ORLINGBURY HUNDRED 



BRIXWORTH 



monastery were probably destroyed by the Danes 

 during the invasion of 870 and the church dismantled, 

 but the masonry of a great part of the present fabric 

 may confidently be ascribed to a date earlier than the 

 Danish conquest. Its reconstruction as a parish church 

 in Saion times probably took place c. 960—70 under 

 the revival in the reign of King Edgar, at which 

 period the apse appears to have been reconstructed 

 and the side aisles removed.' There may have been 

 a second repair shortly before or after the Norman 

 Conquest.^ 



The nave, presbytery, and the lower part of the 



walls, separated by rectangular piers, or masses of wall, 

 each about 8 ft. in length,^ and with rectangular 

 responds at the ends. The imposts of the arches rise 

 slightly in height from west to east,* and each arch is 

 of two rings, or rows of voussoirs, in the same plane 

 with each other and with the wall surface of the piers. 

 These rings are very largely composed of Roman bricks' 

 set edgeways, separated by flat courses of bricks con- 

 centric with the curve of the arch, and with a second 

 circumscribing course in place of a hood-mould, but 

 thin slabs of local oolite have also been freely used in 

 a manner which suggests a reconstruction of the arches 



10 3 



10 



20 



30 



40 



50 



Scale of Feet 



Plan of Brixworth Church 



uniceso 



c 960-70 



□ I2D1 Century late 



□ 133 Century early 

 EHI 131 Century late 

 Ei 143 Century early 

 El 1 5I!i Century 



EZI] Modern 

 ^ Uncertain 



tower are substantially of the earliest period {c. 680), 

 but the church was originally entered through a 

 western porch, which had an upper chamber with 

 gabled roof. Upon this porch, which was flanked on 

 each side by a small chamber,' the tower was afterwards 

 raised. 



The walls of the nave are of rubble stonework, with 

 which is mingled a large number of thin bricks, evi- 

 dently re-used from the ruins of Romano-British 

 buildings near the site,* employed chiefly in the arches, 

 and here and there in the walls, more especially at the 

 angles. The nave opened into the aisles through an 

 arcade of four semicircular arches in each of the side 



after the period of ruin, in which new stonework was 

 used when the supply of bricks failed.' The imposts 

 are formed of three courses of oversailing bricks, with 

 a total projection of about 4 in. The manner in which 

 the arches are turned possibly indicates that the prin- 

 ciple of the radiating joint was not understood by the 

 builder,' but the bad setting of the springers may have 

 been intentional.'" Above the arches" the wall on each 

 side is reduced in thickness, being set back both inside 

 and out, and there is an internal set-off at a somewhat 

 higher level in the west wall. The clerestory has three 

 original round-headed windows on each side of a type 

 uncommon in this country," placed over the piers and 



■ Baldwin Brown aicribes the removal 

 of the aisles to this period : op. cit. ii, 1 1 3. 

 Prof. Hamilton Thompson thinks that the 

 aisles may have survived until the present 

 •outh door\^-ay was made, c. 1 1 80, or even 

 till the end of the i 3th century, when the 

 •outh chapel was completed : Arch, your, 

 liii, 506. 



' Arch. Jour, Uix, 505 : 'there is con- 

 siderable evidence for repair and partial 

 reconstruction at two separate times.' 



' The foundations of these have been 

 uncovered. 



* A Roman settlement of some kind 

 at Briiworth is attested by numerous 

 finds: y.C.II. Norihanli. i, 194; Baldwin 

 Brown, op. cit. ii, 107. The claim that 



the church was originally a Roman secular 

 basilica is now generally abandoned. 



' The piers are 3 ft. 10 in. thick, but 

 vary in length from 7 ft. 10 in. to 8 ft. 

 10 in., though mostly 8 ft. z in.: Assoc. 

 Arch. Soc. Rfis. XX, 345. 



^ On the south side 7^ in. : on the north 

 tide loj in. : ibid. 



^ The bricks are from 10 in. to 16 in. 

 long, about 11 in. wide, and about l| in. 

 thick. 



' Prof. Hamilton Thompson in Arch, 

 your. Ixix, 505. 



• Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii, 107. The 

 lowest voussoirs are tilted against each 

 other with approximately straight joints 

 and wedges of rubble and mortar arc in- 



serted above the pier at the normal spring- 

 ing point : ibid. 



"^ There are several instances in Italian 

 late Roman work of kicking up the 

 springers of an arch in a similar manner. 

 The adoption of this method at Brixworth 

 may thus be an indication that the builders 

 were closely copying late Roman methods : 

 note by Mr. A. W. Clapham, F.S.A. 



'* The clear openings of the arches 

 range from 6 ft. 7J in. (o 7 ft. 7J in. in 

 width. The height to the impost from the 

 floor varies from 10 ft. 4 in. at the west 

 end to II ft. 5I in. at the east: Sir H. 

 Drydcn in Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rpis. xx, 345. 



■' Baldwin Brown, op. cit. ii, 108. 



^Si 



