Fortified churches in England, via the Schola Gregoriana of Northumbria's blog
The Schola started a blog here, and there's a post there titled Brinkburn Priory, with some history of the Priory and of the Schola's connection with it. A page at thenorthumbrian.co.uk on fortified churches (I'm using the google's cache on that page at the moment, since thenorthumbrian.co.uk is having a problem) mentions the Priory:
Brinkburn Priory and Blanchland were both built in deep and secluded valleys, presumably in the hopes of keeping their heads down ...
We find fortified churches in the French regions of Thiérache, Languedoc, and Dordogne (Périgord). Estonia, Poland and Transylvania also have examples. There's even a Fortified Churches group on flickr.
We find fortified churches in the United Kingdom along the border with Scotland, along the North Sea coast, and in Wales, defending against threats from outside Christendom and from fellow Christians.
A review of Sheila Bonde's Fortress-Churches of Languedoc: Architecture, Religion, and Conflict in the High Middle Ages, here, says
Throughout the Middle Ages there was intensive interaction between the religious and military orders of society. Bishops and abbots often supplied soldiers and other assistance to military actions, often leading troops themselves. [See below the break for an example.] It is hardly surprising, therefore, that medieval churches were often provided with fortified enclosures, crenellations, iron-barred doors, and other elements of defense. ...
The description, identification, and geographical tracking of the machicolated arch is the central element of this study. According to Bonde: "Machicolation is an opening that permits the passage of projectiles, stones, or other objects to be dropped on the heads of the attackers. Any number of strategies can be used to create the desired slot: from timber balconies to elaborate stone-built projections resting on corbels. The technology we confront in mid-twelfth- century Languedoc is the machicolated arch, which is just what its name says it is: a series of arches or arcades with holes or slots in their summit" (p. 4). ...
The subsequent adoption of the machicolations on the papal palace at Avignon in the fourteenth century introduced the device to a wide international audience, while confirming its association with Southern France. ...
Scholars have frequently focused on the defensive posture of many religious structures of the tenth and eleventh centuries, positing a need to fortify against the ravages of foreign invaders, especially non-Christians, Saracens, Vikings, or Magyars. Bonde demonstrates that even more common were threats from within Christendom, and that these were acknowledged in the architectural adaptations of religious buildings, which could easily serve military needs as well. ...
Bonde discusses the process of incastellemento, which often involved the foundation of fortified hilltop settlements by large monastic landowners--often intended as outposts to oversee effective management of estates--and which began quite early in Italy. In Italy, Bonde cites the evidence of increased incastellemento in the north in the twelfth century. A body of work, however, especially studies by Chris Wickham, has demonstrated the process well underway in the tenth century in Central and Southern Italy, especially for foundations of the large monasteries of Farfa, Montecassino, and San Vincenzo al Volturno. ...
Four examples of fortified churches, and some information about them, are below the break.
'The village of Ancroft, frighteningly exposed on the coastal plain near Berwick and unnervingly close to the border, went one rather odd stage further. They had a nice little Norman church which had been built long before the wars started, but when the danger arrived, they built a hacky great pele tower right in the middle of the church. If you were being charitable you could call it a fortified church tower, but whatever you call it, it blocks up the original Norman door. It has walls millions of feet thick, a mighty vaulted basement, a spiral staircase and all the trimmings of a northern tower house - inside the walls of the parish church. Presumably it acted as a churchtower-of-last-resort in the event of attack.' Source: When faith alone was not enough.
Great Salkeld - St Cuthbert's Church
The entrance is only 2ft 7in wide, another indication of a fortified church. Source: Great Salkeld - St Cuthbert's Church.
Newton Arlosh - St John's Church
The walls are very thick, and the entrance door is only 31 inches wide, with access to the pele tower through a narrow doorway in the massive wall. In times of attack by the Scots, the villagers would round up their animals, and take refuge. Source: Newton Arlosh - St John's Church.
Burgh-by-Sands - St Michael's Church
Access to the pele tower is through a narrow doorway in the massive wall, guarded by a massive iron gate with two bolts. The iron skeleton was probably boarded over with oak planks like the door at Great Salkeld. Source: Burgh-by-Sands - St Michael's Church.
'Bishops and abbots often supplied soldiers and other assistance to military actions, often leading troops themselves.' See my post For Martinmas: Philip, the 'fighting bishop' of Beauvais.
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