Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Peter Fowler Miriam Harte The Genius of the Place: Managing a ÒMini-National ParkÓ at BedeÕs World ede’s World could well become part of a World Heritage Site early in the twenty-first century, but it is not a national park, nor does it aspire to be one. It nevertheless shares much of the basic philosophy Bof national parks regarding purpose, objectives, and management, and finds inspiration in their existence and their doings. ’s World is both a place and a where he spent the whole of his life project, not unambiguous as a project after early childhood became one of though a very small place compared sanctity and pilgrimage. with national parks: about 80 acres The small area of land encapsu- (32 ha) all together. It is founded on lated by the name “Bede’s World” the life and works of one man, the may look far removed from the char- Venerable Bede, the genius of this acteristics of a national park, but it is place in what is now a markedly post- nevertheless precious to many— industrial landscape in northeast scholars, local communities, and England. His was the name above all distant pilgrims, for example. The associated with the fame of in vision for its development and man- the decades either side of AD 700. agement as a public place of educa- Then the monastery which he tion and recreation is infused by served, founded by a royal grant of thinking similar to that of those in- land in the Anglian Kingdom of volved in National Parks. We also , lay at the heart of the believe that a few green acres tucked remarkable intellectual and artistic into a visually scarred and socially flowering conveniently known as deprived post-industrial landscape in “the Golden Age of Northumbria” the middle of tens of thousands of (Blair 1970, 1976; Bonner et al. people’s homes may in its own way 1989; Hawkes 1996; Higham 1993). be as important a social asset as the Subsequently, Bede’s reputation as protected, rural spaces in rural back- scholar, saint, and commentator on pack country, by definition distant the Scriptures grew, and the place from the urban milieu.

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 91 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation We appreciate, of course, that we active places of worship rather than cannot re-create the spiritual or in- mere ancient monuments. Another tellectual worlds known to Bede, but one of them is the church of St. Pe- believe we can justifiably attempt to ter, just 16 km (10 miles) to the effect, however impressionistically, south. Thirteen hundred years ago, aspects of a more tangible Bede’s then overlooking the estuary of the world: his physical environment and River Wear, it was the focal point of some of its workings (Chippindale the original monastic foundation of a 1994, 7; Fowler 1999). That belief is two-part monastery. The second part in a way as much a matter of faith as was built a few years later at Jarrow, was the Abbot’s, Benedict Biscop, Gywre, on a low-lying site overlook- when he founded a monastery at Jar- ing extensive mud-flats where the row in AD 681. River Don met the Tyne. A new Benedictine monastery was The Site built at Jarrow in the twelfth century, Bede’s World encompasses a and it is the ruins of that, overlying complex of buildings, land uses, ten- the outlines of the archaeologically ures, and expectations. At its core, excavated Early Christian one physically and conceptually, is the (Cramp 1969), that are the obviously church of St. Paul where, marvel- “old” part of Bede’s World. The ru- lously, the long tradition of Christian ins lie beside St. Paul’s, a church to worship on this site continues. which they were physically and func- The nave is largely nineteenth tionally joined until the mid-sixteenth century, but it stands above the century, when the monastery was monastery’s original basilican church dissolved. (Taylor and Taylor 1965, 338-49). In addition to history and religi- Here the famous Jarrow lectures oc- osity, a strong “green” element runs cur each May, continuing Bede’s tra- through the Bede’s World concept dition of scholarship (Sherley-Price and its implementation. The River 1955). The north aisle contains an Don itself has been cleaned up and exhibition of sculpture from the landscaped. Along it, we are trying to Early Christian monastery. The recreate some of the former mud-flat chancel was originally a free-standing habitat attractive to wader birds. The chapel or small monastic church, extensive tidal mud-flats which Bede dated AD 681 by its extant original would have looked out on are now foundation stone. Plausibly, it is the filled in. Our efforts may be environ- actual building in which Bede wor- mental gesturism, but they have shipped. Few late-seventh-century helped recall the monastery’s riverine buildings stand in Western Europe. connection from its harbour to the There are even fewer which are still sea, and the estuarine setting in

92 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation which Bede worshipped and worked ranean and to Late Classical antiquity (Figure 1). in the architecture of the new mu- The secular focal point lies 400 seum building knowingly renew this yards slightly uphill at , a link (Figure 3). late-eighteenth-century family house Landscape (Figure 1). This held the museum All such relative sophistication in until 1998, essentially to present re- Bede’s world would have been real- sults from the monastic excavations. ised against the backcloth of the Significantly, its achievement came mundane daily life of an agrarian es- about through co-operation—from tate; and so is it still, for at Gywre in the Church, local community, aca- the twenty-first century as in the sev- demia, outside funding, and financial enth we are trying to run an “Anglo- and other support from the Local Saxon farm,” not as a static stage-set Authority. Essentially, those compo- but as a working “model” of what nents remain in place for the twenty- might once have been (Figure 4). It is first century. on heavily polluted land formerly Beside the Hall (Figure 2) a multi- serving various industrial functions, million-pound new museum building occupied into the 1980s by huge pet- by architects Evans and Shalev rol storage tanks. Vast amounts of (Singmaster 1995, 30) opens in May soil were removed and replaced. The 2000, four years after Phase 1 (Figure specifically agrarian landscape was 3) was opened in May 1995. This conceived in 1991, mechanically indoor part of the “Museum of Early shaped in 1992 and 1993, and Medieval Northumbria” presents not planted up in 1993 with mainly de- just the monastic excavations prop- ciduous hardwoods (attested as ex- erly for the first time but also acts as a isting before AD 700 in northern display case for an important phase of England). By ca. 2025 the landscape English history which at the moment with its trees and artificial stream does not benefit from a major pres- should look as if it is a farmed valley entation in a professional museum in where the fields have been cleared the region. New to many will be out of woodland. Already the setting Northumbria in its European con- looks old and the stream entirely text, focusing on the journeys of natural as its babbles its way through Benedict and Wilfred between Eng- modern but historically authentic land and Rome. This was their es- (planted) meadow flora into its “An- sential prelude to the foundation of glo-Saxon” pond, now with unin- Jarrow–Monkwearmouth monastery vited but very welcome wildlife (Fig- as a modern establishment up-to-date ure 4). in its architecture, facilities, and lit- The concept was based on a urgy. The references to the Mediter- familiar archaeological landscape

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 93 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Figure 1. Plan of Gywre, the “Anglo-Saxon farm,” showing Jarrow Hall and Phase 1 of the new museum building with, to their north, “pre-medieval” fields on an axial lay-out, standing oaks (cog-wheel symbol), a stream and pond, the sites of the four experimental buildings (a = Thirlings A, b = New Bewick grubenhaüs, c = Hartlepool monastic “cell,” d = Yeavering hall), and a “Bronze Age” burial mound, all high above the mud-flats of the tidal River Don flowing northwards to the Tyne.

94 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Figure 2. Careful design and landscaping has brought about a visually interesting juxtaposition between, centre, the “old,” Jarrow Hall, now (May 1999) a restaurant, offices, archive, and library, and, left, the pergola fronting the neo- classical entrance to the new museum building. model in corporating ideas of demonstrably existing as relics in a palimpsest, succession, survival, Northumbrian landscape of ca. AD rupture, and continuity. Its design 700 (Figure 1; Fowler and Mills, in also had to bear in mind that this new press). There are no problems of and contrived landscape has to archaeological reference points for “work” in the late twentieth century such landscape detail. Documentary and beyond as an Anglo-Saxon farm, evidence is brought into play too. an educational resource, and a tourist attraction. The constructed Anglo- The pond and its adjacent ford, Saxon landscape therefore had for example, lead to discussion of the features built into it from prehistoric topographical detail in Anglo-Saxon and Roman times of the sort land charters. Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 95 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Figure 3. The atrium, the main feature of the entrance into the new museum building, is, in Mediterranean mode, open to the skies above its mosaic-lined pool. To some, a near-pure statement of Classicism creating a place of quiet and contemplation; to others, a waste of space and money badly needing to be “useful.”

Buildings erate on a site which is open to the We have also constructed build- public throughout the year and ings: practical ones which we have to which must comply with several have as farmers, and experimental statutory requirements concerning ones for scientific and tourism pur- access, safety, and animal welfare. poses (Figures 4, 5, and 6). With the We also have to generate revenue. latter, we build from primary evi- Some basics are nevertheless quite dence and first principles, knowing clear in our construction work. We that our work will at best produce a began by relating to the concept of model that may or may not “work.” “authenticity.” That continues: but We are constrained by having to op- now “honesty” rather than just

96 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation authenticity is the key word, that is, modern steel-framed, breeze-block being able not just to quote a refer- buildings which, complete with elec- ence but also to explain and be frank tricity, are necessary to meet our in interpretation and open in pres- statutory obligations as keeper of entation. animals (Figure 4). Interpretation of So far three buildings are properly them for visitors states that the experimental, though some of the buildings have been made to look ostensibly modern buildings serve an appropriate but are neither authentic interpretative purpose. We have nor experimental; and people seem to carefully disguised with clap-board- appreciate such honesty. ing and thatch, for example, two The three experimental Anglo-

Figure 4. The “Anglo-Saxon landscape” in 1999 looking south from the rush-edged pond towards the first part of the new museum building and the second part, left, under construction, with the chimneys of Jarrow Hall beyond. The unenclosed ground to the right is arable for cereal crops. The sheds, centre left, both modern and non-experimental, are respectively a pig-sty and work-shop; that to the right is a byre in a post-and-pole enclosure for the Dexter cattle (see Figure 8). All the hurdling is used in genuine animal control, but the anachronistic rope barrier and sign are statutory requirements for modern humans.

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 97 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Figure 5. Gywre in summer 1999, with home-made hurdling, genuine stream-side flora originating in 1993, and statutorily necessary modern stock buildings of “Anglo-Saxon” appearance and proportions, visually dominated by a very tall pylon and power line.

Saxon buildings are based on exca- such resources as would have been vated ground plans of a hall-house available to an Anglo-Saxon estate (Figure 6), a grubenhaüs (sunken- owner (Fowler and Mills, in press). featured building), and a monastic We learnt early on that such re- “cell” (Figure 7). The experiment so sources would have included skills in far is limited to putting them up in long-term silvicultural management, controlled circumstances, and re- for straight timbers 3 m long and 40 flects the hard reality of 1:1 experi- cm in diameter—our specifications ment. An enormous amount of work, from the archaeological evi- material, and skill is needed to do dence—don’t just grow on trees! In anything “for real”; and Bede’s other words, we had some difficulty World simply does not command in sourcing our requirements. At

98 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation 1999 prices, our “Anglian hall” (Gates and O’Brien 1988), cost about (O’Brien and Miket 1991), a not-so- £7,000. Our experience suggests simple four-bay timber building, cost such buildings could be knocked up about £60,000, the price-range of a relatively cheaply and quickly with- small, but new, three-bedroom house out the need for great skill or access in Tyneside today. In contrast, our to specialist resources. Perhaps that grubenhaüs, based on the archaeo- is why archaeologically they are so logical evidence at New Bewick common.

Figure 6. Thirlings A: the completed building experimentally constructed on a ground plan of ca. AD 600 recovered from an archaeological excavation. Everything above ground level is, at best, sound inference; at worst, probably wrong. Practically every detail about the nearer gable, for example, is controversial except the spacing of the vertical oak posts. The proposed Yeavering hall will enclose some three times the floor area of this building. The cross in the background is a modern sculpture inspired by Northumbrian crosses of Bede’s world and later.

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 99 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Figure 7. Site signage on the Anglo-Saxon farm: clear, short, informative, up-to- date, flimsy, cheap, temporary, and easily changed at the press of a few keys on an in-house desk-top computer.

The third building is based on construction scheduled to continue one from the monastic settlement on during 2000-2001. the headland at Hartlepool (Figure 7; Management Daniels 1988). We now have the ex- Our corporate aspirations are perience, the confidence and, re- somewhat dryly expressed in our markably, the money to proceed mission statement: much quicker than expected to at- The purpose for which the Company tempt our long-term ambition to [Jarrow 700 AD Ltd] is established is to erect a building based on the ground protect, preserve and improve for the plan of one of the large halls at the benefit of the public the Church of St. Paul’s, Jarrow, Bede’s World, and the royal site of Yeavering (Hope-Taylor monastic remains and other historical 1977; Building A4). This project is and vernacular buildings in the vicinity in the planning stage (July 1999) with and to plan, develop, maintain, manage

100 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation

Figure 8. Bede’s World traction-power: three Dexter cattle resting between regular stints of training to pull farm implements. Though genetically inauthentic for Anglo-Saxon stock, they are of appropriate size and proportions as indicated by archaeologically excavated cattle bones. and improve the surrounding area as a Fowler). This has delegated execu- centre of historical, religious, educa- tional and cultural importance with a tive responsibility to a small execu- view to fostering public awareness, tive committee. both are advised by understanding and appreciation of the an estate committee, which also has life, times and works of the Venerable Bede. delegated powers within board poli- cies, and several panels covering It is very much in the spirit of our various specialist areas such as edu- own times that such a mission is pur- cation, community liaison and muse- sued in partnership with others, and ological and academic matters. Other through marketing as much as ad hoc mechanisms are set up and through high ideals. dispersed as appropriate, e.g., to deal We are a small organisation. with the concept and design of the Eighteen trustees form the board of new museum exhibition with con directors under a chairman (Peter sultants in 1999. Apart from the

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 101 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation board and executive, all the other and a very sound base, but how we groups include non-trustees, so our deliver that vision and manage the “management constituency” directly many elements to it must constantly includes several dozen people be challenged and questioned. Bede’s bringing a wide range of expertise World is compounded of healthy and interests. There is considerable tension, and must thrive on it or die. interaction between these honorary The physical management of the managers and the 16 staff, and be- diverse elements of the site, and spe- tween both and various consultants, cifically the farm, is itself challenging. all guided by the single, full-time We are daily (and nocturnally) con- professional director (Miriam Harte). cerned about the safety and security Running a place while developing of the site and the physical well-being a concept like Bede’s World is a ma- of staff, visitors, and animals. The jor balancing act. Balancing the site is exposed, petty crime is com- books is an obvious necessity, not mon in the neighbourhood, there are least because we are a registered on-site hazards (e.g., open water; charity as well as a business and we Figure 4), and staffing is thin. On the have to earn to exist. We have not yet other hand, if everything was behind grown sufficiently to attain critical fences and ropes, how can we hope mass, yet are already effectively the to give people the experience of a recipient of several millions pounds seventh-century landscape? Indeed, sterling of capital investment. The how should we interpret the site? next three years are critical finan- One way is to let them simply absorb cially, as returns on that investment it, but will they have enough knowl- must become apparent, not least to edge to appreciate what they are our many backers and the public. We looking at? To what extent should are not, however, going to dwell fur- we seek to involve people actively? ther here on the purely financial as- Or do we use signs that again can so pects of our operation, though any easily be inappropriate (cf. Figure 4) reader must be as aware as we are and permanent? Information points that the bottom line really counts. tend to result in erosion hollows. We The balancing act is very much have received considerable profes- concerned with the conflicting de- sional criticism for our style of on- mands, needs, requirements, objec- site interpretation that is based on tives, priorities, and expectations of the principle of being non-intrusive our many constituents. We know that and easily (and cheaply) replaced basically there is no one single tem- (Figure 7); but things change on a plate for success, apart from constant farm, seasonally, daily, and we wish change and self-analysis. We firmly to share these changes with our visi- believe that we have a strong vision tors.

102 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation The best form of interpretation, how something would (or could) perhaps especially here with a com- have been done as part of the inter- plex and intellectually quite de- pretation, while keeping the site manding experience to hand, is un- looking its best by developing and doubtedly guiding. This is, however, working as efficiently as possible with a very labour-intensive option, and the available workers. If we were to we have neither the staff nor the ap- go indiscriminately in this direction, propriately trained volunteers to of course, we would deservedly lose maintain such a facility every day. our credibility as a place of academic Nor have we yet been able to afford study, research, education, and reli- audio guides. They could be ideal able interpretation. The trick—and it over the whole site, and we are has to be a trick—is to sharply define watching technical—and cost— specific activities that are kept developments carefully. We are very “clean” (some aspects of the crop struck not only by the efficacy of the management and timber building, for “wands” now provided at Stone- example) while we explain and are henge, for example, but also by their honest about the rest. remarkable effect on visitor behav- Every day, within the context of iour. the “big dilemmas” of the sort out- Another physical conflict on our lined above, small incidents raise sig- site is how to do all the work basic to nificant issues. Recently, for exam- an agrarian life-style while using ple, a group of visitors had been authentic methods—methods based booked in and catered for, but be- on a large, local, mainly free labour cause they spent two hours on the force that would have been available farm, they had no time to go to the to Anglo-Saxon estate owners. And cafe. Should we be upset by the fact while we try to do our best in labour- that this group was so enthralled by intensive activities like daub-produc- the farm that its members did not tion (Figure 6) and trying to plough spend any money in the cafe? As nar- clayland with a small wooden ard and row-minded “business managers” the two recalcitrant cattle (Figure 8), we answer is probably “yes,” for we lost simultaneously must ensure our em- out financially on that visit; but in the ployees’ and volunteers’ health and wider context of what Bede’s World safety. We have to compromise, for is actually about, we can but be glad example, by using a string-trimmer about our visitors’ interest and hope on a day when we are closed to the that this might translate into a return public. Provided a process is not part visit. of our serious experimentation, The very diversity of the site af- managerially we conclude that the fects visitor management. Our ideal important thing is to demonstrate visitor would arrive by public trans-

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 103 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation port at 10 AM, visit the church, enjoy sense and promulgate the “genius” of a coffee, visit the museum, break for a the place, while enjoying with our bought-lunch in our excellent restau- neighbours a sense of locality. rant, then spend a couple of hours on All that said, our major difficulty is the farm before buying some high- in attracting people to Jarrow. Once quality souvenirs and books in the we manage to entice the visitor in shop, relax over tea and cake, and (which is our key need—to attract finally leave in late afternoon (the new audiences), our objective must order indicated may be adjusted to be to keep them as long as possible taste!). Only a minority attain this and make sure they leave with a status of ideal visitor, for few come burning desire to come back soon with sufficient time allowance for the (bringing their friends), maybe to whole experience (which minimally check progress on a pet project on now needs half a day and can easily the farm, or to come to a special lec- absorb six hours). But all our evi- ture or exhibition that they saw ad- dence is that most people are enthu- vertised when they visited. They siastic once they get over the major should also leave having signed up as hurdle (physically and “information- a Friend, if not a volunteer! That ally”) of getting to Bede’s World in should be our ambition for every the first place. visitor, with special emphasis on We know the mantra of “Loca- family tickets for example. We must tion, location, location”: our dilemma ensure that every element of the site is that the area around St. Paul’s is making this a high-quality, enjoy- church is the only possible location able experience, whatever the needs, for Bede’s World, yet it is almost the knowledge, and aspirations of the very last place anyone would deliber- visitor. ately attempt to realise the sort of The delivery of this high-quality project in which we are involved. experience is entirely dependent on The word “Jarrow” unfortunately the people the visitor meets at every does not immediately spring to mind point in his or her journey, whether when thinking of an enjoyable day they be staff or volunteers. Finding, out or of the great cultural icons of developing, keeping and motivating our age. Grand Canyon, Taj Mahal, high-quality staff is a major challenge Stonehenge, Jarrow; no, it does not for an organisation such as this, but quite ring true—yet. Nevertheless, entirely possible. We do not have Bede’s World is very consciously one many of the tools of big and rich or- item in a “cultural renaissance” being ganisations, such as good pay, long- encouraged along the Tyne. Fur- term career development, travel, and thermore, because we are actually in bonuses, but what everyone can have the only possible location, we can is a sense of self-worth, respect for

104 The George Wright FORUM Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation knowledge and expertise, pride in The biggest balancing act of all is their service to their customers, and a how to allocate scarce resources, recognition that others are relying on people, and money among all the them. We have to try to be creative in different activities on the site. Who “enhancing” jobs with things other should take priority? We have to ask than money, such as training oppor- ourselves, “What would make the tunities and involvement on a special single biggest difference to the visitor project, and chances to give new in- in the long term?” We agree about sights and broaden their experience. the question and about the need to An example of the constant ques- ask it, but we each have different an- tioning and re-interpretation of our swers. Bede’s World, as we said, will vision that is needed would be our thrive on ideas and tension. education programme. Education is East across the Don is a vast park for at the core of Bede’s World’s phi- the products of a Nissan car factory. losophy and its activities; it has al- South from the church is a large ways been a key strength, we have commercial timber yard. Our neigh- always been good at it, knowing what bour on the northwest is a Shell pet- we were doing (Fowler 1999). Our rol storage facility with large, round, education service’s purpose is “to above-ground tanks. On the north, support the mission of Jarrow 700 AD between our boundary and the Tyne, Ltd by promoting and developing is a marine works, and the whole site Bede’s World as an educational cen- is straddled by electricity supply ca- tre for the study and appreciation of bles (Figure 5). It is difficult to ig- the life, times and works of the Ven- nore this environment; and we do erable Bede.” That includes provi- not, for we are part of it. Were it not sion of educational input to museum that this whole area is in a post-in- displays, exhibitions, historic recon- dustrial phase, with high unemploy- structions, publications, and interac- ment as labour-intensive work has tive learning developments. Now we ceased, the sort of government and must look to our strengths, examine European money on which Bede’s needs and unmet demands, and de- World has been initiated would not velop programmes that will fulfil have been available. The fact that them. If we just continue to do what Bede’s World developed where it is we have always done, we will fail. in the 1990s is because the opportu- Education must be totally re-in- nity to do so is itself a post-industrial vented. phenomenon.

Acknowledgments Our considerable debt is to all who are helping develop Bede’s World.

Volume 16 ¥ Number 4 1999 105 Archaeology and the National Park Idea: Challenges for Management and Interpretation References Blair, P. H. 1970. The World of Bede. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ———. 1976. Northumbria in the Days of Bede. London: Gollancz. Bonner, G., et al., eds. 1989. St. Cuthbert: His Cult and His Community to AD 1200. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press. Chippindale, C. 1994. Editorial. Antiquity 68, 6-9. Cramp, R. 1969. Excavations at the Saxon monastic sites of Wearmouth and Jarrow, Co. Durham: An interim report. Medieval Archaeology 13, 21-66. Daniels, R. 1988. The Anglo-Saxon monastery at Church Close, Hartlepool, Cleveland. Archaeological Journal 145, 158-210. Fowler, P. 1997. Farming in early medieval England: Some fields for thought. Pp. 245-268 in The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century. An Ethnographic Perspective, J. Hines, ed. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press. ———. 1999. Bede’s World, UK: The monk who made history. Pp. 245-257 in The Constructed Past: Experimental Archaeology, Education and the Public, P. G. Stone and P. G. Planel, eds. London: Routledge. Fowler, P., and S. Mills. In press. An early medieval landscape at Bede’s World: A late 20th century creation with 7th century fields and buildings. Gates, T., and C. O’Brien C. 1988. Cropmarks at Milfield and New Bewick and the recognition of grubenhaüser in Northumberland. Archaeologia Aeliana 5 16, 1-9. Hawkes, J. 1996. The Golden Age of Northumbria. Warkworth, Northumberland: Sandhill Press. Higham, N. 1993. The Kingdom of Northumbria, AD 350-1100. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton. Hope-Taylor, B. 1977. Yeavering: An Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. O’Brien, C., and R. Miket. 1991. The Early Medieval settlement of Thirlings, Northumberland. Durham Archaeological Journal 7, 57-91. Sherley-Price, L. 1955. Bede: A History of the English Church and People. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Singmaster, D. 1995. Museum dedicated to the life of the Venerable Bede. The Architects’ Journal (June), 30. Taylor H. M., and J. Taylor. 1965. Anglo-Saxon Architecture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Peter Fowler and Miriam Harte, Bede’s World, Church Bank, Jarrow, NE32 3DY, United Kingdom; [email protected] 1

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