A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Some three or four years later a priest named 

 Aldwin, prior of Winchcombe, conceived a 

 desire to visit the northern monasteries. Coming 

 to the abbey at Evesham he was joined by two 

 companions, Elfwin and Reinfrid. They travelled 

 forward on foot, taking only an ass to carry the 

 books and vestments they needed for the cele- 

 bration of divine service. They settled at New- 

 castle [Monkchester], within the bishopric of 

 Durham, but under the jurisdiction of the earl 

 of Northumberland. Before long Walcher, 

 bishop of Durham, sent to them, asking them to 

 come and live where they would be under the 

 immediate control of holy church. They acceded 

 to his request, and he received them with great 

 joy, giving them as a place of residence the 

 monastery at Jarrow, of which only the roofless 

 walls were then standing. Roofing it with un- 

 trimmed beams and thatch, the monks began 

 to celebrate divine service there, and built for 

 themselves a little hut. The fame of their as- 

 cetic life soon spread, and many abandoned the 

 world and joined them. Bishop Walcher rejoiced 

 greatly at the revival of monasticism, and to 

 help the monks in the work of restoration and 

 rebuilding gave them the vill of Jarrow with its 

 dependencies, viz. Preston, Monkton, Hedworth, 

 Hebburn, Westoe, and Harton.** Waltheof, 

 earl of Northumberland, bestowed on them the 

 church of St. Mary at Tynemouth, with the 

 body of St. Oswald which rested therein, and all 

 lands, &c., belonging thereto.^* 



After a time Aldwin, desiring to revive other 

 monasteries, left Elfwin in charge at Jarrow, 

 went north accompanied by Turgot, and settled 

 at Melrose. The bishop entreated them to 

 return, and finally threatened them with excom- 

 munication if they refused. In the end they 

 obeyed, and Walcher gave them St. Peter's 

 monastery at Wearmouth, which was then 

 totally ruined. Here they erected huts of 

 boughs and taught the people, and here Turgot 

 received the habit. They cleared away the 

 trees and undergrowth from the ruins and rebuilt 

 the church. Others soon joined them, and, 

 inspired by their example, embraced the monastic 

 life with fervour. 



Bishop Walcher frequently visited them, in- 

 vited them to his councils, and generously assisted 

 them. He intended to have joined their order, 

 and to have established them in a permanent 

 home near St. Cuthbert's tomb. With this 

 object in view he laid the foundations of the 

 monastic buildings at Durham.^* But in May, 

 1080, he was murdered at Gateshead. The 

 monks of Jarrow sailed up the Tyne and received 

 into their little vessel the mutilated body of their 

 friend and patron. They conveyed his remains 



" Sim. Hist.Eccla. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), 108-10. 



*'"• Script. Tres. App. xviii. 



« Sim. Hiit. Eccks. Dun. (Rolls Sen), I iz-13. 



84 



to their monastery, whence they were afterwards 

 removed to Durham.'"^ 



Three years later Bishop William, anxious to 

 find suitable inmates for the house at Durham, 

 selected the brethren of Wearmouth and Jarrow, 

 then twenty-three in number, as being the only 

 regular monks in the diocese,^* and removed 

 them to Durham, where Aldwin became the 

 first prior.^^ With them came Simeon the his- 

 torian, who had been for some time at Jarrow,^" 

 but was probably not yet a professed monk." 



In explanation of this transference Bishop 

 William represented to the pope that the size of 

 his diocese did not admit of the existence of 

 three monasteries,*' but this does not seem a very 

 adequate reason. 



From this time until the dissolution Wear- 

 mouth and Jarrow remained cells under Durham, 

 inhabited only by a few monks, and occasionally 

 used as a retreat by the priors of St. Cuthbert 

 after their resignation.*' The history of Wear- 

 mouth consists chiefly of disputes and litigation 

 with the powerful barons of Hilton, relative to 

 burial rights and to contested claims to tithes and 

 ofiFerings.*'' 



In 1 144 William Cumin the younger attacked 

 the bishop of Durham at Jarrow, but Aldwin's 

 walls proved strong enough to resist his on- 

 slaught." 



A contest took place early in the fourteenth 

 century between the prior of Durham and the 

 archdeacons of Durham and Northumberland, 

 about the jurisdiction of dependent churches 

 belonging to the abbey. Wearmouth and Jarrow 

 were reserved to the prior, who had always 

 exercised archidiaconal control over them.*' 



In 1394 Jarrow was granted to ex-Prior 

 Robert of Walworth in lieu of Finchale. If he 

 were disturbed by a Scottish invasion he was to 

 have Coldingham instead.*' 



Both cells were dissolved amongst the smaller 

 monasteries in 1536.** The annual value of 

 Jarrow is given by Dugdale as ^^38 14)-. \d.., 

 and by Speed as ^40 75. ^d. ; and that of Wear- 

 mouth by Dugdale as ^^25 8j. \d., and by Speed 

 as ;^26 9;. 9^. Wearmouth was granted to 

 Thomas Whitehead,*^ and Jarrow to William 

 Lord Eure.^** 



*' Ibid. 1 16-17. 



*' Arch. Aeliana, xxii, 51. 



*' Sim. Hut. Eccks. Dun. (Rolls Sen), 122-3. 



"" See Sim. Hist. Reg. (Rolls Ser.), 260. 



" See Sim. Hist. Eccks. Dun. (Rolls Ser.), Introd. xii. 



" Arch. Aeliana, xx, 53. *' Ibid, x, 208-9. 



" Surt. Hist. Dur. ii, 7, 38. Full details of these 

 quarrels are given in Inventories and Account Rolls of 

 Wearmouth and Jarrow (Surt. Soc), App. 240-7. 



" Sim. Dun. Hist. Cent. § 6. 



"^ Graystanes, Historia (Surt. Soc), 1 03-10. 



" Script. Tres. (Surt. Soc), App. clxxiv-v. 



*' Invent, and Acct. Rolls (Surt. Soc), xxv. 



" Pat. 18 June, 37 Hen. VIII. 



Dugdale, Mon. Angl. (ed. 1846), i, 503. 



