St Botolph

1016 was a turning point in English history.

The Danish King Cnut decisively beat the English at Assandun, probably the most important battle fought on English soil that you have never heard of. In 1020 Cnut dedicated a Minster church in memory of all those fallen at Assandun and there is a strong case that this is the church of St Botolph at Hadstock. The church stands on elevated ground overlooking the village, an unusually large church for its time in such a small village. Cnut would likely have chosen a holy site for his Minster so could this also be the site of Botolph’s monastery founded in 654 and destroyed by the Danes in 869?

So, what is there to see today? The present church retains many Saxon features together with medieval additions and rebuilding. You enter by the famous north door with its legend of ‘daneskin’. The door, dated by dendrochronology to about 1034-1042, is almost certainly the oldest door in the country still in use. The arch around the door has distinctive late Saxon ‘honeysuckle’ carving and you can also find the same type of moulding in the crossing arches. The west door is also very old and probably originated from elsewhere.

The nave is of great height with plain walls. High up there are double-splayed late-Saxon windows still in their original oak frames. The nave, recently replastered and decorated, has a sense of calm and reflection. The south door is odd in that there is a drop to the nave door without any obvious steps. The door was blocked in 1808 after the then Rector’s son died at the age of 17. This had been the door they used from the rectory. The west tower was added in the 14th-15th centuries. The chancel and vestry were re-built by the noted Victorian architect William Butterfield in 1884 in a rather restrained style which fits surprisingly well with the older church.

There is much to see and learn here. Or just sit and reflect.