Built in 1060, Greensted Church is the oldest wooden church in the world, and possibly the oldest wooden building in Europe, a remarkable testament to early English craftsmanship. However, it also raises some questions. What does it mean for a building to be the oldest of its kind, and do later renovations make its status less chronologically distinct? Let's discuss!
I’m so excited to share this with you all, especially as we celebrate reaching 100,000 subscribers! I can’t thank you enough for all the support, comments, and encouragement. It’s been an amazing journey, and I’m beyond grateful to have each and every one of you with me. Here’s to many more adventures together.
Source List:
1) The book I quoted from was John Blair's 'Building Anglo-Saxon England' (Princeton University Press, 2019), p. 19.
2) Historic England, 'The Church of St Andrew, Ongar' listing, Online.
3) Historic UK, 'Greensted Church – The Oldest Wooden Church in the World', Online.
4) Essex Churches, 'St Andrew's, Greensted Church' Online.
5) I don't know who to credit for the excellent guidebook, but the church has done a fantastic job with it - it is hugely thorough and a great read.
Also, some other sources I loved when doing my UG dissertation on ash trees and ash wood in Old English and Old Norse literature were:
Della Hooke, Trees in Anglo-Saxon England (Boydell, 2010)
Michael Bintley, Trees in the Religions of Early Medieval England (Boydell and Brewer, 2015)
Christopher Abram, Evergreen Ash: Ecology and Catastrophe in Old Norse Myth and Literature (University of Virginia Press, 2019)
#medievalhistory #medievalarchitecture #history #essex
