St Peter's Church

The church, dedicated to St Peter, had served as the sole parish church of Barton since the early medieval period until it was made redundant in 1970. For more than two centuries it has attracted antiquarian attention, and has acquired a distinguished rôle in the study of architectural history, largely on account of the survival of its remarkable western tower. The importance of this structure was first appreciated in the early years of the nineteenth century by Thomas Rickman during his quest for authentic examples of Anglo-Saxon architecture. Using the principles of archaeological stratification, Rickman deduced that the lower stages of the tower at Barton must be Anglo-Saxon because they are surmounted by a belfry of clearly different style and workmanship, which by analogy with better datable structures elsewhere can be assigned with confidence to the Saxo-Norman `overlap' period.

In Rickman's time, nothing was known about the remainder of the church with which the pre-Conquest tower was associated. In particular, the antiquity of the small plain, gabled structure adjoining the tower on the west was unappreciated until the middle of the nineteenth century, and even then its true significance eluded discovery. Generally referred to as the `western annexe', this feature is now known to be the only extant Anglo-Saxon baptistery.

The Excavation >>