Seventeen members & guests of our Society enjoyed an afternoon being entertained by Richard Dolby, chairman of the Hadstock Society on Wednesday 25th June 2025. For the first part of the afternoon, he gave an illustrated talk about the history of St. Botolph’s church, which has stood in the village for more than 1000 years. This included detail of several archaeological excavations to establish the history of its construction. Certainly the cruciform footprint is unusual for a church as old as Hadstock’s and the foundations show that it was originally a timber structure. But as he pointed out, dating a church is always difficult; however recent deductions show that the windows are distinctly Saxon and the north door which has been dated as between 1040-1070 has ‘Y’ hinges which are a Saxon attribute.
Additionally he said that the walls are built with field stones, a not unusual characteristic, but the corners and many features such as lintels, door frames & quoins are finished with Barnack stone, which was mined some 70 miles away in Lincolnshire. His hypothesis on the transportation of such stone 1000 years ago was enlightening, and although there are many natural springs close by, he said there are no rivers, but by deduction, he reckoned it was quite possible such stone could be moved as close as Linton by flat bottomed boat.
He then touched upon the famous Battle of Assandun whereby King Cnut achieved his goal of defeating King Edmund Ironside, which led, ultimately to Cnut taking the English crown. More importantly he put forward his suggestion that Hadstock was Cnut’s choice as the site for his minster in 1020.
Richard then invited the group to join him inside the church of St. Botolph to focus on material aspects of its history, such as the skewed west tower, and the differing masonry styles together with the unusual door which was almost a metre from the floor of the chancel. After his brief talk we were given time to browse the excellent exhibition which had been put on display in the chancel & transepts.
Included in that exhibition were the unique four tapestry panels which were made by Hadstock residents for the 2020 millennium commemoration-see above
The amount of detail is quite remarkable as can be seen in a close up of the first example:
Having spent time looking around the church we returned to the nearby village hall for refreshments. On departing we were still left with those unanswered questions:
- Who built the half timbered church & when ?
- Is it definitely of Saxon origin?
- Was the church King Cnut’s minster?
- How does St. Botolph become affiliated with Hadstock?