34the people would have traveled to
the minster.
In the later 10th century, the
church was enlarged so that the
rest of the community could use it
as well. In addition, people began
to bury their dead in an enclosed
cemetery that bordered the
church. This find suggests that
Raunds Furnells had become a church in its own
right. Excavations show that many small
churches in the late 10th and 11th centuries
followed this pattern.Churches such as the one at Raunds Furnells
became the heart of their local communities.
People visited for religious services as well as for
other community events. Churches hosted
fundraisers, theater productions, guild meetings,
markets, and all types of social gatherings. As a
result, communities increasingly came to define
themselves through the church. People who
attended the same church were part of one
community, while people who attended a nearby
church belonged to another community. As new
villages and urban neighborhoods developed,
each of these communities felt the need to have
its own church.
Many local churches were built at the end of
the Anglo-Saxon period. Construction continued
after the Norman Conquest, marking the first
stage in the development of the parish system.
Today, England is still divided into parishes. Each
has a local church that serves many of the same
functions it did in the 10th and 11th centuries.Christine Bertogliois a Ph.D. candidate in history at
Boston College.care for their own families and
for the families who lived and
worked on their lands. At first,
these churches were small. An
example is the excavated
church at the Anglo-Saxon
settlement known as Raunds
Furnells in present-day
Northamptonshire County.
When it was first built in the
early 10th century, it was a
simple, rectangular building
that could accommodate only a few people at a
time, most likely the members of the lord’s family.
At this point, the church was probably a chapel,
under the authority of theminster of the village
of Higham. As a chapel, the church at Raunds
Furnells would have provided basic pastoral
services. For more major events, including burials,Anglo-Saxon churches could be
finely decorated with art, such as
this carving now housed in a
cathedral in Bristol, England.St Laurence’s Church in southwest England
is one of a few surviving Anglo-Saxon
churches in the country.
The restored interior of an Anglo-Saxon
church in central EnglandA minster refers to any kind of religious community, such as a monastery or cathedral, that included a church.