Wearmouth and Jarrow Monastic Sites ; Vol I.

The definitive report on excavations on the twin monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow covering a period 1959-88. Before these excavations there was almost no archaeological knowledge of these sites, which housed the internationally renowned scholar , Bede, and which contributed outstandingly to the culture of early Northumbria. The excavations revealed the liturgical heart of both sites with substantial buildings in stone which were enhanced by sculptures and coloured window-glass. This is the most coherent body of evidence for the layout and organisation of seventh to eighth century monasteries in Europe. The excavations also revealed the plans of the successor ecclesiastical communities dating from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, and the whole is set in the context of the history of their times topographical, political and economic