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:
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| 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'.
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| 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.
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
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.
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.
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 7th and 8th centuries.
