A Gazetteer of Anglo-Saxon and "Overlap" Churches around Oxford
N.B. A new a greatly expanded version of this has been uploaded in January 2014. Please use the Gazetteer V.2, and the new zipped archive of all images (V. 2). This is a guide to churches within a "day-trip" of Oxford which have been authoritatively reported as having structural remains of Anglo-Saxon date or, at least, of very early post Conquest date in the Anglo-Saxon manner. Churches are not included if they only have, for example, a carved cross which is not in situ. It is hoped that the guide will widen the horizons of people interested in such churches but with limited opportunities to travel the length of the country to visit the relatively complete and well known churches. If you plan a tour of several churches, it is wise to top-mark all those in an area of interest on a road-map so that you cover adjacent counties. This introduction is the first of four text files. The second is gazetteer which comprises brief details of the churches arranged alphabetically by county and alphabetically within each county. Each "article" is headed by place name, dedication, the Period Code (see later), a map reference and brief directions. Many articles then say "See photofile" with a coded reference (See later). If there is no reference to "photofile", I have not visited the church. At the end of most articles there are "refs" to the sources of my information in coded form. These are listed alphabetically in the fourth text file, giving details of the sources. In the gazetteer abbreviations have been used; N,S,E and W for the compass points and AS for Anglo-Saxon. The Period Code This is a system devised early last century and widely used since. Anglo-Saxon churches are difficult to date accurately and the codes give an approximate range. The codes and dates are as follows: A1 = 600 - 650 A2 = 650 - 700 A3 = 700 - 800 From Augustine's mission to the major Viking raids. B1 = 800 - 850 B2 = 850 - 900 B3 = 900 - 950 The period of the Viking invasions. C1 = 950 - 1000 C2 = 1000 -1050 C3 = 1050 -1100 From the Monastic Revival through the "Overlap" with Norman influence. The Photofile codes These codes in the gazetteer text direct you to the photofile index (the third icon of the four) where is found against each code the place and brief details of the church. The codes are in alphanumeric order and the alpha indicates the county. Below the four icons indicating text files are pictures of churches identified by the photofile codes. Each can be "downloaded" as a file in an enlarged format .
