Following the decline of the Roman Empire, and the retreat of the legions to Rome, Britain fragmented into separate kingdoms. Into these came the Anglo-Saxons, as traders, settlers and eventually conquerors.
Early Christianity in Northumbria
Christianity, which had been driven to a precarious toehold on the fringes of the British Isles, returned to England in two distinct waves. Irish monks brought the Faith to Scotland, and in 635 AD, their brand of monasticism reached Northumberland, when King Oswald invited St Aidan to found a monastery on Lindisfarne. The southern wave arrived in 597 AD, when St Augustine, on instructions from Pope Gregory I, landed in Kent bringing with him a completely different monastic tradition.
In 653 AD, Benedict Biscop, a Northumbrian nobleman, made the first of five journeys to Rome, during one of which he took holy vows, under the Rule of St Benedict, returning to Northumbria to found the monastery of St Peter, in Monkwearmouth, in 674 AD, and later that of St Paul, Jarrow. By this time, disagreements between the Irish and Roman monastic traditions had been reconciled by the Synod of Whitby (664 AD).
The Venerable Bede
Saint Bede was born near Jarrow in around 673 AD, and at the age of seven, entered St Paul’s Monastery, where he spent the rest of his life, becoming the most prominent scholar of his day, with a reputation that spread throughout Europe. His many accomplishments included poetry, mathematics, geography and science. He was conversant with the evidence that the Earth was spherical, and knew that the tides were governed by the moon.
Bede’s most significant contribution to learning however, among the seventy books he wrote, was his Ecclesiastic History of the English People, which he completed in 731 AD, and which was the first written history of England.
Bede’s World Museum
Bede’s World incorporates a modern museum, illustrating the life and times of the Venerable Bede with a reconstruction of an Anglo-Saxon farm. It is situated above the south bank of the River Tyne, adjacent to St Paul’s Church, Jarrow and the ruins of the monastery. It stands a few minutes’ drive from the Tyne Tunnel and less than a mile’s walk from either the Jarrow or Bede Metro station.
On entering the museum, one is greeted by a voice speaking Anglo-Saxon, and display cases containing brooches, bracelets, rings, pins, pendants and clasps. Around the walls are quotations from Bede’s History, describing the development of the kingdoms, the battles between them, the coming of Christianity and conversion of the kings.
A second room depicts the Golden Age of Northumbria, with a colourful frieze illustrating the journeys of Benedict Biscop, the founding of the monastery, the background to the Synod of Whitby and a model of the Anglo-Saxon settlement at Yeavering, North Northumberland.
Monastic life is illustrated by a model of St Paul’s Monastery in Bede’s day, carved stones, a case containing a monk’s personal possessions: buckles, combs, knives and a whetstone for sharpening them. There is a description of the daily routine of the monastery and a replica of the Codex Amiatinus Bible, one of three written on a total of 515 animal hides at Jarrow. The original is now held in Florence.
The room devoted exclusively to Bede is furnished with alcoves in which one can listen to his comments on poetry, history and science. A first floor gallery illustrates his understanding of science and mathematics, and demonstrates his system for counting using the fingers and his method for calculating the date of Easter.
Gyrwe Anglo-Saxon Farm
To the north of the museum, occupying eleven acres and bounded by a hill overlooking the River Tyne, is a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farm, named Gyrwe (pronounced Yeerweh after the Old English name for Jarrow). The timber-framed buildings, with lime-washed walls of wattle-and-daub, have been reproduced from remains of structures from the period discovered during archaeological excavations.
Thirlings Hall is based on the ruins of a house found in North Northumberland. It represents a main hall of a village, in which the inhabitants would have gathered for feasts and meetings. It was built using modern versions of Anglo-Saxon tools, and contains 30 tons of unseasoned, 50-year-old oak as well as hazel, willow, birch, sedge and reeds. The Grubenhaus follows the style of one excavated at New Bewick, Northumberland, and is similar to many found across Anglo-Saxon sites throughout Europe. Roofed with interwoven ash and hazel covered with heather, and with a sunken floor, it may have been a grain store or weaving shed.
Scattered around the farm are enclosures containing geese, ducks, chickens and rare-breed sheep, pigs and cattle, as near as possible to the livestock that may have been common during Bede’s time. Small, stocky Dexter cattle are being trained to pull a plough. The pigs are mainly a cross between Tamworth, Berkshire and wild boar, while a pair of woolly-coated Mangalitza pigs look very strange to modern eyes.
To the south of the museum, a footpath leads past Jarrow Hall, a former Georgian residence that was once home to an earlier version of the museum. It now houses a small restaurant, while to its rear lies a herb garden containing many herbs and dye plants that would have been used extensively during the Anglo-Saxon period.
St Paul’s Church and Monastery
Continuing past Jarrow Hall, one crosses an area of open ground to reach St Paul’s Church, behind which lie the ruins of the monastery. The original foundations have been excavated, though many of the walls were built later, and date from Norman times. The monastery overlooks the River Don, which flows into the Tyne and so links to the North Sea, from which, according to Bede, kings and nobles arrived to stay in the guest house that stood on the river bank.
St Paul’s Church, the chancel of which is part of the original, seventh century monastery church, is still in full use today. Much of the stone for its construction probably came from nearby Roman buildings. Some of the foundations are visible in the centre of the church, and there are examples on display of ornately carved sandstone friezes and the dedication stone which, dating from 685 AD, is the earliest known in England. During excavation of the monastic site, many hundreds of fragments of coloured glass were unearthed. Some of these have been used to create a window, mounted in the original seventh century surround, in the southern wall of the chancel.
Anthony Toole - I was born and brought up in the English Lake District, where I have walked and climbed for most of my life. I was educated as a scientist ...
