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 4: Utta Abbey to Ebchester Monastery

 Starting in Gateshead, we continue heading inland, going west along the River Tyne. We cross the River Team where it enters into the Tyne and come to the River Derwent where it enters the River Tyne (below).

Image: Anthony Foster, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6477419 , no changes

We follow the River Derwent south to Ebchester. Walking along Derwent Walk Country Park trails, we go through the ancient woodlands, meadows, wetlands and riversides of Derwenthaugh Pays Park.

Image: Alan Fearon, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/71747 no changes

We then walk along the Derwent Walk Railway Path where we cross over many ‘burns’ (creeks).

Image:Dennis Lovett, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5311253  no changes

Finally reaching Ebchester which was once a Roman fort, built where Dere Street (the roman road from York to Hadiran’s Wall) crossed the River Derwent. You can see Dere Street in the photo below, heading up the far hillside after passing through Ebchester.

Image: Dennis Lovett, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3871697  

St. Ebba was the sister of King Oswald and King Oswy. At the same time that the new King Oswald sent for St. Aidan from the Iona Monastery, Ebba joined her brother at Bamburgh. Five years after St. Aidan arrived, Ebba took the veil (became a nun) at Lindisfarne in 640, the same year Hartlepool Abbey was founded. 

Image: Early British Kingdoms, https://orthochristian.com/133791.html

Ebba is thought to have founded a nunnery at Ebchester, the site of a Roman fort on the edge of the Black Moors. The roman fort, parts of it still visible in Ebchester, had 500 soldiers and was used for 300 years as a stopping point on Dere Street, the main road from York to Hadrian’s Wall.
Image: https://www.u3ahadrianswall.co.uk/wordpress/forts-south-of-the-wall/ebchester-roman-fort-vindomora/ 

The current St. Ebba’s Church in Ebchester has a foundation built in the early 1000’s and was built re-using the stone from the roman fort. It’s communion table is an ancient altar slab inscribed with 3 crosses and the font is made from a roman altar. It is located in the southern corner of the fort and is thought to be the site of Ebba’s nunnery. Before St. Hilda became abbess of Hartlepool in 649, Ebba had already moved on to found a double monastery at St. Abb’s. After Ebba left, and as it was so isolated, many hermits came to live there and by the 1100’s the area was known as ‘the place of the anchorites’. You can see the church tower and Ebchester below:

Image: http://www.ebchester.org/gallery/ebchester-today/

[wikipedia, orthochristian.com, ebchester.org, ukga.org]


This week we will be starting to track the kilometers of our walk for two groups of people:

  1. Those who are keeping track of their steps and kilometers
  2. Walking Groups.

 If you are interested, here are the km we have already done:

 Week 1: Whitby Abbey to Hartlepool Abbey = 45 km.

Week 2: Hartlepool Abbey to Tynemouth Monastery = 40 km.

Week 3: Tynemouth Monastery to Utta Abbey = 22 km.

 Week 4: Utta Abbey to Ebchester Monastery = 18 km

All km's are as the crow flies, not taking into account having to walk upstream to river crossings and around the dene's (ravines). 

Look at the amount of walking they would have had to do in the 7th century, taking days to get somewhere we can drive in an hour!