THE DEVELOP^rENT OF ARCHITECTURE IN ESSEX. r 69 



Erchwine in 527 to Egbert in 823, when that king estabhshed his 

 supremacy over the whole Heptarchy, and so became king of all 

 England. The Saxons continued to rule the land until 1013, when 

 Sweyn, the Dane, and his son Canute obtained temporary posses- 

 sion, and from this date to 1066 the Saxons and the Danes fought 

 for the supremacy, sometimes the one and sometimes the other being 

 the victors ; and it is noticeable that many of the battles between 

 these two peoples took place on Essex soil, and it cannot be doubted 

 that the dissensions caused by the break up of the Roman power, 

 and which continued with more or less interruption from 410 down 

 to 1066, led to the destruction of many a noble pile of building. 



In discussing the remains of this period we must remember that 

 we are treating of a people who seemed to be the opposite of their 

 predecessors. 



The Romans were ambitious and imperial, great architects 

 and great engineers, both civil and military; the Saxons were 

 agricultural and domestic. The former were never so happy as when 

 building or constructing or fortifying; the latter as when ploughing or 

 tending their flocks and herds ; and no doubt they availed themselves, 

 not only of many of the buildings, but of the earthworks and other 

 defences of the Romans, altering or adapting them as occasion 

 required ; and had it not been for the re-introduction of Christianity 

 in the Saxon period we should probably have had very much fewer 

 remains of the architecture of this period than we have now, few as 

 they are, and although the Roman temple did not suit the early 

 Christians, yet the materials could be adapted ; and so with the pro- 

 verbial enthusiasm and impulsiveness of converts they would consider 

 it incumbent upon them to destroy all vestiges of the Pagan religion. 



It cannot be doubted that a people so strongly imbued with 

 religion would, when the country had been divided into parishes, 

 which practically represented small communities, be eager to con 

 struct buildings for public worship, and there cannot be any reason- 

 able doubt but that in very r any of our Essex parishes a Saxon 

 church was built, for w^e are tola that at the time of the Norman 

 Conquest there were throughout England 1,700 Saxon churches. 

 \ In Essex there are only two specimens of Saxon work left that I 

 tarn aware of, although there may be fragments of that period which 

 have escaped attention. The two specimens I allude to are the 

 tower of Trinity Church, Colchester, and the nave of Greensted 

 Church, near Ongar. 



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