The Saxon Church

Parish church of 7th-century date, with a 14th-century porch and some 13th-century and 19th-century windows. The eaves were raised at an unknown date. The church was restored between 1875 and 1880 by R.J. Johnson and again in 1965 by Sir Albert Richardson.

Construction Materials and Roof

The walls are built of irregular courses of squared sandstone, including stones of Roman origin probably taken from Binchester, with stone quoins and ashlar dressings. The roof is covered with stone slates and has stone gable coping to the chancel.

Plan and Archaeological Evidence

The church follows a simple 2-cell plan comprising a chancel and nave with a south porch. Archaeological excavation in 1968 revealed the sites of a west annexe and a north porticus to the chancel.

Exterior

The building has notably high and narrow proportions. All quoins up to the raised eaves are of Saxon type, with massive stones set with their long face alternating to either side. The chancel has re-used Roman gutter stones set vertically above the east window and a blocked north door. The east window is a 19th-century round-headed window with chamfered surround; medieval lancets in the chancel and south-east nave also have chamfered surrounds. At the centre of the south wall is a wide pointed-arched 19th-century window with plain stone surround.

The south nave wall contains two small 7th-century lights set high in the wall, with round heads cut from big stone lintels. Between these lintels, at lintel level, is a carved stone bearing a round sundial with a curved serpent-like animal with a tassel-like tail hanging to the right and a pointed head to the left.

The north wall has a central door and two narrow rectangular 7th-century lights set high in the wall, with flat jambs, sills and lintels. High up towards the east, a re-used Roman inscription reading LEG VI is set upside down. The west window has a round head with irregular voussoirs, and a small 7th-century round-headed window sits in the gable peak. The nave gables feature small crow steps. The west gable displays the roof line of a 2-storey porch below the top window and carries a small stone bellcote with a plain arch.

The porch has a 19th-century boarded door set in a keyed round-headed arch with voussoirs, above which is an eroded sundial. The porch walls show irregular quoins and skew stones to the gable. The nave door within the porch has a flat stone lintel.

Interior

The interior is whitewashed, with a small section of exposed plaster bearing red paint on the north wall. The roof comprises tied trusses with diagonal struts, possibly contemporary with the raising of the eaves.

The chancel arch is a high round-headed feature with large voussoirs. The stones are said to have been brought from Binchester, though this is without firm evidence. The arch rests on large uneven imposts and jambs of long-and-short type. A blocked north chancel door has a thin lintel and jamb stones with a simple carved tree on the right.

The small early windows are deeply splayed with grooves for shutters. The lancet windows have shouldered rear arches. A small medieval grave marker with a carved cross stands above the altar. A bowl piscina is positioned in the north wall of the chancel. An octagonal stone bowl and pedestal font, possibly of 12th-century date, bears marks of lock holes. A section of cobbled flooring at the west end is said to be original.

Porch Contents

The porch contains fragments of carved stone, including inhabited vine decoration from a cross shaft and other objects recovered from the site and excavations, with explanatory panels.