Remains of Roman altars discovered underneath Anglo-saxon church

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The location of All Saints’ Parish Church Ilkley, originally, the site of the Roman fort of Olicana, has been a place of continuous worship since about 627AD. Although the legions may have departed more than 1,400 years ago, they left their imprint on the town and on the earliest church with the original building being constructed out of stone from the abandoned Roman fort.

Two window arches from the original church, carved from two Roman Altar stones, were brought into the church after being discovered built into the tower during excavations at the time. 

The church is first mentioned in Domesday in 1086. The oldest part of the present building is the thirteenth-century south doorway, the nave dates from the fourteenth century while the tower dates from the fifteenth century. The church was restored and extended in the 1860s, as the town’s popularity as a visitor attraction grew with the development of the hydropathic spas. It still retained its medieval gothic style and became Grade II* listed in 1949. S

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3 minutes ago, FfFfFfFF said:

The figure is possibly thought to represent Demeter the earth goddess.

In other words, they basically had a Poot altar.

 

[bionic 50,111]

so they literally just took the roman church and built the anglo-saxon one on top of it?

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12 minutes ago, bionic said:

so they literally just took the roman church and built the anglo-saxon one on top of it?

Well yes, but this isn't at all surprising. There is an extensive list of examples of Pagan sites ''christianized'' during the spread of the Christiniaty. Some churches were built reusing materials from previous Roman temples or military outposts, and in some instance some temples were converted to churches retaining their intact form. The most famous examples are the Colosseum and the Pantheon in Rome and the Acropolis Parthenon in Athens.

This is a phenomenon recorded in a broader area including the British Isles, Iberia etc.

There are cases when the same spot was used by Ancient Levantine Paganism -> Roman Paganism -> Christiniaty -> Islam (this is the case for the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. I actually don't know other cases but wanted to make note of it just because I think it's cool info that it switched hands so many times ). 

[Kimmo 82,283]

Oh Christianity….Ok but I’m going to need @InTheCloset to find a conspiracy theory regarding this…make sure you add Oprah’s reincarnation and Triconicas 20 clones…

[InTheCloset 21,756]

15 minutes ago, Kimmo said:

Oh Christianity….Ok but I’m going to need @InTheCloset to find a conspiracy theory regarding this…make sure you add Oprah’s reincarnation and Triconicas 20 clones…

on it