After visiting Gloucester Cathedral last Monday (on which see previous post), we headed just nine miles north to the village of Deerhurst, which boasts not one but two Saxon churches. The Anglo-Saxon period ranges from about 600 CE until the Normans took over in 1066. Saxon architecture is fairly rare and I think the only example we'd previously seen is the Saxon tower of St Michael at the North Gate in Oxford.
Our first stop in Deerhurst was St. Mary's Church, which is still in use as the village parish church.
It wasn't too hard to find a parking spot!
St. Mary's was founded in the late 600s as a Saxon minster (a monastic church used for missions to local pagans). It seems to have been used for the burial of at least one Saxon king, so it was expanded over the centuries and became a pretty impressive church for its time. The tower dates from an expansion in the 900s.
The church was also expanded after the Saxon period - the sides with the windows were added around 1200 in the Early English style. But the center of the church is still entirely Saxon, which gives the whole thing a very unique look. Saxon architecture tends to be much taller and narrower than later architecture, and you can really see it in the above photos. The tower seems to be squished between the aisles.
The above photo is taken from the front of the church looking back towards the entrance and the tower. You can see there are lots of weird triangular cutouts, which made me think of a Jack o'Lantern. The double triangle is thought to symbolize the Eyes of God watching over the congregation, and the blocked-up arch once led onto a balcony where relics were displayed.
From St. Mary's it was just a short amble down a gravel road to Deerhurst's other Saxon church, which is called Odda's Chapel. This simple chapel was founded in 1056 by a man named Odda, who was a relative of King Edward the Confessor. He dedicated it to his brother Aelfric.
The Saxon chapel was later attached to a half-timbered cottage, and the two buildings make a rather picturesque pair.
Not too much to see inside, but like St. Mary's it was interesting because it's a rare survival and different from most English churches.
On display in the cottage part of the building is a replica of the dedicatory inscription that was found on the site, which is how we know about Odda and his brother.
And the original inscription is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford! We will have to stop by to check it out sometime.
By the time I'd finished having a look around and taking pictures, David had quite understandably wandered down this inviting path...
...which led to a lovely field alongside the River Severn, which flows down into Gloucester. This is where the Saxon missionaries sailed up from Gloucester when they established their "minster" here 1,300 years ago.
It was fantastic. We sat down in the grass for awhile and just relaxed, listened to the water, and thought about how much we like England.
Then we drove home through the Cotswolds, where we stopped at one more village church just before it got dark. That turned out to be possibly the best one of the day - but it is bedtime so I'll save it for the next post.
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