Hartlepool Abbey, also known as Heretu Abbey, Hereteu Abbey, Heorthu AbbeyA history of Hartlepool. Re-pr., with a suppl. history to 1851. inclusive
/ref> or Herutey Abbey, was a

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

founded in 640 CE by

Hieu Hieu was a 7th-century Irish abbess who worked in Northumbria. She was foundress of abbeys at Hartlepool and Healaugh in Yorkshire England. Hieu was also the first of the saintly recluses of Northumbria, and the first known woman to rule a doubl ...

, the first of the saintly recluses of Northumbria,

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

, ''

Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum The ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' ( la, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum), written by Bede in about AD 731, is a history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict be ...

'', lib. iv, c. 23. and

Aidan of Lindisfarne Aidan of Lindisfarne ( ga, Naomh Aodhán; died 31 August 651) was an Irish monk and missionary credited with converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity in Northumbria. He founded a monastic cathedral on the island of Lindisfarne, known as Lindis ...

, on the Headland Estate of

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

now called the Heugh or Old Hartlepool, in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Construction and type

Built in the early

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

style, it was likely a walled enclosure of simple wooden huts surrounding a church. Hartlepool was a

double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East a ...

. It was a joint-house of both

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s and

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s, presided over from 640 to 649 by

, the first female abbess to ever be put in charge of such an institution. Hilda ruled men and women,

speaks of male students in the monasteries of the Abbess Hilda, and there are male names on the head stones, and male interments in the cemetery. Most of the priests were from the

Celtic church Celtic Christianity ( kw, Kristoneth; cy, Cristnogaeth; gd, Crìosdaidheachd; gv, Credjue Creestee/Creestiaght; ga, Críostaíocht/Críostúlacht; br, Kristeniezh; gl, Cristianismo celta) is a form of Christianity that was common, or held ...

who had travelled to Northumbria from Ireland or the island of

Iona Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: �iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...

. Others had arrived as part of the Pope's mission to Britain.

History

Hieu was selected by Bishop Aidan of Lindisfarne in 640 to found and run a new abbey at Hereteu. After Hieu left for

Tadcaster Tadcaster is a market town and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, east of the Great North Road, north-east of Leeds, and south-west of York. Its historical importance from Roman times onward was largely as the ...

in 649, Hilda (later

Hilda of Whitby Hilda (or Hild) of Whitby (c. 614 – 680) was a Christian saint and the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby in 664. An important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon Engla ...

) was appointed second abbess of the abbey by Bishop Aidan. When she arrived, there were some serious problems with the monks living there. Hilda organised it so that everyone had to pray, work and rest according to a clear timetable. In 655, King

Oswiu of Northumbria Oswiu, also known as Oswy or Oswig ( ang, Ōswīg; c. 612 – 15 February 670), was King of Bernicia from 642 and of Northumbria from 654 until his death. He is notable for his role at the Synod of Whitby in 664, which ultimately brought the chur ...

sent his one-year-old daughter Ælfflæd to stay with Hilda, "to be consecrated to God in perpetual virginity",

, ''

'', lib. iii, c. 24. an important gesture. Hilda stayed at Hartlepool Abbey until 657 or 658 when at Aidans behest she became founding abbess of

Whitby Abbey Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church was situated overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, a centre of the medieval Northumbrian ...

, then called Streoneshalh,"Saxon Houses: including Wearmouth and Jarrow"
''A History of the County of Durham: Volume 2'' (1907), pp. 79-85. taking with her Ælfflæd and ten nuns. Hilda was now technically abbess of both monasteries, but she lived at Streaneshalch. The

then disappears from

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, and it is possible that it either ceased to operate or that it moved to and became the nucleus of Hilda's new foundation.

Impact

A village was founded around the monastery in the 7th century, marking the earliest beginnings of the modern town of

. However, after

Hilda Hilda is one of several female given names derived from the name ''Hild'', formed from Old Norse , meaning 'battle'. Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. Th ...

left Hartlepool Abbey it, and the village surrounding it, is not mentioned again in any known sources until the 12th century, and appears to have declined in importance until it was finally either sacked and destroyed by

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

s around 800,''Legend of St. Cuthbert'' (1626) by Robert Hegg seems to suggest that the monastery was destroyed: "Then .e. in A.D. 800perished that famous emporium of Hartlepool, where the religious

built a nunnery . . . whose ruins show how great she was in her glory." or possibly simply abandoned.An Anglo-Saxon Monastery at Hartlepool
''Tees Archaeology'' St Hilda's church, Hartlepool - geograph

St Hilda's church, Hartlepool - geograph

List of abbesses

Excavations

1883

No trace of the monastery remains today, though the monastic cemetery has been found near the site of present-day

St Hilda's Church St Hilda's Church may refer to: * St Hilda's Church, Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England * St Hilda's Church, Bilsborrow, Lancashire, England * St Hilda's Church, Darlington, County Durham, England *St Hilda's Church, Egton, North Yorkshire, Engla ...

. It is the most extensively explored of all the

n monasteries of the 7th and 8th centuries. The first excavation began in 1833 when workmen building houses on the headland found human burials and

artefacts.Time Team
''Channel 4'' Multiple female skeletons were found lying in two rows at a depth of 3.5 feet. Unusually for Christian burials, the bodies were aligned north to south. Their heads were upon flat stones as pillows with larger stones inscribed with

Anglo-Saxon runes Anglo-Saxon runes ( ang, rūna ᚱᚢᚾᚪ) are runes used by the early Anglo-Saxons as an alphabet in their writing system. The characters are known collectively as the futhorc (ᚠᚢᚦᚩᚱᚳ ''fuþorc'') from the Old English sound va ...

and crosses above.1873
A Handbook for Travellers in Durham and Northumberland
J. Murray, page 116 One of the namestones found during this excavation can be found on display in St Hilda's Church. In consultation with the

British Archaeological Association The British Archaeological Association (BAA) was founded in 1843 and aims to inspire, support and disseminate high quality research in the fields of Western archaeology, art and architecture, primarily of the mediaeval period, through lectures, con ...

, several were identified. These included Heresuid and Bregesuid (or Breguswith), respectively the sister and the mother of St Hilda, Frigyd, the abbess of

Hackness Hackness is a village and civil parish in the Scarborough district of the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies within the North York Moors National Park. The parish population rose from 125 in the 2001 UK census to 221 in the 2011 UK cens ...

, and Hildilid, Eadgyd and Torchtgyd, respectively abbess and nuns of

Barking Abbey Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It has been described as having been "one of the most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, fr ...

2000, Time Team

Significant finds are still being unearthed to this day. Hartlepool Abbey was featured in the March 2000 episode #57 of archaeological television programme ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned online in 2022 for two episodes released on YouTube. Created by television producer Tim ...

'', called "Nuns in Northumbria", where bones and a book clasp were found.

References

{{Hartlepool Monasteries in County Durham History of Hartlepool 7th-century establishments in England Anglo-Saxon monastic houses Christian monasteries established in the 7th century 800s disestablishments 9th-century disestablishments in England Churches completed in 640 7th-century church buildings in England