Brixworth - All Saints

The place-name 'Brixworth' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Briclesworde. But the place is way older, as already the anglo-saxon Peterborough Chronicle records Brixworth as having a monastery, founded when Seaxwulf became bishop of Mercia, before the death of King Wulfhere of Mercia in AD 675.

The present church was begun in the late eighth or early ninth century, either by King Offa of Mercia or his successor, Coenwulf. Many elements from this building remain visible, along with later additions from further phases of building in the 10th, 14th and 19th centuries. The church was built in the form of an Early Christian basilica.

What remains of the original building is a clerestoried nave, north and south arcades , a presbytery separated from the nave by a great arch, and the foundations of a semicircular apse. The west tower was begun as a two-storey porch, heightened in the 10th century to form a tower.

In the 13th century a south aisle was added to the nave. In the 14th century the west tower was heightened again and the present broach spire was added. At the position of the present tower was a narthex. The original entrance was at the west end. In the Norman era the present south door was inserted in the westernmost arch of the south arcade.

Reclaimed Roman stone and brick tiles were used in the construction of the building. It has been suggested that Brixworth may have been the site of synods that took place at Clofesho in the 8th and 9th centuries. This might account for the unusually large size of the building by the standards of the time.