When Was The Church Of St Andrew In Greensted In Essex Built?

This church is the only surviving example of an Anglo Saxon wooden church with walls of solid oak that still exists today. During the 7th and 8th centuries, the anglo saxon building work produced buildings made of wattle and daub construction and stone was really only used for monasteries, minsters and other major churches.

A small village church would have been build from wood, which does decay in the British wet and temperate climate. St Andrews church is therefore a unique historical record. It is known that the body of King Edmund rested their in 1013 on its way to be buried at Bury St Edmunds (which is where the town got its name). However, forensic type tests done recently show that the nave of split oak logs probably dates from 150 years before that. Amazing that King Edmund, who reigned long before William the Conqueror would have already regarded the church as 'old'.