St Peters Monkwearmouth

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In 674 A.D the land on the northern bank of the river overlooking the coast at Wearmouth was granted by the King of Northumbria to a noble called Benedict Biscop who used the land to build a monastery.

All that remains of the monastery today is one of the most historic churches in England – the Anglo-Saxon church of St Peter. Benedic had great ambitions for his monastery at Wearmouth and brought in masons and glaziers from France and even employed an Archchanter, from St Peter’s cathedral in Rome.

Sadly the Anglo-Saxon life of St Peters Monkwearmouth was brought to an end in the ninth century by Viking raids when it was sacked by the Danish pirates Hubba and Hingmar. Fortunately the Monkwearmouth church was re-established in Norman times when they became monastic cells of the great cathedral of Durham.

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