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27-496: Greensted Church , in the small village of Greensted , near Chipping Ongar in Essex , England , has been claimed to be the oldest wooden church in the world, and probably the oldest wooden building in Europe still standing, albeit only in part, since few sections of its original wooden structure remain. The oak walls are often classified as remnants of a palisade church or, more loosely, as

54-414: A British postage stamp issued in 1972 , part of a set of village churches. The oak font, designed by Hugh Casson and made by Russell Thomas, was added in 1987. The church, like many, has had work performed on it over the centuries. The nave is made of large split oak tree trunks, which was a traditional Anglo-Saxon way of building . The nave is mostly original, and dendrochronological research in

81-484: A certain height, a tower can be made with the supporting structure with parallel sides. However, above a certain height, the compressive load of the material is exceeded, and the tower will fail. This can be avoided if the tower's support structure tapers up the building. A second limit is that of buckling—the structure requires sufficient stiffness to avoid breaking under the loads it faces, especially those due to winds. Many very tall towers have their support structures at

108-511: A feature on top of a larger structure or building. Old English torr is from Latin turris via Old French tor . The Latin term together with Greek τύρσις was loaned from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language, connected with the Illyrian toponym Βου-δοργίς. With the Lydian toponyms Τύρρα, Τύρσα, it has been connected with the ethnonym Τυρρήνιοι as well as with Tusci (from *Turs-ci ),

135-485: A kind of early stave church , dated either to the mid-9th or mid-11th century. The Grade I listed building lies about a mile west of Chipping Ongar town centre. Its full title is The Church of St Andrew, Greensted-juxta-Ongar . It is, however, commonly known simply as Greensted Church. Greensted is still a functioning church and holds services every week. Greensted Church has possibly stood for nearly 1,200 years. Dendrochronology estimated its construction to 845 AD;

162-516: A later analysis has reset the date of the timbers to 1053 (+10/55 years). Archaeological evidence suggests that, before there was a permanent structure, there may well have been another church, or a holy place, on the site. Construction of the first permanent church on this site is thought to have begun shortly after Cedd began his conversion of the East Saxons around 654. The archaeological remnants of two simple wooden buildings were discovered under

189-711: A target (see siege tower ). Today, strategic-use towers are still used at prisons, military camps, and defensive perimeters. By using gravity to move objects or substances downward, a tower can be used to store items or liquids like a storage silo or a water tower , or aim an object into the earth such as a drilling tower . Ski-jump ramps use the same idea, and in the absence of a natural mountain slope or hill, can be human-made. In history, simple towers like lighthouses , bell towers , clock towers , signal towers and minarets were used to communicate information over greater distances. In more recent years, radio masts and cell phone towers facilitate communication by expanding

216-589: Is a village and (as Greenstead ) a former civil parish , now in the parish of Ongar , Essex , England, strung out along the Greensted Road approximately one mile to the west of Chipping Ongar . In 1961 the parish had a population of 711. Greensted's full name is Greensted-juxta-Ongar . Greensted means green place, sted being in the Anglo-Saxon language, the old word for place (and is still used in modern English words e.g. 'instead', 'steadfast'). 'Juxta', from

243-478: Is also a place that has strong ties with St Edmund , King of East Anglia . King Edmund's body stayed in the church in 1013 after being moved from its normal resting place in Bury St Edmunds . On 1 April 1965 the parish was abolished to form Ongar. While very small, Greensted does have one particular feature of note, being St Andrew 's Church, commonly known as Greensted Church , the oldest wooden church in

270-550: Is dedicated to Jone Wood, 1585. Reconstruction work by the Victorians in the 19th century added some detailed brickwork to the building along with, most probably, some of the more ornate decoration to the outside. It replaced the three dormer windows with six, and the porch was reconstructed, along with other minor alterations and stone coping. 51°42′16″N 0°13′32″E  /  51.70436°N 0.22555°E  / 51.70436; 0.22555 Greensted Greensted

297-663: The Latin iuxta , means 'alongside'. Greensted is situated in a large natural clearing, and would have been a logical place to build a settlement in the dense surrounding Epping Forest especially as it was near an existing route, the Ongar road, later part of the Canterbury pilgrimage mentioned in The Canterbury Tales . Greensted is important because of its longevity: the parish has existed since Saxon times, and little has changed. It

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324-777: The Qin dynasty . Towers were also an important element of castles . Other well known towers include the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy built from 1173 until 1372, the Two Towers in Bologna, Italy built from 1109 until 1119 and the Towers of Pavia (25 survive), built between 11th and 13th century. The Himalayan Towers are stone towers located chiefly in Tibet built approximately 14th to 15th century. Up to

351-407: The height of the tower. For example, the height of a clock tower improves the visibility of the clock, and the height of a tower in a fortified building such as a castle increases the visibility of the surroundings for defensive purposes. Towers may also be built for observation , leisure, or telecommunication purposes. A tower can stand alone or be supported by adjacent buildings, or it may be

378-409: The 1960s dated it to 845. In 1995, however, this date was revised to 1053 +10–55 years (some time between 1063 and 1108). This range of dates is based on the dendrochronological date of the youngest timber (1053), plus a standard allowance of 10–55 years for sapwood rings which are assumed to have been weathered away. An interesting detail of the nave is the so-called "leper's squint" or hagioscope on

405-536: The 3rd millennium BC, and the Etemenanki , one of the most famous examples of Babylonian architecture . Some of the earliest surviving examples are the broch structures in northern Scotland , which are conical tower houses . These and other examples from Phoenician and Roman cultures emphasised the use of a tower in fortification and sentinel roles. For example, the name of the Moroccan city of Mogador , founded in

432-629: The Greek and Latin names for the Etruscans (Kretschmer Glotta 22, 110ff.) Towers have been used by humankind since prehistoric times. The oldest known may be the circular stone tower in walls of Neolithic Jericho (8000 BC). Some of the earliest towers were ziggurats , which existed in Sumerian architecture since the 4th millennium BC. The most famous ziggurats include the Sumerian Ziggurat of Ur , built in

459-525: The church itself. Some of the Tolpuddle Martyrs were granted farm tenancies in the Chipping Ongar area after they returned from transportation. One of them, James Brine, married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Standfield, at Greensted church on 20 June 1839; the record of the marriage can be seen in the present register. The Brines moved to London, Ontario , Canada in 1844. The church was featured on

486-520: The entire building simultaneously. Although not correctly defined as towers, many modern high-rise buildings (in particular skyscraper ) have 'tower' in their name or are colloquially called 'towers'. Skyscrapers are more properly classified as 'buildings'. In the United Kingdom , tall domestic buildings are referred to as tower blocks . In the United States , the original World Trade Center had

513-489: The eye. One of the bells is inscribed "William Land made me 1618". There are a number of mediaeval wooden towers in the district. Around this time the three dormer windows were added to the nave for the first time, and the south porch was added. A fragment of 15th-century glass can be seen in the centre of the quatrefoil window at the west end, but it was set there during the Victorian restoration. The earliest wall memorial

540-689: The first millennium BC, is derived from the Phoenician word for watchtower ('migdol'). The Romans utilised octagonal towers as elements of Diocletian's Palace in Croatia , which monument dates to approximately 300 AD, while the Servian Walls (4th century BC) and the Aurelian Walls (3rd century AD) featured square ones. The Chinese used towers as integrated elements of the Great Wall of China in 210 BC during

567-622: The nickname the Twin Towers, a name shared with the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur . In addition some of the structures listed below do not follow the strict criteria used at List of tallest towers . The tower throughout history has provided its users with an advantage in surveying defensive positions and obtaining a better view of the surrounding areas, including battlefields. They were constructed on defensive walls , or rolled near

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594-414: The north side. This small aperture through the oak wall was formerly thought to have been a place where lepers who, not allowed inside the church with the general populace, were allowed to receive a blessing from the priest . Its position next to the original doorway has led researchers to conclude that it was a window used to see who was approaching the church. In the chancel , the flint footings of

621-456: The periphery of the building, which greatly increases the overall stiffness. A third limit is dynamic; a tower is subject to varying winds, vortex shedding, seismic disturbances etc. These are often dealt with through a combination of simple strength and stiffness, as well as in some cases tuned mass dampers to damp out movements. Varying or tapering the outer aspect of the tower with height avoids vibrations due to vortex shedding occurring along

648-485: The present chancel floor, and these are thought to have been built in the late 6th or early 7th century. The church's dedication to St Andrew might suggest a Celtic foundation for the original sanctuary . The body of King Edmund the Martyr of East Anglia (who was killed in 870, possibly at Hoxne ) is said to have rested there in 1013, on its way to reburial at Bury St Edmunds . There are many tributes to St Edmund in

675-650: The range of the transmitter. The CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario , Canada was built as a communications tower, with the capability to act as both a transmitter and repeater. Towers can also be used to support bridges, and can reach heights that rival some of the tallest buildings above-water. Their use is most prevalent in suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges . The use of the pylon, a simple tower structure, has also helped to build railroad bridges, mass-transit systems, and harbors. Control towers are used to give visibility to help direct aviation traffic. The term "tower"

702-470: The wall and the pillar piscina inside the sanctuary are all that is left of any Norman work. Near the porch, a large, coped stone marks the resting place of an unknown knight. The original chancel was small and built of timber, but the current brick-built chancel dates from this period of construction. The white weatherboarded tower was added in the Stuart period (17th century), and is what initially draws

729-479: The world. It was featured on a British postage stamp issued in April 1972. The east end, of brick construction, dates from the sixteenth century, while the brick footings, visible below the timber walls, are a feature of extensive restoration undertaken in the nineteenth century Tower Towers are specifically distinguished from buildings in that they are built not to be habitable but to serve other functions using

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