Before the end of the 7th century, stone churches were built at York, Ripon and Hexham, the latter being largely built of materials from the Roman Wall, which passes within a short distance of the place, and Roman inscribed slabs have been used in forming the roof of the crypt.
Bede tells us that Benedict crossed the sea to Gaul, and carried back with him masons to build churches of stone, “after the manner of the Romans that he loved,” at Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, about 680 A.D. Each of these churches contains portions which are, without doubt, from their rude construction, parts of the original fabrics of Benedict. Anglo-Saxon stone churches were small, rectangular or cruciform in shape, and without aisles.
A lofty tower, without buttresses, stands at the west end, or at the intersection of the nave and transepts. The walls were usually of rubble or small stones, of very irregular shape, covered with “rough cast” or plaster. The kind of masonry termed “herring-bone” is often used, and Roman bricks, taken from the ruins of earlier buildings, seem to have been freely used.
It is probable that the sides of the towers terminated in acutely pointed gables, from which the roof is carried up, as at Sompting Church, in Sussex.
The towers were without staircases, the different storeys being reached by means of ladders.
The old church at Bradford, in Wiltshire, is one of the most perfect specimens of the Anglo-Saxon class. It is probably the small, original church of the Abbey, built by Adhelm, in the 8th century (A.D. 705).
It is constructed of Bath stone, and it is considered, on account of the fineness of the building, that there may have been a certain amount of later restoration.
In the 9th century, many churches were destroyed by the Danes, and Canute rebuilt many churches which his father and his followers had destroyed. But, for a period before the year 1000 A.D., the building of churches stopped on account of the expected millenium. After that date, when the hopes and fears of the people had proved groundless, the building of churches commenced again with renewed vigour.
