The history of St Peter’s Church and Monkwearmouth Monastery.

St Peter’s Church & The Monkwerearmouth-Jarrow Monastery. Image courtesy of iknow-uk through creative commons .

St Peter’s Church in Monkwearmouth was built in 674 AD  by Benedict Biscop and is one of the oldest churches in Britain, where Christians have gathered for more than 1300 years. This is a place of worship and prayer, pilgrimage and mission.

Benedict Biscop was born in 628 AD and  was originally named Biscop Baducing, but after entering religious life he adopted the name Benedict.

At the age of 25 Benedict set out on a pilgramage to Rome where he learnt about Roman Christianity. After returning from Rome Benedict set about encouraging people to follow the religion that he had learnt about whilst on his travels.

During this time many people in  Northumbria followed an Irish form of Christianity. However, following Biscop’s encouragement to the local people to follow the Roman Christian faith meant it became more and popular. It became so influential that in 664 AD  King
Oswiu, at the Synod of Whitby (A gathering of the church council at Whitby Abbey), decided that the kingdom of Northumbria would follow Roman and not Irish religious practices.

Whitby Abbey where the Synod of Whitby occurred. Image courtesy of Ambersky235 through creative commons.

By 666AD Biscop had travelled to Rome again though on this occasion he travelled through France and took monastic vows at the Monastery of Lérins where he spent the next two years.

Following further visits to Rome Benedict returned home to Northumbria in 673 AD where he was keen to build a monastery. King Oswiu’s successor granted Benedict 70 hides of land near the River Wear (now known as Monkwearmouth) on which he built the Monastery of St. Peter.

St. Peters Church 1891. Image courtesy of Sunderland Public Libraries through creative commons.

St.Peters  Church features an Anglo-Saxon porch and tower, (as can be seen in the picture above) its other  features include unique carved stones, some of which include intertwined serpents, the consecration cross, ancient burial stones and early glass fragments and stones which date back to Roman times. An outline of the excavated Anglo-Saxon monastic building is in place in the grounds.

St. Peters view from the nave. Image courtesy of Colin through creative commons

At St Peter’s Church visitors can be transported back to the seventh century and learn about the different cultures of that period and learn from its features about the development of Christianity in the Anglo Saxon period. You can also follow a map of the grounds and find out how the landscape and buildings have changed over time.

Carved stone at the entrance of St. Peters with the date it was built 674 AD. Image courtesy of Niall Ritchie.

World Heritage Site. Image courtesy of Niall Ritchie.

Reasons to visit:

• One of the UK’s first stone built churches.
• Archaeological remains from the 7th Century.
• See original Anglo-Saxon features.
• World Heritage Site. (As shown in image above).

St Peter’s Church