(Image: LISA CUNNINGHAM/CAMERA CLUB)
A quiet County Durham village is home to one of England's oldest surviving churches, built more than 1,300 years ago using stone taken from a nearby Roman fort.
Escomb, just two miles west of Bishop Auckland, might appear to be an ordinary village of houses, quiet streets and countryside.
But at its heart stands a building which has survived since the Anglo-Saxon period.
Escomb Saxon Church dates from around AD 670 to 675, making it one of the earliest and most complete surviving churches of its kind in England.
It was built when the area formed part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, centuries before the Norman Conquest.
And while much of the surrounding village has changed, the church still looks remarkably similar to how it would have appeared more than 1,300 years ago.
Escomb church was built using stones from a Roman fort
One of the most unusual features of the church is the material used to construct it.
Much of the stone is believed to have come from Binchester Roman Fort, near Bishop Auckland.
Known to the Romans as Vinovia, Binchester was an important military site beside Dere Street, the road linking York with northern Britain.
After the Roman occupation ended, stone from the fort was reused in later buildings.
The Anglo-Saxon builders of Escomb Church are believed to have taken advantage of this readily available material.
Evidence of its Roman origins can still be seen in the church walls.
On the north side is a stone bearing the inscription "LEG VI", referring to the Roman Sixth Legion.
Remarkably, the stone was placed upside down when it was reused in the church.
It means visitors can still see a piece of Roman military history embedded in the walls of a Christian building constructed centuries later.
The church's large corner stones and distinctive masonry also provide clues to the techniques used by its Anglo-Saxon builders.
One of Britain's oldest sundials survives at Escomb
The church contains another remarkable historical feature.
High on its south wall is a carved sundial dating from the seventh or early eighth century.
It is believed to be one of the earliest surviving Anglo-Saxon sundials still in its original position in Britain.
Unlike a modern clock, the dial was not designed to divide the day into 12 equal hours.
Instead, its three lines are thought to have marked important times of prayer during the religious day.
The carving also includes unusual decorative details.
A serpent-like creature forms part of the design beneath the dial, while a carved animal's head appears above it.
These features have attracted interest from historians studying the mixture of artistic and religious influences present in early medieval England.
A second sundial, believed to date from the 17th century, can also be seen above the church porch.
Together, the carvings reveal how the building continued to change while preserving features from its earliest centuries.
Inside one of England's oldest churches
Escomb church was almost abandoned
The church's survival is particularly remarkable given that it was once allowed to fall into disuse.
During the 19th century, the growing local population led to the construction of a larger church elsewhere in the village.
The new St John's Church opened in 1863, leaving the ancient Saxon building without its former role.
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For a period, the old church was neglected and partly unroofed.
However, growing recognition of its historical importance led to restoration work between 1875 and 1880.
The building was eventually returned to use.
The newer Victorian church was demolished in 1971, but the much older Anglo-Saxon building survived.
Today, Escomb Saxon Church remains an active place of worship as well as an important historic attraction.