The 9th-century West Porch of St Mary's Church, Deerhurst, Gloucestershire: Form and Function

Abstract

A fresh account of the evidence for the Anglo-Saxon W porch at St Mary's Church, Deerhurst, with special reference to the elaborate second-floor chapel, suggests (contrary to recent opinion) that the walls of this high-level chapel are of one build with the W wall of the nave. A series of blocked sockets around three sides of the porch and in the W wall of the nave formerly held a complex series of interlocking beams, which supported an internal floor and extended externally to form a projecting walkway round three sides of the porch. This timber arrangement not only adds to our knowledge of Anglo-Saxon building techniques, but is also the only unambiguous example of such a structure between late Antiquity and the central Middle Ages. The surviving walkway at St Peter, Beho (Belgium) and the evidence of various manuscript illustrations, most notably a 10th-century Spanish depiction of a tower with a projecting walkway, offer parallels; ultimately these derive from classical precedents. The extension of the walkway round the porch at Deerhurst implies liturgical ceremonies of some complexity. At Beho a priest displayed relics from the walkway in the 18th century; the display of relics was probably also the principal function of the Deerhurst walkway.