Location: https://w3w.co/clots.incur.fencing

Between the Essex towns of Saffron Walden and Braintree is the village of Little Bardfield. In the middle of this parish sits the Grade I listed church, St. Katherine’s.

A large portion of the church’s structure is of Anglo-Saxon construction. Both the nave and the impressive West Tower were built sometime before the conquest, the proof of which can be seen in several ways. First, the walls are made of flint, rubble and partly dressed with clunch, which is a chalky limestone. Like so many other buildings from that time, the walls also include some Roman bricks and tiles which were most likely recycled from material gathered locally. At their base the walls are about a metre thick, but taper slightly as they rise. Also, when compared to the later additions of the chancel and organ chamber the alignment of the original walls is somewhat skewed.

The church has undergone a number of modifications which have removed Saxon features. The easternmost window in the north wall of the nave was a Saxon round-headed one which has now been blocked off. While the imposing West Tower, which was built in five stages, is accessible via a 15th century archway, and has had a western doorway which has also been blocked off.

An exact construction date isn’t known, but the church proclaims on its notice board the very precise date of 1042. When the village was recorded in the Domesday book in 1086 it was listed as having 83 households. This would have made it one of the larger settlements recorded so it is unlikely that such a large community would have such a recently built church. That might mean that this church is older than the date given, or more likely, an earlier humbler church preceded it.

Finally, although not an early medieval detail, it is worth pointing out what is likely a medieval Easter Sepulchre in the north wall. This would be for the Easter ritual where a cross and sacrament would have been wrapped in Linen and then ‘buried’ in the alcove on Good Friday. On Easter morning it would have been retrieved and paraded around the church as part of the celebration.

Links:

• Wikipedia page – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Bardfield
• British listed buildings – https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101306257-church-of-st-katharine-little-bardfield
• Parish website – https://www.littlebardfieldparish.org.uk/index.php/history/history-little-bardfield-parish
• Open Domesday Book project page – https://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/great-and-little-bardfield/
• Clunch building material – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clunch
• British History website – https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/essex/vol1/pp170-172