A thousand years in stone
Walk into almost any English village and the oldest building you see will be the parish church. Thousands of them are medieval, and a remarkable number contain fabric that is older still: Saxon towers, Norman doorways carved with zigzag ornament, wall paintings that survived the Reformation under coats of limewash. These buildings were never museums. Most have hosted worship, weddings, christenings and funerals continuously for eight or nine centuries, which is precisely what makes visiting them so moving.
How to read a parish church
- Saxon work (before 1066). Look for narrow round-headed windows, rough long-and-short quoins at the corners, and slender towers.
- Norman or Romanesque (11th to 12th century). Massive round arches, thick walls and carved tympanums over doorways.
- Gothic (13th to 16th century). Pointed arches, ever larger windows and soaring perpendicular towers, the style of most medieval naves you will see.
- Round-tower churches. Norfolk and Suffolk keep a distinctive family of flint churches with circular towers, found almost nowhere else in the country.
The great cathedrals
Britain's cathedrals are among Europe's finest buildings. Canterbury Cathedral is the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the site of Thomas Becket's martyrdom. York Minster holds the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country. Durham Cathedral, high above its river bend, is often called the finest Norman building in Europe. Beyond these, Salisbury, Lincoln, Wells, Ely and St Davids each reward a full day. After the Great Fire of 1666, Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt dozens of City of London churches, crowned by St Paul's Cathedral, and the survivors form a wonderful walking trail through the Square Mile.
Listed buildings and who cares for them
Historic churches in England are protected through the listing system administered by Historic England, with Grade I and Grade II* marking buildings of exceptional or more than special interest. Around forty-five per cent of all Grade I listed buildings in England are churches, which gives a sense of how much of the nation's heritage the parish system holds. Charities such as the National Churches Trust and the Churches Conservation Trust help fund repairs and keep redundant churches open to visitors, while congregations themselves raise much of the money for leaking roofs and crumbling stonework.
Visiting well
- Many rural churches are unlocked in daylight hours; others display a keyholder's phone number in the porch.
- These are working places of worship. If a service is under way, slip in quietly and join it, or return later.
- Leave a donation if you can. Even a few pounds in the wall safe genuinely helps with upkeep.
- Sign the visitors' book; congregations use the evidence of visits when applying for grants.
- Photography is usually fine without flash, but ask before photographing people or services.
Worshipping in a historic church
The best way to experience a medieval church is to attend a service, whether a quiet said communion or choral evensong in a cathedral, one of Anglicanism's great gifts. Use our directory to find a church near you, browse Anglican churches across the country, and if a historic setting matters for your big day, read our guide to getting married in a church.