The Saxons were pagans, but in 793 AD King Offa of Mercia, within whose kingdom Northchurch lay, converted to Christianity. So it is probable that within a few years of that date, a church was built on what most likely had been a place of pagan worship. The Saxons built in wood, so the church would have been wooden-framed with wattle and daub in-filling and a thatched roof.

The church was still in existence when the Normans arrived in 1066 and they duly recorded it in the Doomsday book in 1086. But it wasn’t known as St. Mary’s Northchurch but as Berkhamsted St. Mary, and with it came the vast parish of Berkhamsted St. Mary. And what a parish! It stretched from Tring in the north to Boxmoor in the south, and from Hawridge in the west to Little Gaddesden in the east.

The Normans made their mark on the area with a castle built further down the valley to the south of Northchurch. As it grew in importance, it attracted artisans and merchants who created a new settlement. In 1222 a new church was built for this settlement and a new parish of Berkhamsted St. Peter was formed out of the centre of Berkhamsted St. Mary.