Saxon Geometrical Ratios in Essex Churches

Notes by Nigel Pennick

Source:​ ​Journal of Geomancy​ Vol. 1 No. 4, July 1977, pp. 75-77.

Archaeologists and Art Historians, in their studies of ancient structures,

rarely credit the builders with any more knowledge than the analysts
themselves. Steeped in the heady atmosphere of University life, they forget
that their knowledge, however vast and detailed, is restricted when
confronted with all that has been and all that can be. Education moulds the
minds of the next generation to the patterns of the present, and it is
therefore not surprising to observe that those following the above
professions are almost to a person ignorant of magical and esoteric lore. If
they are even aware of it, it is dismissed as irrelevant superstition, worthless
knowledge to be ranked with the latest pop record or football star, fit only
for the trash bin. And it is here that they are missing an important factor in
the past – the place of techniques which, though primitive by present-day
alternative methods, are sophisticated uses of the limited resources then
available.

Although the academics would not touch it with a barge-pole (5½ yards?),
metrology can demonstrate the lost techniques of the (to us) alien past – an
era as different as another planet. The following list was compiled by
Laurence S. Harley in 1953, and demonstrates clearly the use of a geometric
technique which, surviving in Masonic lore, would be treated with the
utmost scepticism by Academe. It shows the length to width ratio of the
naves of early Essex churches, and their remarkable geometrical properties.
The first five examples in this list are from the Royal Commission on
Historic Monuments list, in which the. author remarks “The uniformity in
the proportion of width to length in five instances (all pre-Conquest) is so
remarkable and perhaps significant that the details are appended”. Harley
noted that the uniform ratio was significantly near to 0·577, the inverse of
√3.
This geometrical proportion probably arose £rom the method of laying out
the foundation-trenches by means of the ​{76}​ cord, a technique used in
sacred geometry since ancient Egyptian times, if not earlier.

The orientation of the centre-line of the church having been derived by

direct observation of sunrise from the previously-divined omphalos, the
Master Mason would mark off the necessary width of nave from the south
end of the line. With an assistant holding the end of a long cord, the Master
would mark off along the oriented base -line a distance equal to the
necessary width of the nave. The assistant would then walk to the north end
of the first line (north–south), paying out more cord to the stationary
Master. Marking the cord at that length, the assistant then went back to the
starting-point, while the Master moved along the line until the cord was
again taut. He would then be √3 widths from the starting-point.

The Master and assistant would then repeat the procedure, the Master
ending up √3 widths from the starting-point. The nave’s rectangle would
then be completed by using the cord to check the equality of the diagonals.
In addition to the more common √3 churches, Harley lists several others
with more unusual geometry, which may have been laid out using extensions
of the technique. The origin of the method is certainly in the Saxon period,
as Norman church naves in the area are generally the basic ‘ad quadratum’
double-square.

The divergence in use of layout methods in Saxon and later church building
points to two different schools of Masonry. Charpentier, in “The Mysteries
of Chartres Cathedral” (RILKO), alludes to the use of the cord in the layout,
and there is also evidence for its use in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.
Further research into the occurrence of √3 ratios may bring to light some
hitherto-unsuspected conclusions.