The Brixworth Eagle

I escaped the men in black by going to church.

All Saints Brixworth is the largest Anglo-Saxon church in Britain and it used to be larger still. A monastery standing on a hill.

There is much Roman tile incorporated into it. Though there is talk of it coming from a local villa, tests suggest much was carted in from the Roman buildings of Towcester and Leicester.

The picture above shows an ancient sculpture of an eagle, known as the Brixworth Eagle. Pevsner says this is the Eagle of St. John, dating from the 9th century; others, says Sacred Destinations, think it could be a mason's mark or a reused symbol of a Roman legion.

Whatever the truth, I have turned the photo as the eagle currently lies on its right side just inside the church's porch.

While I was at All Saints a small coach party arrived. They turned out to be from Peterborough Civic Society and I was invited to attach myself to them and get a free cup of tea in The Heritage Centre.