Architecture

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Unfortunatly there are not many Anglo-Saxon building left because it was a period of warfare and Viking invasions. The invaders burned and destroyed most of the settlements they came across, which was rather simple since most Saxon Buildings were constructed of wood with wattle dub walls.

Thomas Rickman, an architect and architectural historian in the first half of the 19th century, was the first to discover the Anglo-Sawon style of architecture. What Rickman noticed was that there was a distinctive style of building underneath the Norman work at the top of the tower:. . .//this [top] structure being clearly Norman, it is evident, the substructure must be of an earlier date. . . this [lower] arrangement is so different from Norman work, that there seems a probability that it may be real Saxon. And elsewhere he wrote: '. . . this. . . attracted my attention, and led me to look for similar ones in other parts of the kingdom'.// (From Rickman's fourth and fifth edition of //An attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture in England//.) Thus was the Anglo-Saxon style first discovered.

Although most of the buildings were burned down, not all of the buildings were taken down. Remaining are a few churches, which are surprisingly generally small in size. In fact, they are very simple buildings, almost plain.

One of the trademarks of the Anglo Saxons are Saxon towers for their churches. They began as a defensive structure that members of the town could look out for attackers.

Angalo Saxon buildings were generally simple. Masonry was not used except for foundations.



Early Anglo-Saxon buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing. Generally preferring not to settle in the old Roman cities, the Anglo-Saxons built small towns near their centres of agriculture. In each town, a main hall was in the centre, and other forms of building of the townspeople.

There are few remains of Anglo-Saxon architecture, with no secular work remaining above ground. At least fifty churches are of Anglo-Saxon origin, with many more claiming to be, although in some cases the Anglo-Saxon part is small and much-altered. All surviving churches, except one timber church, are built of stone or brick, and in some cases show evidence of re-used Roman work.

The architectural character of Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical buildings range from Coptic influenced architecture in the early period; basilica influenced Romanesque architecture; and in the later Anglo-Saxon period, an architecture characterised by pilaster-strips, blank arcading, baluster shafts and triangular headed openings.