All Saints Church Brixworth

Brixworth Church is not, as reputed, an old Roman basilica. It is an early Christian basilica. It was in all probability, founded about 680 A.D by the monks of Medehamstede (Peterborough) to serve both as a missionary and a parish church. Roman materials were used largely in the building, probably taken from the ruins of an old Roman settlement in the district. All the openings are built in Roman bricks, which are also employed here and there in the rubble walling especially at the corners. An apsidal presbytery, divided from the nave by a remarkable Saxon arch, is one of the earliest examples of a feature, which developed in mediaeval times in to chancels and choirs of considerable size and importance. The apse is semicircular in the interior, but, outside, it forms five sides of a polygon. An ambulatory, round the exterior of the apse, is about 6 feet below the floor of the church. It was at one tine vaulted over, forming a covered way, it is supposed, to the ashes, or other relics of the sacred dead. The western tower is mainly Saxon, probably temp .Edgar (959-975 A.D.). A spiral stone staircase, enclosed in a half-round turret, fixed to the western wall of the tower is of the same period. It leads to a tower chamber which looks upon the nave and up to the altar through a balustered triple opening. Probably the chamber was used by the chief notable of the district to enable him to participate in the services without mingling with the worshipers below