Romanesque England: Saint Andrew in Greensted-juxta-Ongar
I have titled this series Romanesque England, and so far it does correspond fairly well to what we have seen. Today however, and for the last church in the series, we visit a truly pre-Romanesque wonder, which also claims to be the oldest wooden church in the world: Saint Andrew in the hamlet of Greensted-juxta-Ongar (isn’t that a delicious name in and of itself?) in Essex.
There have been various attempts at dendrochronology dating on the timbers, bringing back results ranging from 845 to 1055 (the latter with a margin of error of 10 to 55 years). The differing results are not surprising: even though the best oak wood was certainly selected for the walls, it is to be expected that a lesser specimen went undetected and had to be replaced a couple hundred years down the road. The oldest parts (the walls of the nave) indeed appear to be what we in Continental Europe would call Carolingian, and even though that church was subjected to a lot of later alterations (the chancel is 16th century and the wooden tower 17th), it retains a unique and enormously attractive atmosphere as an ancient place of worship. The southern porch and three dormer windows were also added during the 17th century, and unfortunately further remodeled during the extensive Victorian “restoration” this church had to undergo —or should I say withstand?
Archæologists even tell us that a previous, very basic church, probably existed here as early as the late 500s, as traces of it have been found under the present chancel, which replaced an earlier, timber-made one. It may even have succeeded a more ancient, and Pagan, place of worship: early Christianity is known for having so “appropriated” (or should I say “expropriated”?) temples and oratories of cults it sought to replace. Building a church over them was a convenient way to obliterate previous constructions, effectively wiping them from the sight of the next generation —and generational succession happened quickly in those times when life was terribly short. Memory often remained through spoken tradition, though, and sometimes still remains to this day, albeit deformed by the many retellings...
Most of the generations that came before, say, the second half of the 20th century, either didn’t care about maintaining old buildings they inherited from their forefathers, or didn’t know how to do the job properly. They razed and replaced, or they maimed and rent, however well-intentioned they may have been. Considering, it is kind of miraculous that this extremely old church, even more so as it is made of a material not as durable as stone, has managed to reach our times relatively unscathed, at least as far as the nave is concerned.
This is a must-see for anyone interested in the Middle Ages, a truly unique survivor of Carolingian times... even if finding it isn’t the easiest thing, even with a good satnav!
Inside the venerable nave, managing to “unsee” all the ugliness superimposed by modernizers and other “restorators” is not easy, but try and focus on the splendid wood frame, which does indeed show, maybe, some inspiration from Scandinavian countries, as some authors think that was where this church got some of its stylistic flair...
Romanesque England: Saint Andrew in Greensted-juxta-Ongar
I have titled this series Romanesque England, and so far it does correspond fairly well to what we have seen. Today however, and for the last church in the series, we visit a truly pre-Romanesque wonder, which also claims to be the oldest wooden church in the world: Saint Andrew in the hamlet of Greensted-juxta-Ongar (isn’t that a delicious name in and of itself?) in Essex.
There have been various attempts at dendrochronology dating on the timbers, bringing back results ranging from 845 to 1055 (the latter with a margin of error of 10 to 55 years). The differing results are not surprising: even though the best oak wood was certainly selected for the walls, it is to be expected that a lesser specimen went undetected and had to be replaced a couple hundred years down the road. The oldest parts (the walls of the nave) indeed appear to be what we in Continental Europe would call Carolingian, and even though that church was subjected to a lot of later alterations (the chancel is 16th century and the wooden tower 17th), it retains a unique and enormously attractive atmosphere as an ancient place of worship. The southern porch and three dormer windows were also added during the 17th century, and unfortunately further remodeled during the extensive Victorian “restoration” this church had to undergo —or should I say withstand?
Archæologists even tell us that a previous, very basic church, probably existed here as early as the late 500s, as traces of it have been found under the present chancel, which replaced an earlier, timber-made one. It may even have succeeded a more ancient, and Pagan, place of worship: early Christianity is known for having so “appropriated” (or should I say “expropriated”?) temples and oratories of cults it sought to replace. Building a church over them was a convenient way to obliterate previous constructions, effectively wiping them from the sight of the next generation —and generational succession happened quickly in those times when life was terribly short. Memory often remained through spoken tradition, though, and sometimes still remains to this day, albeit deformed by the many retellings...
Most of the generations that came before, say, the second half of the 20th century, either didn’t care about maintaining old buildings they inherited from their forefathers, or didn’t know how to do the job properly. They razed and replaced, or they maimed and rent, however well-intentioned they may have been. Considering, it is kind of miraculous that this extremely old church, even more so as it is made of a material not as durable as stone, has managed to reach our times relatively unscathed, at least as far as the nave is concerned.
This is a must-see for anyone interested in the Middle Ages, a truly unique survivor of Carolingian times... even if finding it isn’t the easiest thing, even with a good satnav!
Inside the venerable nave, managing to “unsee” all the ugliness superimposed by modernizers and other “restorators” is not easy, but try and focus on the splendid wood frame, which does indeed show, maybe, some inspiration from Scandinavian countries, as some authors think that was where this church got some of its stylistic flair...