St Paul's Monastery, Jarrow (Tyneside)

The home of the Venerable Bede, Jarrow has become one of the best-understood Anglo-Saxon monastic sites

Summary 13th century buildings (or older) Free admission

Introduction

St Paul’s Monastery, with its twin, St Peter’s at Wearmouth, Sunderland, was one of Europe’s most influential centres of learning and culture in the 7th and 8th Centuries. Wearmouth-Jarrow was the creation of Northumbrian nobleman Benedict Biscop (c.628–90), who visited Rome and was inspired by the Christian life he saw there.

In 674 he approached King Ecgrifth of Northumbria for land for a monastery. He was first given a large estate to found St Peter’s, Wearmouth, and in 681, land here at Jarrow to found St Paul’s. The twin monastery probably once owned much of the land between the rivers Tyne and Wear.

History to the present day

Benedict Biscop brought stonemasons and glaziers from France, who created some of the first stone buildings in Northumbria since the Roman period. Excavations revealed that the earliest monastery had two churches, lying parallel to two large buildings, with a guesthouse close to the river. It was not uncommon for Anglo-Saxon monasteries to have more than one church. The larger one might have served local people as well as the monks. The smaller church was perhaps reserved exclusively for monks, or may have been used as a funerary chapel.

The monastery flourished in the 7th and 8th Centuries but then declined, although the site probably remained a place of pilgrimage due to its association with the scholar Bede. It was re-established by Aldwin, prior of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire, who was inspired by reading Bede’s Ecclesiastical History to visit the holy places of early Northumbria. With the permission of the Bishop of Durham, Aldwin began to rebuild the monastery in the 1070s. He introduced a Benedictine-style layout for the monastic buildings, based on a central cloister with an enclosed walkway where members of the community could spend time in prayer and contemplation.

Arrival information and how to find us

Address: St Paul's Monastery, Jarrow, Tyneside, , United Kingdom

Opening times: All Year: any reasonable time    Admission Prices:  Adult: Free Children: Free  Concession: Free

Photographs copyright English Heritage Photographic Library.