St Peter's Church, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland

One of the oldest churches in the UK is not far from where I live now.  It is called St Peter's Church, Monkweathmouth.  Founded as a monastery in 674-5, it became one of the most important centres for learning and religion in the early medieval period, not just in Britain, but in western Europe. The church was to be a base for the Roman Church, which was in a constant struggle with the Iona/Celtic/Irish Church, which previously held more sway in Northumbria.

In 682 the Pope issued a letter freeing the monastery of all control, meaning it answered to Rome only, rather than any Bishop or secular authority. The monastery was deemed so successful and important that another monastery was built nearby, in what is now Jarrow.  It is only about 9 mines away, and the two monasteries were very close, effectively acting as one monastery on two sites, rather than two independent institutions. I haven't been to Jarrow yet, but it is on my list.

The Venerable Bede, a monk who was given to the monastery when he was less than ten, was one of the first monks to move to Jarrow.  He spent most of his life between the two monasteries, where he wrote what is arguably the most important piece of Anglo Saxon history we have, The Ecclesiastical History of the English Church and People. It is the first history every written about Britain, and is still cited today.  Interestingly, if you ever hear someone say that the name Easter comes from the Anglo Saxon goddess named Eostre (or some similar spelling), they are repeating Bede.  Bede is the only source for this 'fact', and the name, and its variants, do not exist anywhere else. It is likely not true, but it does attempt to explain why English is the only European language that does not use a word derived from the Latin and Greek 'Pascha' for Easter.

Only the tower remains of the original Saxon church, but there is a model showing what archaeological excavations show was once on the site.

The main body of the church is connected by a walkway to the dormitory and store rooms.  The addition to the east end of the building is fairly typical of Saxon churches, where additions were added on to the east end somewhat haphazardly. There is a covered walkway that surrounds the church, which is pretty unusual.  It may have acted as a walkway for monks to exercise while maintaining their seclusion.  This would be essentially the same as the cloister walks of later churches. The walkway is now gone, but the doorways from it into the western tower can still be seen.

The doorways that once connected the walkway to the tower.

The interior fo the tower, with the door leading into the church. The glove slabs are either side or much later.

This was most likely the first stone building to be built in Britain since the Romans left, and so there were no native craftsman who could do the job.  Workers were brought in from Francia, a kingdom that is in modern France.  Turned stone columns are a common element of buildings of the time.  They were turned just like wood.  A few survive in the building, and others have been excavated and are on display in the church.

There are a few other excavated items in the church that show its medieval past.  Since this was a monastery it was headed by an Abbott (from the Hebrew 'abba', meaning 'father'). The Abbott had a throne, and they believe that parts of it were found.  They have reconstructed what it may have liked like, based on other thrones that have been found, and they few piece they found from the site.

The image is a lion, though when you have medieval stone masons who have never actually seen a lion you get interesting interpretations.  If you want a laugh, look up pictures of elephants in medieval art.

Some other pieces, mostly of funerary artefacts, are also on display in the church.

The upper grave slab is very interesting, as the inscription is on two parts.  The first is well down, using correct Latin to give a generic epitaph.  However, the inscription is continued with a much less experienced mason who does not know Latin very well.  It is in this second half that the inscription makes personal notes about the person who was buried under the stone. It seems like that the slab was either (1) intended for someone else, but then a priest died who needed it more urgently, or (2) it was mass-produced by a travelling stone mason, ready for personal details to be filled in by someone else when it was needed.  The lower image is of a monk, likely a later Abbott.

Inside the church all that remains of the Saxon building is the western wall.  In classic Anglo Saxon style it is thick, with small openings.  The door in the middle of the wall, off the ground, is how you access the tower, via a very precisely, and precariously placed ladder.

The original Saxon doorway into the church.  Some of the most important Anglo Saxon historical figures most definitely walked through this door.

The abbey suffered from Viking raids and by the year 1000 much had been lost.  It was re-founded as a cell fo Durham Cathedral in the 14th century, spurring a rebuilding process.  Most of the rest of the interior of the church was built in the high medieval style, and then rebuilt/changed by the Victorians.

There is a curious symbol that is not entirely understood, but seems to have been the symbol of the monastery.

A Victorian mosaic floor in the chancel, showing the symbol.

It has become the symbol of the church, and may show two snakes, sea serpents, or even (according to one historian) birds (I don't get that one, either). But the symbol can still be seen in the Saxon tower, on the outside of the building.

The exterior of the building is classic medieval/Gothic revival, but the tower is what points to the building's past.  It stands on a hill overlooking the mouth of the river Wear, where it gets its name: Monk (it was a monastery) Wear (the river) Mouth (on the mouth of the river): Monkwearmouth.  As an interesting linguistic aside (interesting to me, at least), in the north east of England the suffix '-mouth' is pronounced as you would for the part of the face, rather than the more common 'muth' that you get in most of the rest of the UK.

A harbour and port were on the site since before the monks came, and still the area is reliant on shipping.  Georgian and Victorian ships used to carry sand in their hulls as ballast on their way to port, which was unloaded once they arrived.  The sand and stones were offloaded around the church, so by the end of the 19th century the church, which once sat on the top of a hill, was situated in a dip, surrounded by an artificial berm made of the offloaded ballast.  Ironically, the sand was piled around the base of the tower, which ultimately preserved it was the pollution and vandals that would have chipped away at the Saxon porch.

The church from the south (where the former monastic buildings once stood), looks its best.  The ugly, post-war tower blocks to the left contrast with the building.

When you see the church from the air you can see the layout of the former monastic buildings.  There is a walkway connecting the long building (as long as the church).

The Isle fo Mull and Oban, July 2018, Part Two

After we got the ferry back from Iona we took the scenic route to Tobermory.  This was a last minute decision when we saw the road split, and it was well worth it.  This road took us up the west coast of the island, along the coast on tiny, winding roads that were frequently covered in sheep.

The first thing we saw was a sign for otters.  Sadly, we did not see any otters.

There is a tiny hamlet on this side of the island called Burg, so I had to go there. Unfortunately it was down a very narrow tracker and we keep having to pull over for farm equipment, so we turned back.

Some pictures of the scenery.

It looks greyer and darker than it actually was in real life.

We got to Tobermory and checked into out hotel.  You can see the hotel in the picture. It looks like a few different buildings as it is painted in bright, different colours.  It was above a pub, and we spent a lot of time in the pub.

(vegetarian) haggis pizza.  I have always wanted to try this, but this is the first time I found it with vegetarian haggis.  I had it twice....or was it three times?

The next day we decided to drive around the northern part of the island. Even though it seems like a small island, there is a lot to see, and this day took more time than we thought it would (I think in total we were out for about 6 hours).  The first stop was just outside Tobermory: Glengorm Castle and Ring Stones.  The castle is now a super fancy hotel, but in the fields just below it is a neolithic ring of standing stones. Not much is known about the stones.

I've upgraded from a tree hugger to a stone hugger, apparently.

One of Tom's favourite cheeses, and one fo mine too, is Isle of Mull Cheddar, which is made (surprise) on the Isle of Mull.  We are planning on having this at our wedding.

I'm good at making friends.

We went to Calgary beach, a white sand beach (who know Scotland had those?) that is where the Canadian city gets its name.  There are a lot of places in Canada named after places in the islands and highlands of Scotland. This is because at the time the British government was looking to populate Canada, they were also letting wealthy landowners in Scotland kick people off of the land they had lived on and farmed for generations.  This was known as the highland clearances, and started in the 18th century, continuing into the late 19th century.  Rich Gaelic land owners saw that they could make more money by turning out the people who were tenants on their land and raise sheep instead (though many of the Gaelic landowners are considered to have been more English, trying to match the culture of the wealthy, more powerful English elites). The same thing happened in England, but that was in the 16th century.  The Gaelic tenants had few choices, and so many immigrated to Scotland, taking their place names with them

We passed the Eas Fors Waterfall, and decided to have a look.

The top of the falls.

The next day we took a walk to the other side of the bay from Tobermory, and then took a tour of Tobermory Distillery.  We had taken the tour in 2012, when we first came, but it was much better this time.

The spirit case.  This is where the actual distilled spirit comes out before being put in barrels.

There is an aquarium in Tobermory that is Europe's only catch and release aquarium.  Fishermen and local kids catch stuff and bring it in, where it stays on display for a couple of weeks before being put back in the water.  We got to do an after hours feeding tour.  I would highly recommend it!

Shark eggs.

That was it for this trip.  We really want to see more of the island now that we live so much closer.

The Isle of Mull and Oban, July 2018. Part One.

Tom and I decided to go to Scotland for a week for out summer holiday.  Oban is a town on the west coast of Scotland, off the coast of which is the largest of the inner Hebrides, the Isle of Mull.  We had been to Oban twice before, visiting friends who live there.  One of those times we went to Mull, but because of the ferry and bus times we didn't get much time there.  So this time we decided to spend more time.

First we drove to Oban and visited out friend Fee and her adorable little bairns (that's the Scottish word for kid/baby, but they also use it in Newcastle, so I am allowed to use it now without sounding pretentious). It was great seeing them.  We got to spend a night catching up, and then got to read the kids some bed time stories.  I would post some pictures, but posting pictures of someone else's kids online is kind fo creepy, so suffice it to say that they kids are SO CUTE!!!!!

The next morning we headed off to Mull.

Us being us.

Once we got off the ferry we went straight for Iona, a small island off the southwest coast of Mull. The last time we were on Mull we didn't have a car, so we weren't able to get out and see much of the island.  I had wanted to visit Iona for a few years, and so we made sure we went there.  

Iona was settled by Irish monks in 563, lead by St Columba. It became one of the most important sites of western Christianity and remains an important site today.

Iona can be seen on the bottom left of this map.  Our ferry landed at Craignure (centre right on the map). We stayed in Tobermory, at the top fo the map.

We took another ferry from Fionnphort to Iona, which was a very small one, though it could take a few cars.

Iona seen from the ferry. The restored abbey is on the right.

The Benedictine abbey was for monks, but religious women wanted to be part of the secluded community, so an Augustinian nunnery was founded later, in 1203.

The nunnery church.

Although it is very weathered, you can just barely make out the remains of a sheel-na-gig, a fertility symbol that was used in medieval Britain despite its pagan connotations.

To give you an idea of how weird a thing this is to find in a medieval nunnery here is what they usually looked like:

The nunnery church, with the remains of the chapter house in the foreground.

There is a small church, just to the south of the main abbey church, called St Oran's, in the middle of the graveyard.  It's a nice, simple church, which some amazing west highlands grave stones.

St Oran's Church.

West highland grave stones had a distinct style that is only found in the region.

This is the only bit of carved decoration in the church.

Then we got to the abbey itself.  It was AWESOME! In front of the abbey is a mound that is supposed to have been the place where St Columba used as a study, nestled in a writing hut over looking his abbey.

The abbey seen form the top fo the mound.

If you look at the largest doorway, the one on the right, just to the left of that is a much smaller door. This leads into St Columba's shrine.  Celtic churches tended to follow the method used by modern orthodox churches, and instead of placing shrines and chapels/altars dedicated to different saints within the main church, they would be built nearby as stand alone chapels.

The interior of the shrine.

Three standing stone crosses sit on front of the church.  This one is a replica of an earlier one, but next to it is a 1200 year old one (St Martin's Cross).  Unfortunately, I do not have nay good pictures of that.

The church became the focus of renewed religious devotion in the 19th century, and by the 1930s the ancient ruins had been mostly rebuilt, which is why such a complete structure is around today. 

The nave seen from the west end, with the font in the foreground.

The quire and chancel.

A chapel in the south east of the church.

Window in the chapter house.

Some grave slabs in the church.  The one on the right is particularly interesting. The upper portion shows a priest celebrating mass, but the slab has as its central image a sword.  The mass scene would normally denote that the person buried under this was a priest, but as priests were forbidden from carrying weapons (especially edged weapons), it seems unlikely; so it must be a knight/warrior.  However, west highland knights were unique in medieval Christian culture for having no religious imagery on their graves.  The juxtaposition of these images on the same slab is intriguing, and a bit confusing.

St Columba's Pillow.  This was found in a field in (I believe) the 19th century.  It may be one of the oldest pieces of the original church.

The rest of the site is scattered with chapels, a very good museum, and re-built cloisters.  The more modern stuff is a bit boring to me, so there aren't any pictures of it, really.  But here are some more random ones from the island.

The village.