Atlas Obscura - Latest • Jan. 28, 2026, 9:15 p.m.

The "Dark Ages" may have not been the gloomiest period in history, but they were "dark" in the sense that relatively little was known about them for quite some time. For instance, nobody was sure what Anglo-Saxon architecture really looked like until the field of architectural history emerged in the 19th century.

In 1819, progenitor of the discipline Thomas Rickman was surveying St Peter's Church in Barton-upon-Humber. He noticed that the Norman top storey of the church's tower was on top of two more stories in an unidentified style.

Reasoning that the bottom features must be older in construction, he concluded that they must date from the Anglo-Saxon period. As such, this church is one of the most notable and studied Anglo-Saxon structures among historians.

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