All Saints,
Brixworth
Englands
largest and finest surviving Anglo Saxon church stands in our
county in the village of Brixworth, 4 miles north of Northampton.
Dating back to 680 AD, it has the unusual feature of an ambulatory
running around the original apse below ground level. Steps lead
down to the ambulatory, and originally it was covered by a barrel
vault. The use of this ambulatory was probably to house or provide
access to preserved relics.
One such relic is believed to be St
Boniface' larynx bone. It was considered important in those early
times to have some connection with a known holy person. The bone
was displayed for many years above the pulpit, but increased
vandalism and theft of the building in recent years has forced its
removal to a safer place. The feast of St Boniface is commemorated
today with the annual church fete, always on the first weekend in
June.
The church had a new bell hung in 1993. It was installed to commemorate the end of a restoration compaign spearheaded by the Friends of All Saints' Brixworth to reinforce the spire and tower. For many years the bells were silent because of the weak structure of the tower.