Wearmouth Priory
Wearmouth Priory
HER Number
421
District
Sunderland
Site Name
Wearmouth Priory
Place
Monkwearmouth
Map Sheet
NZ45NW
Class
Religious Ritual and Funerary
Site Type: Broad
Religious House
Site Type: Specific
Cell
General Period
MEDIEVAL
Specific Period
Medieval 1066 to 1540
Form of Evidence
Documentary Evidence
Description
In c.1075 Aldwin prior of Winchcombe founded a religious house on the site of the ruined monastery of St. Peter. From 1083 until its suppression in 1536 Wearmouth was a dependent cell of Durham and rarely housed more than 2 monks. There are documentary references to the church, master's chamber, hall, kitchen, pantry, larder, bakehouse, brewhouse, malt kiln, grange, granary, stable, byre, court (farm yard), an aqueduct and a mill dam. Excavation revealed a square cloister enclosed by 3 walls, and suggested that the east and south ranges became part of Monkwearmouth Hall after the Dissolution. SCHEDULED ANCIENT MONUMENT
Easting
440200
Northing
557800
Grid Reference
NZ440200557800
Sources
<< HER 421 >> Prior's Kitchen Durham, Durham Dean and Chapter MSS, 18th century, Wearmouth Inventories and Account Rolls
J. Raine, ed. 1854, Inventories and Account Rolls of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth,Surtees Society, 29, pp. 139-250
W. Hutchinson, 1787, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 503-06
R. Surtees, 1820, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 5-7, 9
J.R. Boyle, 1886, On the Monastery and Church of St. Peter Monkwearmouth, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XI, pp. 33-51
J.F. Hodgson, 1912, The Churches of Escomb, Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, Transactions Architectectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, Vol. VI (for 1906-11), pp. 163-87
M.E. Cornford in W. Page, ed. 1907, The Monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, Victoria County History, Durham, Vol. II, pp. 83-85
R.J. Cramp, 1969, Excavations at the Saxon Monastic Sites of Wearmouth and Jarrow... Medieval Archaeology, Vol. XIII, pp. 41-42
R.J. Cramp, 1959 Monkwearmouth - Dept. of Archaeology Durham
J. Raine, ed. 1854, Inventories and Account Rolls of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth,Surtees Society, 29, pp. 139-250
W. Hutchinson, 1787, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 503-06
R. Surtees, 1820, History of...Durham, Vol. II, pp. 5-7, 9
J.R. Boyle, 1886, On the Monastery and Church of St. Peter Monkwearmouth, Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, XI, pp. 33-51
J.F. Hodgson, 1912, The Churches of Escomb, Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, Transactions Architectectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, Vol. VI (for 1906-11), pp. 163-87
M.E. Cornford in W. Page, ed. 1907, The Monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow, Victoria County History, Durham, Vol. II, pp. 83-85
R.J. Cramp, 1969, Excavations at the Saxon Monastic Sites of Wearmouth and Jarrow... Medieval Archaeology, Vol. XIII, pp. 41-42
R.J. Cramp, 1959 Monkwearmouth - Dept. of Archaeology Durham