page_title: Escomb Church
section_title: Anglo-Saxon
hierarchical_section_title: Escomb Church / Architecture / Anglo-Saxon
caption_attribution_description: English: The semicircular head of the chancel arch in the Anglo-Saxon church at Escomb, County Durham
context_page_description: Escomb Church is the Church of England parish church of Escomb, County Durham, a village about 1 ¹⁄₂ miles west of Bishop Auckland. It is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon churches in England and one of only three complete Anglo-Saxon churches remaining in England, the others being St Lawrence's Church, Bradford-on-Avon and All Saints' Church, Brixworth. The church is a Grade I listed building.
context_section_description: The church was founded about AD 670–675, when the area was part of the Anglian Kingdom of Northumbria. Much of the stone was taken from the nearby Roman fort at Vinovia (Binchester). On the gable of the south porch is a 7th or early 8th Century sundial, and on the north wall is a reused Roman stone with the markings "LEG VI" (Sixth Legion) set upside down. Above the sundial projects an Anglo-Saxon relief of an animal's head.
  Because Bede (circa AD 673–735) did not mention the church, some have argued that it was not built until after his death. However, he only named churches which were associated with events he recorded.
  The proportions of the nave are typically Anglo-Saxon: narrow and tall. The chancel is rectangular. The church is built of large roughly dressed, squared stones, with particularly large quoins, many of which are up to 2 ft (0.6 m) high and between 3 ft (0.9 m) and 4 ft (1.2 m) long. The early character of the building and its similarity to other early work in Northumbria are consistent with it having been built between AD 650 and 800.
  Internally the nave is 43 ft 6 in (13.3 m) long by 14 ft 6 in (4.4 m) wide. Its walls are 2 ft 4 in (0.7 m) thick and about 23 ft (7.0 m) high. The chancel is 10 ft (3.0 m) square. The chancel arch is 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) wide and its apex is15 ft (4.6 m) above the floor of the nave.
  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 the Roman fort at Chesters on Hadrian's Wall. This strengthens the theory that stones used at Escomb were brought from Binchester. Many of the stones show Roman tooling, which is common in Anglo-Saxon churches.
  The chancel arch is of typical Roman form, tall with massive stone jambs, simple chamfered imposts and precisely-cut, radial voussoirs. It is unlike the non-radial voussoirs that the Anglo-Saxons typically made.
  In the restoration of 1880 were found a number of delicately carved fragments of cross-shafts of the high quality commonly assigned to the Hexham school. They were found built into the gables, presumably during earlier restorations.
caption: The chancel arch, with traces of what may be Mediæval paint
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