A modest wooden church building tucked away in Greensted, off the road between Chipping Ongar and Harlow, has claims to be the oldest surviving wooden church in the world.

The church's full title is The Church of St Andrew, Greensted-juxta-Ongar, but it is popularly known simply as Greensted Church.

Like most churches it has been modified and added to over the centuries, but the nave is the most distinctive part, because it is made of split oak tree trunks, with the rounded halves facing outwards. This style is known as 'palisade' construction (because the side-by-side presentation of split tree trunks is identical to the construction of a wooden palisade).

It is also related to 'stave' building, a more complex and distinctly Saxon and Viking form of construction. All the surviving stave-built churches are located in Scandinavian countries, and are of later foundation.

The most recent tree-ring dating of the oldest timbers places the construction at between 998 and 1053 A.D. An earlier study placed it even earlier, at 845 A.D. Either way, this comfortably places the church as the oldest wooden building in Britain, and probably Europe. Japan holds the title for the world's oldest wooden building, with the Horyu-ji Buddhist temple, built 607 A.D.

This makes Greensted Church very remarkable, for continuing in use from Saxon to Norman times, for not being rebuilt in stone in the Medieval period, and for continuing in regular religious use to this day. There are signs of earlier wooden churches having existed on the site, possibly associated with Bishop Cedd who began the conversion of the East Saxons in 654.

This gives Greensted a link with another Essex treasure, the chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall at Bradwell, dating from 654 but built of stone and brick re-used from the old Roman fort on the site.

Greensted's prominent weatherboarded tower was built by the Stuarts, and in Victorian times the church underwent reconstruction. A lot of typically detailed ornamental was done inside, and outside brick walls were built under the original timbers, which had their lower, rotted sections cut off.

The body of England's first patron saint, Saint Edmund, was taken here in 1013 on its way to Bury St Edmunds. The church is also associated with the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Dorset farmers who were transported to Australia but later resettled nearby after a public outcry at their persecution. One of them married in the church.

An interesting feature is a small opening in the original oak wall on the north side, referred to as a 'leper's squint' – a point where lepers, banned from entering with other worshippers, could receive a blessing. However, it's equally likely that this was simply a point where people approaching the church could be viewed.

This is not a place that receives large numbers of visitors, which is just as well because it is at the end of a quiet country lane. But it is a charming and peaceful place to store up in one's mind for a quiet detour when crossing our fascinating county.