St Mary's Church, Twyford Christianised Site View all content for St Mary's Church, Twyford

When the Saxon/Norman church was demolished in 1876, it was found that the old tower had been built on a circle of 12 Sarsen stones. They were described as "A Druidical Temple" at the time and the builders blamed the difficulty of working around them as one of the reasons for the cost/time overrun of the new church. This was designed by the famous Victorian architect Sir Alfred Waterhouse (Nat Hist Mus, Manchester Town Hall etc.) and he put the new tower on the site of the old and used the old circle again for the foundations. Nothing to see above ground sadly but another nice example of one religion imposing itself on another. (Two prone Sarsens by footbridge over the River Itchen and fine ancient clipped Yew to the north)

Posted by jimit 7th August 2007ce

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