The twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow were founded in the seventh century, by Benedict Biscop. Bede described them as ‘one monastery in two places’ and in its day, it was one of the world’s greatest international cultural centres. From its foundation in the seventh century until its destruction by Scandinavian raiders in the ninth century, it operated as a centre of learning, hosting travellers, pilgrims and royalty from across Europe. The monastery housed one of the foremost libraries in the world at the time and was renowned as a centre of culture and learning. The monastery was the home of one the most renowned theologians and historians of the age, the Venerable Bede, who left a legacy of remarkable written texts which survived across the ages.
In the seventh century, Benedict Biscop brought craftspeople, teachers and treasures from across Europe to create the twin foundation. Today, visitors can still see the surviving remains of both churches, fossilized within the fabric at both St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s. The monastery was re-founded in the eleventh century, and these early remains survive within the later ruins and standing remains of the successor monasteries.
In 2005, the extensive excavations and recording at both sites, undertaken by Prof. Rosemary Cramp, were published with funding from English Heritage. The results of this long running project offered a remarkable insight into the buildings, organisation and life of the early medieval community. The buildings were found, as described in early texts, to be built ‘in the Roman manner’. Evidence of large scale, lead roofed structures, painted and sculptured wall decoration and stone sculptures were discovered, alongside evidence for seventh- and eighth-century coloured window glass.
The subsequent life of both sites was found to be complex. Later developments on both sites changed their appearance and function. Additional, extensive monastic buildings were erected and these two changed in use after the reformation when both sites were transferred to secular possession. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries both sites and their surroundings were heavily developed and much of the archaeology buried, sealed and truncated.
Both sites represent an extraordinary legacy as survivals of a distant age, after the reintroduction of Christianity to the north, when monastic communities provided gateways to the cosmopolitan and highly learned monastic cultures of Europe and the Byzantine world.
The current project, funded by English Heritage, is designed to explore the wider landscape and hinterland of these extraordinary sites and to explore the impact of the monastic foundation and its archaeological legacy across time.
