Week 3: Tynemouth Monastery to Utta Abbey at Gateshead

Follow along the map below from Tynemouth (at North Shields) inland along the river to Gateshead: 

Image: world-guides.com

Moving inland along the River Tyne from Tynemouth Monastery, we pass through Jarrow on the South Bank at 8km and Wallsend on the North Bank at 10 km. The photo below is from Bede's World, a museum recreating life from the 7th and 8th centuries. The Dexter cattle, wagon and house are similar to what the monks would have had in St. Aidan's time.

Jarrow was the home of St. Bede, born in 672. He went first to Monkswearmouth Monastery at the age of 7, then to Jarrow when that monastery was built in 682. St. Bede was one of the greatest writers and teachers of the 8^th century and is called the Father of English History as most of the knowledge we have of England in the 7^th and 8^th centuries comes from his writings.  

For more information about the Venerable Bede, click below:

https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2019/05/27/103796-venerable-bede-the-church-historian

The twinned Monastery of Monkswearmouth-Jarrow owned most of the land between the Wear and Tyne Rivers and became a center of learning with the largest library North of the Alps. The current St. Paul Church has the oldest stained glass window in the world, made in about 684. The original pieces of glass have been remade into new windows. To learn more about the stained glass in the image below, go to:

 http://teachinghistory100.org/objects/about_the_object/anglo_saxon_stained_glass

Wallsend had been a Roman fortress at the East end of Hadrian’s Wall. After the Romans left, the area was continually raided by Picts and Angles until the peace brought by King Edwin, King Oswald and St. Aidan. Because posts have been found next to Hadrian’s wall at Wallsend and 2 other sites, archeologists were able to finally prove that the wall was built with battlements on top. The posts would hold tangled branches to hinder attackers while soldiers on the wall would throw projectiles at them while waiting for reinforcements. The photo below shows where the original wall ran, a recreated wall on the left and the posts on the right.

14km West of Jarrow is Gateshead, the site of Utta Abbey. On the Southern bank of the River Tyne, Gateshead is across the river from the Roman fort at Newcastle.

The Roman fort was built at the site of the first bridge over the River Tyne and had a large market place, which was unusual. The fort was called Monkchester (chester meaning castle) in the 7^th century, and New Castle when it was rebuilt in 1080 after William the Conqueror sent his son north to defend the area from the Scots. Gateshead was originally a Roman/British settlement that profited from trade with the many forts along Hadrian’s Wall. It was up on a hill by the river, where the current Church of St. Mary stands. You can see it on the right in the image below:

 image: David Simpson, https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/gateshead/

The Venerable Bede writes that there was an abbot named Utta in the monastery at Gateshead in 653. Utta was sent by King Oswy in 642 to bring back the daughter of Edwin, King of Deira (Deira is southern Northumbria) from Kent, where she was living with her uncle, the King of Kent. 

Image: https://www.discovermiddleages.co.uk/medieval-life/anglo-saxons-history/

   

This marriage was to ensure Kent and Frank (across the English Channel from Kent) support. After King Oswy’s death in 670, Queen Eanflaed went to Whitby Abbey to join her daughter (the girl had been sent to Abbess Hilda to raise). After Hilda’s death in 680, Eanflaed became abbess of Whitby with her daughter and King Edwin’s remains were buried there with her and other members of the royal family. This is King Edwin below:

Image: Dave Webster, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_of_Northumbria 

Utta’s brother Adda helped bring Christianity to the people of Mercia (between Northumbria and Kent). In 653, King Peada of Mercia became a Christian as a condition of his marriage to King Oswy’s daughter. After his baptism by the Lindisfarne bishop, King Peada returned to Mercia with Adda, Abbot Seaxwulf and other monks where they founded a monastery and taught the 7,000 families of Mercia.

Located at the head of Cade’s Road, which runs from Newcastle down to the Humber River (Northumbria’s southern border), Gateshead is 12 km North of Chester-le-Street (meaning ‘castle on the road’ as it was located in the ruins of a Roman fort).

 Image: Hugh Mortimer, https://trek.zone/en/united-kingdom/places/50785/cades-road-chester-le-street#gallery

Called Coneceastre in the 7^th century, Chester-le-Street became the center of learning after Lindisfarne was abandoned during the Viking raids. In 882 the last Bishop of Lindisfarne became the first Bishop of Coneceastre. The Lindisfarne monks were given the lands between the Tyne and Wear rivers, Monkswearmouth-Jarrow Monastery having also been destroyed in the Viking raids. They brought with them St. Cuthbert’s remains, King Oswald’s head, The Lindisfarne Gospels and a stone cross. Their lands expanded from Hartlepool to St. Abb’s and they became one of the most powerful rulers of Northumbria. It was a major pilgrimage point and power center for 113 years, until Viking raids again forced the monks to move. Athelstan, the first King of England, came in 924 and the Viking King of Norway and York, Eric Bloodaxe, came in 952, as did many others wanting the saint’s favor for political purposes.

Next week, Week 4, we continue on our journey 16 km south-west down to Ebchester Abbey, founded by St. Ebba. 

Week 2: Hartlepool Abbey to Tynemouth Monastery

 During Week 2, we head from Hartlepool Abbey up the coast to Tynemouth Monastery. We follow the coast from Hartlepool up to Tynemouth, which is between South Shields and Whitley Bay on the map below:

Image: world-guides.com

Following the Heritage Coastal Footpath most of the way, we pass through the following sites of interest:

Crimdon – has the only sand dunes in the area as well as sea birds that migrate over from West Africa every year from May to August. The Little Tern lay 2-3 eggs in shallow sand scrapes on the beach at the mouth of Crimdon Dene (A dene is a small river in a ravine running down the cliff to the sea)

Castle Eden Dene – the only place left in the world where you can find Magnesium Limestone Grasslands at the sea (a unique type of grasslands).

Beacon Hill – the highest point on this part of the coast and originally a barrier reef in a tropical sea hundreds of millions of years ago. The photo below was taken by Charlie Hedley.

Dawdon – has the last remaining beach in the area with fossilized trees, leaves and bivalves.

Seaham – has one of the oldest churches in England, built around 658 by King Oswy.

Ryhope Dene - has some Ancient Woodland further inland. The photo below was taken by Oliver Dixon

Sunderland – on the River Wear – St Hilda first went to a small nunnery on the banks of the River Wear before going to the Hartlepool and Whitby Abbeys. The area became known as Monkswearmouth and the present church of St. Peter’s was built in 674.

Here we start to follow part of the Northern Saints Trail System, specifically the part of The Way of Learning Trail that goes from Monkswearmouth to Whitburn. Check out all the trail maps and information here: https://www.thisisdurham.com/northernsaints/about

Below is the River Wear, you can see Durham Castle peeking over the hill. This site was an important rest stop for people doing a pilgrimage even before the castle was built. 

River Wear at Durham image: Steve Keiretsu, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Wear#/media/File:River_wear_at_durham.jpg 

For a drone video of River Wear, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwkdMWIRUKQ 

I had no idea that the woodlands still have deer!

Starting at St. Peters Church in Sunderland, where lime quarries prospered due to being right next to river transport, we follow the coast up to Whitburn. This whole area was gifted to the Church in 674, when St Cuthbert was Bishop of Lindisfarne. Whitburn was part of the important center of European learning and culture that extended up the coast of Northumbria.

We go past Marsden Rock, a section of limestone that jutted out into the ocean. It has slowly been eroded over time, becoming a series of stacks, one of which was an arch tall enough for a sailboat to sail through until 1996 when winter storms brought it down.

We then enter South Shields, once a Roman Fort built to defend Hadrian’s Wall. Hadrian’s Wall was built in 128 to keep the northern tribes out of Roman-occupied Britain. It went from the west coast and ended following the River Tyne to the east coast. You can follow it today from coast to coast, this is a good site to start with: https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/roman-newcastle/ After the Romans left, the abandoned fort was then used as the royal palace of the Anglo-Saxons. Oswin, the son of King Osric of Deira, was born here. King Oswin gave land here to St. Hilda in 647 to build a monastery where the present-day church of St. Hilda is now.

We cross the Tyne River by ferry to North Shields. The word ‘shields’ comes from the word ‘sheels’ which were the huts of the fishermen who supplied the monasteries with fish.

And we are finally at Tynemouth Monastery.

Image: Louise Millburn

Edwin, King of Northumbria, built a wooden church and convent here in 625, and sent his 1 year old daughter Rosella to be raised here. In 634 it was rebuilt with stone from the Roman fort in South Shields by Edwin’s successor, Oswald.

Legend has it that King Oswine, killed in 651, was buried here. The monastery was built as penance for Oswine’s death by his brother-in-law and it became the focus of a popular pilgrimage to the resting place of St. Oswine.

[Wikipedia, parishmouse.co.uk, https://durhamheritagecoast.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/CoastalFootpathbooklet.pdf]

Week 1: Whitby Abbey to Hartlepool Abbey

Over the next few weeks, we will take a journey through Northumbria, where St. Aidan lived and taught as Bishop of Lindisfarne. You can follow along on the map as we take a look at the areas where he lived.

Northumbria was a kingdom just below Scotland, in Great Britain:

Image: wikimedia.org

We start our journey at Whitby Abbey, located on the map below, on the coast to the right of the word 'Deira'. We follow the coast up to Hartlepool Abbey, just below the 'u' in the word 'Durham'.

Image: wikimedia.org

 This week, we start our journey at Whitby Abbey, on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, which was founded in 657 AD by King Oswy. It was called Streoneshalh (meaning Fort Bay or Tower Bay) because of the ruins of a Roman settlement used by sailors as a landmark at the headland. Hwitebi (the white settlement) was built in the Celtic style, with numerous chapels and cells (small houses for two or three people). Streoneshalh was a double monastery, as was Hartlepool, where men and women lived apart, worshipping together in church. 

Many members of the Northumbrian royal family were associated with Whitby Abbey, including the founding abbess, Lady Hilda. She was the abbess of Hartlepool Abbey and her great uncle was King Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumbria. Hilda was a skilled administrator and employed many for farming and woodcutting on the abbey lands. Hilda’s wisdom was known all over Britain. Kings and other powerful figures often requested her thoughts on many matters. One local tale tells how St Hilda freed Whitby of snakes by throwing them over the Abbey cliffs, perhaps an explanation for the spiralled ammonite fossils found along the coast. There’s even a fossil named after her: ammonite hildoceras.

 Image: fossils-uk.com

Streoneshalh Monastery was built on the cliffs above the forested inlet of the River Esk. Tourists still climb the 199 steps from the village up to the Abbey. To get an idea of the cliffs, check out this short video of nearby Staithes where Boulby Cliff is the highest cliff on England’s east coast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgehovdGgbM

To see the moors below and hear some history of pirates and smuggling, watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrlo_Gnq-q4

Image: fattyres.co.uk

Streoneshalh was destroyed in 867 by Viking raiders plundering the coast, and the fishing village became known as Hwitebi in Old Norse. After the Norman conquest of William the Conqueror in 1066, a soldier turned monk built a Benedictine Abbey which became a center of learning for centuries, and the village became known as Whitby. Eventually the Abbey was destroyed during Henry the Eight’s Dissolution of Monasteries in 1540. The ruins you see blow are a result of the Abbey being shelled by German battlecruisers in 1914.

Image: marconheritage.com

Some interesting facts about the area:

James Cook the explorer worked in Whitby in the mid-1700’s, joined the Navy, and sailed around the world in ships built in Whitby. William Scoresby of Whitby invented the crow’s nest.

Whitby was the setting for Bram Stokers ‘Dracula’. The writer lived in Whitby and was inspired by  the twisting streets and mist.

The nearby village of Kettleness slid into the sea in 1829, a victim of coastal erosion.

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Check out The Way of St. Hild, a walk that follows Hilda’s journey from Hartlepool to Whitby Abbey.

https://britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/way-of-st-hild/

This coastal route is a pilgrimage initiative that has its own smartphone app to bring alive the seascapes and history around St Hild, giving a sense of the faith and spirituality of the Northumbrian Christians, and human life in general 1400 years ago.

Image: campsites.co.uk

St. Hilda’s Way is part of the British Pilgrimage trail system, with stops at eight churches between Whitby and Staithes, each focusing on a different aspect of St. Hilda’s life.

One mile before Staithes is a holy spring discovered by St Hilda when she was asked to pray during a drought as she traveled through the area. It became the water source of a village called Hildrewell, now Hinderwell, and continues to flow today. It became a popular pilgrimage during the Middle Ages when the waters were said to heal eye conditions.

Image: hidden-teeside.co.uk

See https://britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/st-hildas-way/  and  https://hinderwellsite.com/gallery/ for many wonderful photos of the area around Hinderwell. 

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Hartlepool Abbey was founded in 640 when Bishop Aidan appointed Hieu, the first abbess, to found a double monastery at Hereteu, where there was a forest filled with deer. They built on a spit of land surrounded by the sea and tidal mudflats, with a fishing village growing up nearby. The monks and nuns lived in a walled community of small wooden cells, many of which just had one room, and a stone church.

Poster: hhtandn.org

Bishop Aidan sent Hilda to be the second abbess after Hieu left in 649. Hilda quickly organized the monks and nuns into a schedule of praying and working and Hereteu became a haven that attracted people from all over Britain.

Hilda remained abbess of Hereteu even after she left in 657 to found Whitby Abbey, taking 10 nuns and the small daughter of King Oswiu with her. The cemetery at Old Hartlepool holds the remains of Hilda’s mother and sister, several abbesses, many nuns and monks as well as town folk, all dated to the 7^th and 8^th centuries.

In Flame of the Heart: St. Aidan for Today, 

Aidan gave thanks for the growth in the vocation of women to the religious life. It did seem to be a good way for royal women to have a position of their own. Hild, at thirty-three, decided to become a nun. Here truly was a jewel for the church. She was deeply committed to the way taught from Lindisfarne. She had thought of going to France, to the sisters at Chelles, to be a nun. It was as well that she had mentioned it to Aidan. He persuaded her that the church here needed people like her. If all the talent was going to the continent, how could the church here grow? Women's communities, and mixed communities, needed people who were used to leadership, and who had been Christians for a good while. Hild had all the qualities needed, and more. Hild listened to Aidan and decided to stay. She went to establish a new monastery on the north side of the River Wear. Within a year she had moved on to Hartlepool to replace the first nun in Northumbria, Hieu. Heiu was going further south to Tadcaster. All over Bernica and Deira new communities were springing up. 

This extract is taken from Flame in my Heart: St. Aidan for Today (Adam, Rev. David. Triangle Publishing, 1997) and was reproduced by kind permission of SPCK in one of St. Aidan Orthodox Church's blog posts from Dec. 14, 2015. 

For more information about St. Hilda, check out Brenda G. Warren's Day 2 post at 

https://saintsbridge.org/2013/12/01/st-hilda-of-whitby/

[wikipedia, visitwhitby.com, sainthilda.org, earlybritishkingdoms.com, saintsbridge.org, whitbyhotels.co.uk, nationaltrail.co.uk, videos – Andrew Oxby Photography and Videography]