Escomb Anglo- Saxon Church

Escomb Church in County Durham, UK, is one of the oldest  churches in England and one of only three complete Anglo-Saxon churches remaining in the country

It  was founded about AD 670–675, when the area was part of the Kingdom of Northumbria under the Angles.  It is believed that most  of the stone to build the church was taken from the nearby Roman fort at nearby Bichester (known then as Vinovia). On the south side is a 7th or early 8th Century sundial bearing an image of a pre-Christian, Teutonic, “creator god". An example of the Anglo-Saxons still holding onto their religious imagery after conversion to Christianity. ”. A later sundial adorns the medieval porch.  On the north wall is a reused Roman  stone with the markings "LEG VI" (Sixth Legion) set upside down. .

The proportions of the nave are typically Anglo-Saxon, being  narrow tall and rectangular. The church is built of large roughly dressed, squared stones, with particularly large quoins, many of which are up to 2 ft high and and 4 ft long.

Internally the most notable feature is the tall, narrow chancel arch. The southern impost of the arch is reminiscent of those in a gateway of a Roman fort on Haddrian’s wall. It  is of typical Roman form, tall with massive stone jambs and precisely-cut, radial wedge shaped stones to form the arch. They are unlike the non-radial forms that the Anglo-Saxons typically made.

There are a number of original windows on the North wall but the larger ones on the South side are later additions.