Saxon Monastery : In-depth Information

While “Heruteu” subsequently disappears from the history books, the lack of historical records about the monastery is not echoed in the archaeology of the Headland. Hartlepool is one of the most extensively explored of the Northumbrian monasteries of the 7 th to the 8 th Centuries, with significant finds continuing to be made in the town today.

Hild was the great-niece of King Edwin of Northumbria, and had become a nun a few years earlier. This royal connection was reinforced in 655 when King Oswiu gave his baby daughter Aelfflaed into Hild’s care. In 657 land was given to Hild to found a monastery at Whitby, and although she retained control of Hartlepool, both church and royal attention moved there with her.

The earliest Saxon finds were made in 1833 during the building of houses between South Crescent and Prissick Street (“Cross Close”). The workmen uncovered an Anglo-Saxon cemetery with burials laid in rows, with the individual burials north to south. Importantly, a number of inscribed stones marked with personal names and crosses were also found. These namestones are similar to others found in Scotland and Ireland and help to date the cemetery to the 8 th century. An original namestone found in 1833 is on display in St. Hilda’s Church. During the following 100 years, further accidental finds were made in the same area, although it wasn’t until the Time Team excavations in 1999 that a scientific excavation into the site could be carried out. The complete skeleton found on that occasion was of a female aged between 25 and 35. Although the area is popularly thought as being the site of “the nun’s cemetery”, this is a bit misleading, for other burials found in this area over the years include the remains of men, women and children. Families were an important part of the monastery’s religious community.

A second separate cemetery was excavated at Church Walk in 1972 and 1976, just south of the medieval church of St. Hilda (in medieval times an a was added to the end of Hild’s name). These burials also include men, women and children, and are buried with their heads to the west in distinct groups. This cemetery too dates to the 8 th century. A third Saxon cemetery is also known to the rear of Gladstone Street, but has been relatively little exposed in comparison to the other cemeteries due to the presence of houses overlying the majority of the site.

The earliest find of buildings from the Anglo-Saxon monastery was made in 1968 during redevelopment in Lumley Street. Further finds of buildings were later made at Church Close in 1984 in the area between Anchor Court and Morrison Hall. These discoveries show that the monastery consisted of a number of small rectangular wooden buildings grouped together into clusters, and separated by wooden fences and boundary ditches. Modern reconstructions of these wooden buildings can be visited at the “Bede’s World” museum at Jarrow.

Until recently it was thought that the monastery buildings were mainly concentrated to the north of St. Hilda’s Church. However, excavations by Tees Archaeology on the Friarage Field in July 2003 discovered the remains of Saxon buildings, pits and fences further east than previously thought. The monastery doubtless originally covered the entire southern half of the Headland.

The growing number of Saxon artefacts found in the last 20 years has also added much to our understanding of the jobs that took place in the monastery. For example, the excavations at Church Close found evidence for metal-working, including a number of moulds. One of these shows a calf with a trumpet, one of the symbols of St. Luke, which was probably used for making decorations for the cover of a book. The important role of a monastery in producing religious books is also shown by finds of copper pens used for writing.

What is interesting however is what archaeologists do not find when excavating the remains of a monastery. There are few personal items like belt buckles or clothing pins, only a few fragments of pottery and a complete absence of food rubbish. While we suspect that rubbish was thrown away, perhaps into the sea like at Whitby, generally the lack of finds show that life in the monastery was rather austere. Indeed, Bede describes both of Hild’s monasteries as similar to the early church ideal where “…no-one was rich… for they had all things in common and none had any private proper” she compelled those under her direction to devote  “much time to the study of the Holy Scriptures”.

This doesn’t however explain the presence of a fine disc-headed pin with gold decoration found in Baptist Street in 1995. It is possible that a rich visitor dropped it. This item is on display in the Museum of Hartlepool.

Map reference NZ 520 315

Saxon Monastery

In-depth Information

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