Greensted Church, Wooden church in Greensted, England
Greensted Church is a wooden church in Ongar, England, whose walls consist of vertically arranged split oak trunks. The construction displays the building method from Anglo-Saxon times, in which individual tree trunks were placed side by side to form load-bearing walls.
Archaeologists found beneath the choir floor remains of two older wooden constructions from the sixth or seventh century. A dendrochronological analysis dates the timber visible today to the year 1053, making this building the oldest surviving wooden church in England.
The building bears the name of an Anglo-Saxon saint and serves today as an active worship space for believers from the surrounding area. Visitors see the darkly aged oak trunks from inside and experience how the structure has been used for prayer and religious celebrations for centuries.
Services continue to take place regularly, so it is wise to check opening hours in advance or come outside prayer times. Access is through a low door, and the interior is small, so visitors should remain quiet and respectful.
The timber trunks still show visible traces of eleventh-century working tools. In 1013, the body of Saint Edmund of East Anglia rested here on its journey to Bury St Edmunds, giving the place a special religious significance.
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