Monkwearmouth

	The parish church of St Peter, Monkwearmouth

Today Monkwearmouth is chiefly famous as the birthplace of the Venerable Bede, but back when Bede was a boy, the abbey was famous for another reason - plain chant and ritual. Benedict Biscop, the founder of the abbey, had travelled all the way to Rome to bring back musicians who could teach his monks how to sing plain chant - the latest, greatest way of singing.

While he was over there, Biscop also got hold of a book that set out in minute detail the "correct" way of celebrating the rites and festivals of the church and soon copyists began arriving in Monkwearmouth from all over Britain, clutching their quills and their slabs of ink and with a cart load of calf-skin for writing on, begging permission to make a copy for their own monastery. Even the king of the wild Picts on the wrong side of Hadrian's Wall wanted a copy!

Unfortunately the interior of the church is not as I remember it from my first visit twenty-five years ago. Not long afterwards some lunatic walked into the church in broad daylight and deliberately set it on fire, destroying a priceless organ and badly damaging the rest of the building. As a result the church is kept locked except when wardens are available and my visit did not coincide with the availability of a warden.

Despite its depressing setting in a wasteland of derelict industry, the church is well worth a visit - 10.00 to 16.00 you will usually find it open - and be sure to leave a donation to keep this wonderful monument alive.

Note: the two stylised birds with intertwined beaks in the opening shot are somewhat of a symbol of Monkwearmouth and the little stall inside the church sells brooches and other jewellery decorated with that motif.