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Religion in Northumberland |
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While evidence of Religion in Northumberland can be found in the 4000 year old stone circles near Rothbury, the area is most noted for its large part in the establishment of Christianity throughout the United Kingdom. The Romans adopted Christianity in the 4th century, but it wasn’t until the 7th century, during the Early Middle Ages, that England followed.
With the unification of the Germanic Angles of the North and the Saxons of the South, the Kingdom of ‘Northumbria’ was founded. In 635AD King Oswald, the son of the first ruler of the united North and South, sent an Irish born monk, Aidan to found a monastery on Lindisfarne, a tidal island off the coast of Northumberland. Saint Aidan, as he became, established the monastery with the help of fellow monks who joined him from Iona. The island, which is also known as Holy Island, fast became the seat of all Christian evangelizing in England.
During the early years of the 8th century, the monastery produced the famous Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin text of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, in the Insular style which was characterized by the merging of various styles from different parts of the world. At the end of the 8th century a Viking Raid caused the monks to eventually leave Holy Island, taking with them the Gospels and the body of Saint Cuthbert, Northumberland’s Patron Saint. His body now lies at Durham Cathedral.
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The diocese of Lindisfarne had no home for a long time, but, in 882, eventually settled in a Chester-le-Street in county Durham, bordering Northumberland, for a period of a hundred years until further unrest forced them to pack up and move on. They wandered to the River Wear until the coffin of Saint Cuthbert became unmovable.
In a rudimentary wooden structure which was called White Church, they placed the shrine and relics of Saint Cuthbert. This was at the beginning of the 11th century. White Church is the site on which Durham Cathedral was finally built. The building which stands today was begun in 1093. It houses the remains of Saint Cuthbert as well as the head of King Oswald, also made a Saint, and is a very fine example of Norman architecture.
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This wealth of religious history pervades many of the area’s fine architectural attractions and the influence of the Christian tastes can been seen in the many famous castles and abbeys in and around Northumberland. Hexham Abbey, Bamburgh Castle and Brinkburn Priory are among the county’s most popular attractions.
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