Join us as we discover the Celtic Saints. We started in Northumbria, where our church's patron saint, St. Aidan, lived and taught as the first Bishop at Lindisfarne. Weeks 1 to 13 charted a journey up the coast and into the interior of Northumbria as we learned about the world St. Aidan inhabited. We are in the process of posting more information about each of the Celtic saints, and how they are connected to St. Aidan.

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 8th century and is called the Father of English History as most of the knowledge we have of England in the 7th and 8th 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 7th 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 7th 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.