The parish church of Saint Andrews is a very early church which is thought to date from circa 900 AD and is thought to be one of the oldest churches in England. The church stands within a circular churchyard with the building on a slight mound and some think that this could have been a site for pagan worship, later taken over by the Christians in the 7C to curtail pagan worship.
The original church may well have been built of wood or wattle and daub. The most recent research has also suggested, as does the historian Nikolaus Pevsner, that the current church was built by Saxons but with a Norman influence.
This conclusion has been made due to the style and design of the three belfry openings which have all been constructed differently. The east opening has a unique stone frame cut out to form a maltese cross. Within the belfry is one bell which has a Latin inscription which translates to I am called the bell of Virgin exalted Mary, The bell is thought to have been cast by Brasyers of Norwich in the 15th century.
St Andrew’s round tower is almost entirely Saxon, the area below the parapet was built pre conquest indeed there is speculation that it was built around 900 A.D. which would make it the oldest surviving round tower in the country. Although the interior was renovated in the 19th century medieval artefacts remain including the Perpendicular piscina and the 15th century font. Only the Perpendicular east window contains stained glass, which was inserted during the Victorian renovation.
Thank you to Mr N Foster and Lexham Hall Estate for permission to place this cache.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
There is also a Church Micro Stats page found via the Bookmark list