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 5: Ebchester Monastery to Aidan’s Church in Haltwhistle

 This leg of our journey is 45 km.

We leave Ebchester and head northwest along Dere Street for 17 km. 

Click here to see the map:

https://gb.mapometer.com/walking/route_4253016.html

We pass Apperley Dene, where there was once a Roman/British settlement but which was not settled in the 7th century, and cross the water at Stocksfield Burn (below). Nearby Stocksfield has a church built in 803 with roman stone. 

Image: Clive Nicholson, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1614168 no changes.

We then come to Corbridge (below), the most Northerly town in Roman Britain. Corbridge was called Coria in roman times and was at the junction of Dere Street (running North-South) and Stanegate Road, which ran East-West from Corbridge to Carlisle through the Tyne Valley.

Image: Andrew Locking, https://www.andrewswalks.co.uk/corbridge.html

Coria started as a garrison of 1,000 soldiers but eventually became a large town with a military presence. The ruins of the Roman fort and town are well-preserved here.

Image: Andrew Locking, https://www.andrewswalks.co.uk/corbridge.html

To see more wonderful photos of Corbridge, click here:

 https://www.andrewswalks.co.uk/corbridge.html

Following Stranegate inland along the River Tyne, we go west for 28 km to Haltwhistle.

Stanegate (meaning ‘stone road’) was built before Hadrian’s Wall, following an existing track made by the first peoples. There is much evidence of settlements and farming from 1000 BC along the Tyne Valley. Hadrian built his wall later along this route, partially to keep the Northern tribes from raiding the lead and silver mines in this area. There were forts along Stanegate originally at every day’s march, Hadrian added more so that there were forts every half-day’s march. Below is the River Tyne, looking west from the bridge at Corbridge, just before we turn to follow the river to Haltwhistle on Stanegate Road.

Image: Andrew Locking, https://www.andrewswalks.co.uk/corbridge.html

Next we reach Hexham, where St. Wilfrid built Hexham Abbey in 674. St. Wilfrid had been taught at Lindisfarne and travelled to Rome. Upon his return he built one of the first churches in Britain to be made completely with stone, which he got from the Roman fort in Corbridge and from Hadrian’s Wall. King Elfwald was buried here in 788 and the original crypt (below) is still present in the current church.

Image: https://britishpilgrimage.org/portfolio/hadrians-wall-pilgrims-way/

Two years later St. Wilfrid built St. Andrew’s Church in Corbridge. They were built around the same time as Jarrow-Monkswearmouth and are quite similar. There is also mention of a monastery in Corbridge in 786.

Bardon Mill is the next place of interest on Stanegate. There is another very well preserved Roman Fort here. You can see the fort below, with Stanegate running north in a straight line beside it. 

Image: http://irisonline.org.uk/index.php/features/347-the-stanegate-frontier-life-in-roman-britain-before-hadrian-s-wall

And finally we get to Haltwhistle, where St. Paulinus, St. Aidan, St. Cuthbert and even St. Patrick are a part of the history of this town.

Image: https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/places-to-visit/hadrians-wall/haltwhistle/

Haltwhistle is the closest settlement to Hadrian’s wall, just a 3.6 km walk up Haltwhistle Burn. The settlement got its name from its location on a hill between the River Tyne and Haltwhistle Burn (haut = high, twistle = between two rivers). Haltwhistle Holy Cross Church (below) is on the hill and is one of the oldest working churches in England, dating from the 1200s.

Image: Andy Parrett

It is near ‘Llan Aidan’ (Aidan’s Church) and St. Aidan would very likely have preached here. The oldest part of the church is the font, a slab of rock with a basin carved out to hold Holy Water. It was likely from a Roman temple and used by St. Paulinus as a baptismal font.

St. Paulinus came to Northumbria in 625 with Ethelburg, the sister of the King of Kent. She came north to marry King Edwin and brought priests with her so she could continue to practice Christianity even though King Edwin was Pagan. St. Paulinus was Italian, tall and awe-inspiring, and preached mostly in the Haltwhistle area.  King Edwin was baptized at Walltown, 7km from Haltwhistle. There is still a natural spring here called The Kings Well. St. Paulinus also baptized St. Hilda and Eanfled (King Edwin’s daughter, who later came north with Utta to marry King Oswy in Week 3). St. Paulinus left Northumbria with Ethelburg and Eanfled when King Edwin died in 633, returning to Kent.

Image from https://heavyangloorthodox.blogspot.com/2019/10/holy-hierarch-paulinus-of-york-and.htm

St Cuthbert visited the area, stopping at Great Chesters, built near the Roman fort Aesica (below) while traveling the Stanegate Road from Hexham to Carlisle. Great Chesters is at Hadrian's Wall, just up Haltwhistle Burn and to the west a bit. The walls below were 12 feet high in the mid-1800s.

Image: Mike Quinn, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3738504, no changes


The Roman Fort called Haltwhistle Burn Fort is located at the wall and consisted of several small camps. There was also a corn mill on Haltwhistle Burn on the north side of the wall at Cawfields, which would have been able to feed 460 people plus animals at the nearby Great Chesters Fort. This is the most intact portion of Hadian’s wall.

Image from https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/walk/winshield-crags-cawfields/

St. Patrick was born at the nearby fort of Banna (below, next to Hadrian.s Wall), 9km from Haltwhisle, shortly after the Romans abandoned the area. This area is now called Birdoswald, the name of a farm that used to be there. Legend has it that Patrick was captured by Irish pirates when he was 16 and kept as a slave in Ireland for 6 years, where he became a Christian. After escaping and returning home, he then traveled around Europe to various abbeys, learning and becoming a missionary to Ireland. He died around 480 and by the 600’s he was already the patron saint of Ireland.

Image: Colin Smith, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2921615 no changes

Next week we travel from Haltwhistle back to Hexham, and then start on St. Oswald’s Way walking trail, crossing the wild moors and stopping at Alnwick. 

[ancientmonuments.uk, corbridge.ukpc.net, englandsnortheast.co.uk,visitnorthumberland.com, wikipedia]