Text of a talk given to the English Companions, by Guy Points
I want to talk today about the Anglo-Saxon joint Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, its history, its key players, the extant remains and what else there is to see in Sunderland and Jarrow today. At the conclusion I hope you will agree with me that the Anglo-Saxon monastery is more than worthy of World Heritage Site status for which a bid is currently in preparation.
History
As Bede tells us in his “Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and Jarrow” the origins of the monastery began with Benedict Biscop who founded St Peter’s monastery Wearmouth in AD 674 on seventy hides of land given to him by King Ecgfrith of Northumbria.
Inspired by the monumental stone buildings he had seen on his travels in Europe Benedict Biscop had his new monastery built at Wearmouth in the same way using skilled stonemasons and glassmakers from Gaul. He built in stone from the start with fine cement floors, glass windows and lead roofs for the churches. Limestone tiles were used for the roofs of the other monastic buildings. He had the interior of the church elaborately furnished with items brought from his peregrinations: wall paintings, relics of martyrs, sacred icons, altar vessels and vestments. The latest liturgical practices of the church in Rome were followed and music was taught by the arch-chanter John, brought to Northumbria from Rome. According to Bede, “The Rule” for the monks at Wearmouth was derived from the best usages of seventeen English and Continental monasteries. Benedict Biscop also brought books from his Continental travels. These formed the basis of the monastic library that was to become amongst the best in Europe serving both Wearmouth and Jarrow and, in particular, the Venerable Bede and his fellow scholars. In 681 Benedict Biscop obtained from King Ecgfrith a further forty hides of land at Jarrow and sent Ceolfrith with other monks from Wearmouth to establish a new similar foundation of St Paul’s.
Under the combined sole abbacy of Ceolfrith the two foundations flourished, increasing the number of oratories, enhancing the furnishings, the collections of liturgical vessels and vestments, and doubling the size of the library. By 716 the combined monastery housed no fewer than six hundred brethren and held estates amounting to almost one hundred and fifty hides, i.e. land sufficient to support one hundred and fifty farming households.
The Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery was both a city and a university, providing an international cultural network that extended beyond political boundaries. It provided education and hospitality for travellers from all walks of life. It was exceptional because of its size, its great wealth, and its extensive library and, through Benedict Biscop, its international contacts.
The “Golden Age of Northumbria” was ended by the Vikings and during their activities the history of the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery becomes obscure. Both sites were sacked and then abandoned in the second half of the ninth century. At some unknown later date there was some partial restoration. We do know that in 1022 Bede’s bones, which were buried in the north porticus of the monastic church at Jarrow, were stolen by the cleric Alfred Westou and taken to Durham Cathedral where they were placed in St Cuthbert’s coffin. On 11 December 1069, the coffin containing the bodies of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede rested at Wearmouth when the Bishop of Durham fled Durham to escape the Normans. The Wearmouth site was destroyed by the Normans in 1069. The Jarrow site was destroyed by the Scots in 1070.
In 1073-74, inspired by the writings of Bede, Prior Aldwin and Elfwy the Deacon from Winchcombe Abbey in Gloucestershire came to the north to revive the monasteries at Jarrow, Wearmouth, Tynemouth and Whitby. They established what might best be described as small cells of a Benedictine monastery on the Wearmouth-Jarrow sites. The Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery was Dissolved in 1536 along with other smaller monasteries.
People
I will now say something about the three of the most important people associated with the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery Benedict Biscop, King Ecgfrith and the Venerable Bede.
Benedict Biscop
Without doubt the most important person involved in the foundation of the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, and why the World Heritage Site bid is underway, is the omnipresent Benedict Biscop. He was born into an aristocratic Northumbrian family around 628 and visited Rome six times during his lifetime. He clearly made an impression in Rome for in 668 he travelled back to England accompanying, and acting as translator, to Theodore the newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. For two years he stayed in Canterbury as abbot of the monastery of St Peter and St Paul before returning to Rome. In the early 670s Benedict Biscop returned to Northumbria where he persuaded King Ecgfrith to grant him land for a new monastery – the lands provided were at Wearmouth. He died at Wearmouth in 689.
King Ecgfrith
Benedict Bishop would not have been able to establish his monastery without the help and encouragement of King Ecgfrith of Northumbria who reigned from 670-685. His armies campaigned in Ireland, Cumbria and into much of present day southern Scotland. In 685 he was killed at the battle of Nechtansmere near Forfar in Scotland. Ecgfrith was the second husband of the saintly Æthelthryth, founder of the Abbey of Ely and friend of Saint Wilfred – the principal advocate of the practices of the Roman church at the Synod of Whitby in 664. It is Ecgfrith’s name which appears on the dedication stone in St Paul’s Church Jarrow and it was Ecgfrith who in 685 persuaded Saint Cuthbert to take up the appointment of Bishop of Lindisfarne.
The Venerable Bede
However, undoubtedly the most famous person associated with the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery is the “Venerable Bede” who has been described as “one of the brightest stars in the whole firmament of Western civilisation”. Bede records that he was born 673 in the territory given to the monastery of Wearmouth and at the age of seven he was placed in the monastery to be trained as a monk.
Although Bede is generally associated with Jarrow it is clear that he spent considerable periods of his career at Wearmouth because it was the larger foundation and it held the main library. Bede produced some sixty works on ecclesiastical history – including his most famous “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”, and books on chronology, geography, mathematics, science and medicine. He wrote almost entirely in Latin which enabled his works to be read right across Europe – he produced books on Latin grammar, spelling and verse composition.
- It was Bede who first used the term “English” two centuries before there was a united English nation.
- It was Bede who developed the calculation of the time of Easter still used today.
- It was Bede who popularised the BC/AD dating system.
- It was Bede who was the first author to recognise how the tides are “dragged” around the surface of the Earth by the moon.
Bede died in 735. Cuthbert, a fellow monk, wrote shortly afterwards “The letter on the illness and death of the Venerable Bede the Priest”. An indication of Bede’s impact on European civilisation can be gauged by the fact that sixty-five medieval manuscripts of this letter survive in England and on the Continent. Copies of Bede’s “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”, made at the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery shortly after his death, survive at the University Library in Cambridge and at the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg.
As the pre-eminent scholar Bede inevitably took a leading role in the production of the three single volume bibles commissioned by Ceolfrith and produced by the Wearmouth-Jarrow scribes 690-716. The intention was that there would be one copy each for Wearmouth and Jarrow with the third copy being taken by Ceolfrith to the Pope in Rome. Unfortunately he died on the way. This third bible was at some time acquired by the Italian monastery of Monte Amiato and became known as the “Codex Amiantinus”. The Codex Amiatinus is the oldest surviving single volume Latin bible in the world and is now held in the Laurentian Library in Florence in Italy. Sunderland City Library has a facsimile.
This concludes a brief introduction to three key personalities and I now turn to what can be seen today of the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery.
Sunderland
St Peter’s church and monastery is situated in the centre of Sunderland, on the north bank of the River Wear with part of the University of Sunderland and the “National Glass Centre” as its near neighbours. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, St Peter’s was used as a parish church and was generally neglected. Repairs were undertaken in 1866 and in 1874-5 there was an extensive restoration. After an arson attack in 1984 the church was further repaired and restored.
The seventh century fabric of the tall and narrow west wall of the nave incorporates distinctive Anglo-Saxon features including large, side alternate quoining and windows. The original seventh century west porch was incorporated into the present sixty feet high tower. The tower now comprises fabric dating from the seventh century to the eleventh century. The western entrance has a plain barrel-vaulted roof on the ground floor which is said to be the only surviving example of Anglo-Saxon vaulting above ground in England. Most important of all, the jambs of the western entrance have unique decoration:
The large vertical stone at the bottom – a “long” – is decorated with most of the slender bodies of two snake-like creatures whose tails meet and entwine to rise vertically and then diverge neatly to form two fish-tail ends of a bow.
The top halves of these two creatures are above on the flat horizontal stone – a “short”. They have bird-like heads and snake-like bodies. Their heads face inwards towards the centre and the ends of their long beaks entwine.
(Not only is the nature of this decoration rare, it is not surrounded or entwined by scroll or other designs as more often found with the more numerous examples of later decorated Anglo-Saxon stonework, but it is also rare that a non-abstract design is spread over two differently sized and shaped pieces of stonework. The craftsman made his task more difficult.)
Another rare feature of these jambs is the inclusion above the bird-headed serpents of a pair of baluster shafts decorated with grooves.
The external western face of the tower includes large side alternate quoining and is divided into five stages each separated by string courses; the lower one of which was originally richly decorated with panels depicting animals and possibly human figures. Remnants of this decorated frieze are now displayed in the north aisle. The third stage of the tower contains the gable of the roof line of the seventh century porch. This acts as a dividing line between the smaller stones used in the seventh century structure, and the larger stones used when the porch was incorporated into the tower in the early eleventh century. The fifth stage includes double belfry Anglo-Saxon windows with exemplar Northumbrian hooded heads and strip work. Above each of the belfry windows are small singular circular sound-holes to assist the amplification of the sound of the bells.
So much for the outside, we now turn to the inside where displays include:
A late seventh or eighth century consecration or dedication cross, one of a pair, the other is in the tower some forty-two feet up from the ground. It is not certain whether they were made for the dedication of the new church or the rebuilt tower.
Part of a ninth century wall panel or frieze decorated with two figures in relief facing each other. One has a raised shield in his left hand and an extended right hand, with his broken sword lying between him and the second figure who is thrusting a spear towards him. This is a rare record in stone of a dramatic action.
An early eight century Anglo-Saxon grave cover known as the “Herebericht” stone. It is decorated with a cross accompanied by a Latin inscription interpreted as: “Here in the tomb rests Herebericht the priest in the body”. This gravestone had originally been used for someone else – an older inscription has been erased and Herebericht’s name added in a different script.
A large and unusually diverse collection of twenty incomplete late seventh century baluster shafts mostly decorated with grooves. Their designs are very varied and some have traces of red and black paint decoration. Some may have flanked windows and entrances to side chapels; others may have formed a balustrade or canopy round the altar.
Two upright sides from different items of church furniture. Both are decorated with the figure of a lion in profile between two vertical columns, its tail turned back over the top half of its body. The face is cut away so that the head can be seen from the front and from the side. They are unlike anything else known from seventh or eighth century Britain.
Lastly, thirteen fragments of seventh or eighth century glass from Wearmouth. More fragments of window glass have been found here than at any other pre-Conquest site in England.
The Monastery
Next we look at the monastery. This has been more disturbed by later building work and landscaping than its counterpart at Jarrow. Consequently less material from the Anglo-Saxon period was discovered when the site was excavated between 1959 and 1988. As a result of these excavations, and the artefacts found, it is considered that the stone walls of the buildings were probably whitewashed on the exterior and plastered on the interior. Both plain and coloured glass was used in the windows. Roofs on the monastic buildings were mostly covered with stone flagstones and there was lead flashing along the edges of the roofs. The evidence of the flooring indicated that there large areas were floored with opus signinum.
Sunderland Museum
Now we move onto Sunderland Museum which displays artefacts from St Peter’s Church Monkwearmouth. These include:
Roofing materials and fittings: limestone roof tiles and a lead roof clip which still has its original iron nail used to hold the bottom layer of the tile to the roof beam. At the time most houses had thatched or turf roofs.
High-quality painted window glass.
Fragments of moulded plaster for the walls, some painted with red stripes others painted cream. Moulded plaster was very rare in England at this time.
Fragments of opus signinum flooring.
However, it is for the stonework that a visit is recommended. The displays include:
A unique Anglo-Saxon classical Ionic capital.
A late seventh century or early eight century grave marker. It is inscribed with letters in both runes and Latin spelling an incomplete personal name (EO… ÆID).
An early tenth century grave marker. It is decorated with two figures and inscribed lettering spelling the name “Tidfirđ” in runes.
Two late seventh century baluster shafts. These survive in full profile measuring around twelve inches high by over six inches in diameter.
The star of the exhibition is a three-dimensional, carved sandstone eight century terminal from a stone chair. It is decorated with an animal head that may represent a serpent. It measures twelve inches high, by twelve inches wide, by seven inches deep.
There is also a display containing a model of the excavated part of Wearmouth Monastery as it may have looked in about AD 750.
Roker-Bede Memorial Cross
Finally in Sunderland there is the modern Bede Memorial Cross. This is worth visiting because it serves as a reminder of how imposing some stone crosses would have looked in their heyday – although it is plain and not painted. It stands over twenty-six feet high on an expanse of grassland on the seaward side of the A183. It was unveiled on the 11th October 1904.
The cross is richly decorated with a variety of designs including inhabited vine scroll, step, ring work and interlace, as well as scenes from Bede’s life and the faces and names of ecclesiastics. There is text in Latin, runes and Old and modern English. The main inscriptions consist of extracts from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History and Life of St Cuthbert.
Jarrow
Having completed our tour of Sunderland I now turn to what there is to see in Jarrow which takes its name from the tribe of marsh-dwellers, the Gyrwe. Near the confluence of the rivers Don and Tyne, St Paul’s Church and monastery and Bede’s World are within the same overall site separated by a small public park.
St Paul’s Church and Monastery
Founded by Ceolfrith in 681 the main monastic church occupied the site of the present nave from 685 until its demolition and replacement in 1782. The central tower of the present church originated as a porch joining the main monastic church with what was at one time a separate seventh century chapel to the east. Today this Anglo-Saxon chapel is the chancel of the church. The lower part of the tower dates from the eighth century and the upper part dates from the early eleventh century.
The Church
As we go inside, the chancel contains late seventh century fabric comprising roughly-squared blocks of stone walling laid in regular Anglo-Saxon fashion with side alternate quoining. The centre window of the three original windows in the south wall contains the oldest stained glass in Europe – it dates from 681. What is known as “Bede’s Chair”, and now dated between eight and eleven hundred years old, was probably used by the monastery’s “master” in the later medieval period.
The most famous item displayed is the dedication stone of (Sunday) 23 April 685. The text of the dedication is in Latin and is translated: “The dedication of the basilica (church) of St. Paul on the ninth day before the Kalends of May in the fifteenth year of King Ecgfrith and the fourth (year) of Ceolfrith, abbot, founder, by the guidance of God, of the same church”.
In the north aisle, there is an important display of Anglo-Saxon stonework including:
A large collection of seventeen incomplete late 7C/early 8C baluster shafts which forms one of, if not, the largest, collections Anglo-Saxon baluster shafts in existence. They are all approximately the same height, nearly 29 inches high and the same diameter, just over twelve inches, and are decorated with grooves. It is clear that they were made to be together: possibly they formed a rail to enclose one of the altars in the church, or they formed the jambs of the arches separating the nave from side chapels, or they formed part of the jambs in the chancel arch.
Parts of architectural friezes dating from the late 7C/early 8C. These are decorated with a design depicting rows of balusters – balusters were obviously very important in Jarrow.
Part of the late seventh century or early eighth grave cover known as the “Jarrow Cross”. It is decorated with a cross and an inscription in Latin meaning “In this unique sign life is returned to the world”.
Part of an early eighth century frieze. It is decorated with vine scroll design enclosing the full figure of a hunter, parts of an animal, and a human head presumed to be female because of the styling of the hair.
The Monastery
Monastic remains include parts of the ruined cloisters, east range and refectory. These mostly date from the building period of 1074-83. The foundations of the various periods of building are marked out in differently-shaped stones. Smooth flat paving stones mark out the lines of the walls of the buildings from the Anglo-Saxon monastery, including the refectory, a hall and a guesthouse that was later used as a workshop. The floors from the Anglo-Saxon monastery are about twenty-four inches below the current ground level and extend for forty-three yards by nine yards. Tightly-packed cobbles indicate the foundations of building work undertaken 1074-83, widely-spaced cobbles indicate mid twelfth century to the mid sixteenth century building work. Arguably there are two doorways showing Anglo-Saxon building styles and techniques that survive, one has a round-headed arch and the other has a triangular-shaped head. No doubt other Anglo-Saxon material was also reused and it too may survive.
The site of the Anglo-Saxon monastery at Jarrow has been less disturbed by later building work and landscaping than its counterpart at Wearmouth. Consequently more material from the Anglo-Saxon period was discovered when the site was excavated between 1959 and 1988. As a result of these excavations it is considered that, like Wearmouth, the stone walls of the buildings were probably whitewashed on the exterior and plastered on the interior. Both plain and coloured glass was used in the windows. Roofs were mostly covered with stone flagstones and there was lead flashing along the edges of the roofs. The evidence of the flooring indicated that there large areas were floored with opus signinum. Anglo-Saxon artefacts found included jewellery, writing implements, craft and household implements.
Bede’s World Museum
Having visited the church and the monastic site it is now time to turn our attention to Bede’s World – a significant development as far as the knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon world is concerned for the public at large. Bede’s World comprises both a museum and a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farmstead. The Museum tells the story of the Life and Times of the Venerable Bede through illustrated displays of original artefacts and replicas, model reconstructions, original and cast copies of stonework and audio and visual displays. Bede is described as: “the Scientist”, “the Historian”, “the Teacher” and “the Poet”.
The Displays
Among the displays there are:
A reconstruction of a bronze drinking cup for travellers (with water) and the quote from Bede: “The king cared so much for the good of the people that, in various places where he had noticed clear springs near the highway, he caused stakes to be set up and bronze drinking cups to be hung on them for the refreshment of travellers. No one dared to lay hands on them except for their proper purpose because they feared the king greatly, nor did they wish to, because they loved him dearly.” Bede. HEII.16 The origin of public drinking fountains.
A tableau showing the highlights of the life of Benedict Bishop and his travels.
A model of St Paul’s Monastery Jarrow showing how the centre of the Anglo-Saxon monastery may have looked in Bede’s time.
A reconstruction of three Anglo-Saxon glass windows. Glass, slag, glass drips and fused waster beads were found in the workshop area and demonstrate that glass working took place in the monastery.
A display with ninety-eight assorted original fragments of glass. Early coloured window-glass is very durable, cylinder-blown, made from sand and soda-lime (marine plant ash). Lead cames held the coloured window-glass and formed an integral part of the design. The colours included green and white, milky blue to amber, blue glass with white. Glass was also used to decorate book covers and metalwork. In 764 the Abbot, Cuthbert, sent abroad for more glassmakers. He wrote to a bishop in Mainz in Germany “if there is any man in your diocese who can make vessels of glass well……….send him to me when time is favourable….because we are ignorant and destitute of that art”.
A reconstruction, using original fragments found scattered over the Refectory floor, of a late seventh century or early eighth century eight-sided sandstone reading desk. It stands some fifty-two inches high with nearly a fourteen inch diameter at base. The surviving original stonework is decorated with scroll and leaf design with indications near its base of reddening from later fire damage.
A display about the Monastic Scriptorium reminding visitors: “the conditions of the past winter oppressed the island of our race very horribly with cold and ice and long and widespread storms of wind and rain, so that the hand of the scribe was hindered from producing a great number of books”. It contains a replica of a Pocket Gospel of St John decorated with leather binding. The original was made by the monks of Wearmouth-Jarrow and found in the coffin of St Cuthbert. There are also examples of original styli. The point was used to write on a wax tablet or mark lines on vellum: the flat end erased marks in wax. There are also examples of tweezers which might have been used as page turners to protect valuable manuscripts.
An eighth century building stone inscribed with the personal name “HELMGYT”. This inscription is unique and its meaning in the monastery is unknown.
A sheep-bone object, perhaps part of a bagpipe-type musical instrument, and a fragment from a bone flute. Abbot Cuthbert in 764 wrote: “It would delight me also to have a harpist who could play on the harp….for I have a harp and am without a player. If it be not a trouble, send one…..I beg that you will not scorn my request nor think it laughable”.
A screen showing a film about the written word and books in Wearmouth-Jarrow, their production, Bede and his books and the Codex Amiatinus.
The Farm and the Re-constructed buildings
The reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farmstead adjacent comprises replica buildings made of wood with wattle and daub or wooden planks forming the walls and with thatched roofs. They include an open-plan hall, partitioned off with hangings, to separate the hearth area from the sleeping area; a monastic workshop, and a grubenhaus – now thought of as workshops or grain stores rather than dwellings. The farm has sheep, oxen, pigs, ducks and geese; an orchard, vegetables; plants to produce dyes, reeds for thatching, hazel and willow for coppicing, and flax for oil and linen.
The intention is to reflect what an Anglo-Saxon farm that supplied its produce to a monastery would have looked like and what it produced based on the evidence of archaeology, contemporary documents and illustrations.
Durham Cathedral
Although not part of the Wearmouth-Jarrow World Heritage Site bid, Durham Cathedral also has connections with the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery namely:
The Galilee Chapel displays the tomb chest containing the remains of the Venerable Bede.
The Cathedral Library holds volumes which belonged to Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery.
The Monks’ Dormitory displays seventy pieces of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish stonework; including a couple of examples from Wearmouth-Jarrow.
World Heritage Status
So having heard something about the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, what is a “World Heritage Site”, and what is the bid? According to UNESO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), “World Heritage Sites are places or buildings of outstanding universal value recognised as constituting world heritage for whose protection it is the duty of the international community as a whole to co-operate.”
The publicity material explains: “An Anglo-Saxon twin monastery is bidding to become a World Heritage Site – an accolade shared by the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids and the Great Wall of China, along with places in Britain already on the UNESO list such as Hadrian’s Wall and Durham Castle and Cathedral. Wearmouth-Jarrow’s outstanding universal value lies in its influence on learning, its part in the emergence of European identity, the survival of the original fabric, and as home of one of scholarship’s original giants – Bede. Inscription will heighten awareness of the site, the region, and Britain; bring uplift in tourism, potentially worth millions of pounds to the local economy, securing and creating many jobs; increase educational potential; and enrich community identity.
Wearmouth-Jarrow was once one of the most influential institutions in the western world, because of its contribution to learning, creativity and the shaping of European culture. Support is needed now to reawaken understanding of that fact, and so capitalise on the outstanding opportunity that exists to protect these unique places for future generations, and drive the cultural life and economy of the North East of England in which they stand.”
Wearmouth-Jarrow has been nominated for this status in 2010 and the final decision as to whether the bid will be successful will be taken by UNESCO in 2011. The public is invited to pledge their support and give their views on the website: www.wearmouth-jarrow.org.uk.
This concludes my talk. I do have some publicity material from the Wearmouth-Jarrow bid for those interested.
June 21st, 2010
