ISBN 9780300110586.
- ^ Pevsner, N. (1963) An Outline of European Architecture, Harmondsworth
- ^ "- English Heritage". www.english-heritage.org.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ a b Medieval Devon & Cornwall; Shaping an Ancient Countryside, Ed. Sam Turner, 2006
- ^ "Flying Past – The Historic Environment of Cornwall: Enclosed Settlements". www.historic-cornwall.org.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
- ^ Wilkinson, David John, and Alan McWhirr. Cirencester Anglo-Saxon Church and Medieval Abbey: Excavations Directed by JS Wacher (1964), AD McWhirr (1965) and PDC Brown (1965–6). Cotswold Archaeological Trust, 1998.
- ^ Morris, Richard, Churches in the Landscape (Phoenix paperback edition, 1997, p. 120)
- ISBN 1 897719 05 1)
- ^ H M & J Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture
- ^ Pamela Cunnington How Old is that Church? (Marston House, reprinted 2001)
References
- Hamerow, Helena; Hinton, David A.; Crawford, Sally, eds. (2011), The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology., Oxford: OUP, ISBN 978-0-19-921214-9
- Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People
- Clapham, A. W. (1930) English Romanesque Architecture Before the Conquest, Oxford.
- Fernie, E. (1983) The Architecture of the Anglo-Saxons, London.
- Pevsner, N. (1963) An Outline of European Architecture, Harmondsworth.
- Savage, A. (1983) The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, London.
- Taylor, H. M. and J.(1965–1978) Anglo-Saxon Architecture, Cambridge.