Earls Barton - All Saints

Immediately prior to 1066, the place was held by Bondi the Staller, an Anglo-Danish noble, and senior member of Edward the Confessor's household. Around 1070, it passed to Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria, who in 1070 had married Judith of Lens, niece of William the Conqueror. He is recorded in the Domesday Book as owner of the land and mill of Buarton(e).

The Anglo Saxon All Saints' Church dates from the later tenth century, shortly after Danish raids on England.

The tower (21m high) at Earls Barton was probably originally a tower nave, the ground floor serving as the main body of the church with a small chancel annexed. A doorway on the south side of the tower, and originally another opening on the west face, allowed access to the outside. The tower is constructed of stone rubble and rendered on the outside, and is decorated with vertical limestone pilaster strips. At the corners of the tower, the walls are strengthened by long vertical stones bedded on horizontal slabs. The way in which the tower is decorated is unique to Anglo-Saxon architecture.

In the 12th century the small Anglo-Saxon chancel, narrower than the tower, was replaced by a nave so that the tower now stands at the west end. This nave was enlarged later in the 12th century and then renovated in the 13th and early 14th centuries. The east end of the chancel is 13th century.