Jarrow Hall (formerly Bede's World) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Ty ...

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear – Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the no ...

, England which celebrates the life of the

Venerable 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 ...

; a monk, author and scholar who lived in at the Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Wearmouth-Jarrow, 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 ...

and

Monkwearmouth Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bish ...

, (today part of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

), England. The site features a museum dedicated to the life and times of the famous

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 dedic ...

, with other features and attractions – including a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farm and the 18th-century Georgian building Jarrow Hall House itself – reflected in a calendar of activities, including special themed events, an educational programme for schools and heritage skills workshops, alongside space for businesses and events.

History

The Anglo-Saxon attraction Bede's World opened on an 11-acre site in Jarrow in 1993 at a cost of almost £10m, and was run by the Bede's World Charitable Trust, with grant support from the local council. Although the complex attracted 70,000 visitors a year, it became no longer financially viable and ceased operation in February 2016. The writer and broadcaster

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of '' The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documen ...

was critical of its closure, and in an item on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's ''

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The ma ...

'' in 2016, he contrasted the museum's plight to the funding made available to the Garden Bridge Project in London.

Reopening and relaunch

It was announced in August 2016 that the former Bede's World site would re-open as 'Jarrow Hall Anglo-Saxon Farm, Village and Bede Museum', to be managed by the charity Groundwork's South Tyneside and Newcastle trust. Following over £100,000 of investment by Groundwork and a soft-open in October 2016, the site fully launched on 8 April 2017, hosting activities for all ages including farm talks, live re-enactment combat, authentic Anglo-Saxon craft and lectures, as well as the reconstructed historical dwellings being renovated by authentically attired workers using traditional

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

building techniques. The interior of Jarrow Hall House was also renovated with Georgian-era expertise provided by

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills ( Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_cha ...

, and hosts a new coffee shop, Hive Coffee Company. The direction and development of the site during the relaunch period were led by Leigh Venus, former Venue Manager of Newcastle upon Tyne's historic

Tyneside Cinema The Tyneside Cinema is an independent cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the city's only full-time independent cultural cinema, specialising in the screening of independent and world cinema from across the globe. The last remaining Newsreel ...

Current features

The Bede Museum building features an "Age of Bede" exhibit, which includes excavated artefacts from the historic monastery such as

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

, imported pottery, coins and stone carvings, and exhibits about

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a 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-Saxons happened wit ...

culture, Bede's life and works, the life of a monk, and the medieval

Kingdom of 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 ...

. There is a working reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farm called Gyrwe (pronounced "Yeerweh") after the Old English name for Jarrow, showing

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

with full-size reconstructions of three timber buildings from Northumbria based on the evidence of archaeological work. Thirlings Hall was the largest, with animal hide and other objects. A wood-burning fire in the form of a small pit/designated area is used throughout the year, and allows for a great smell to filter through the building. The two other buildings, smaller in size, are a ''grubenhaus'' – a sunken building used as a cold store – and a monk's cell. All buildings are thatched and were built using traditional techniques. The farm animals are of similar breeds to animals that would have been present circa 1300 years ago, to simulate the types of animals which would have been seen in Anglo-Saxon England; cattle are smaller and sheep more varied, before selective breeding methods were introduced. Ancient strains of wheat and vegetables, such as those the monks might have eaten, used to be selectively grown on site. Visitors are able to tour the ruins of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Paul, which has been designated a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

. The site also features a coffee shop located in Jarrow Hall House, an 18th-century Georgian property adjacent to the Bede Museum. The house was renovated in 2017.https://www.jarrowhall.org.uk/about/ The Medieval

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

garden situated at the rear of Jarrow Hall House features over 200 species of herbs, and there is a gift shop situated within the Bede Museum. The site also house events and conference facilities, both within Jarrow Hall House and the Bede Museum building.

References

External links

Jarrow Hall Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarrow Hall - Anglo-Saxon Farm, Village and Bede Museum Archaeological museums in England History museums in Tyne and Wear Farm museums in England Literary museums in England Biographical museums in Tyne and Wear Religious museums in England Jarrow Bede