Northern Saints Trails The Way of Learning Durham to Jarrow Introduction This guide describes The Way of Learning between Durham Cathedral and St Paul’s Church in Jarrow. All the Northern Saints Trails use the same waymark shown on the left. You will also be following the Weardale Way most of the way from Durham to New Lambton and Bede’s Way from Monkwearmouth to Jarrow The route is 61 kilometres or 38 miles. It is the most urban of the routes with two thirds of the route on minor roads or paved paths, but it is a route full of interest. I have divided the route into 5 sections of between 10 to 17 kms in length. As the route was first devised from Jarrow to Durham, the sections are in reverse order. The primary focus for the majority of pilgrims journeying to Durham Cathedral in the Middle Ages was the shrine of St Cuthbert, but the other most notable person, whose tomb is in the Galilee Chapel in the cathedral, is the Venerable Bede. It is primarily because of him that this route is called The Way of Learning. He was indeed a man of great learning, who is probably best known for writing the first history of England. It was called An Ecclesiastical History of the English Speaking People. His other talents included the fact that was that he was an accomplished linguist, an astronomer and he also popularised measuring time from the birth of Christ. During his long life of extraordinary scholarship, he wrote 60 books. There are other connections with the theme of learning, apart from Bede, along the route. It passes by the University of Sunderland and The National Glass Centre, as this region was where people first learnt many of the skills of glass making, including stained glass. The Penshaw Monument is based on the Greek temple of Hephaestus and is a reminder of what our culture owes to the wisdom of the Greeks. Bernard Gilpin, the great rector of Houghton-le-Spring in the 16th century established the Royal Kepier Grammar School, which produced a stream of outstanding people including the local historian Robert Surtees. Chester-le-Street was another key place of learning, especially in the 10th century when St Cuthbert’s shrine was located there. The first translation of the gospels into English took place in the scriptorium there. Finchale was the place where the hermit Godric lived in the 11th century and people came from far and wide to seek his counsel and wisdom. Finally of course Durham is a great city of learning with its famous university established by Bishop William van Mildert in 1832. Section 5 Durham to Chester-le-Street – 13km From the entrance to the cathedral go round or diagonally across Palace Green and down the cobbled Owengate into Saddler Street. This will lead you down into the Market Square where you turn left, passing the equestrian statue on your right. Walk down Silver Street to cross Framwellgate Bridge. At the far end of the 1 bridge, take the steps on your left down to the riverside and then turn left to walk back under the bridge. You will soon walk under Millburngate Bridge and then pass the Radisson Blu Hotel. As you continue along the riverside you reach the historic Crook Hall on your left. Crook Hall Crook Hall was originally built as a medieval hall house most probably in the 13th century, but later in the 17th century it was extended to become a Jacobean manor house. In the 18th century a large brick built Georgian house was added, so the present much restored hall contains an intriguing variety of styles and artefacts. The hall is surrounded by an English country style garden that is regarded as one of the best in the north of England. In 1995 the hall was bought by Keith and Maggie Bell who developed it into a popular tourist attraction and wedding venue. After passing a sewage plant on your right, you leave the city behind you and cross over the flood plain. The road eventually bears left uphill away from the river to reach Frankland Farm. You carry on along Frankland Lane, passing a small woodland called ‘The Scogs’. The tree lined lane leads to some kennels. Just after the kennels, you cross a dismantled railway. At this point you may like to turn off temporarily to explore the area on your right, where there were once brickworks, but it is now a nature reserve called Brasside Ponds. The Way of Learning continues by bearing left then right to pass by the two prisons – HMP Franklin on your right and Low Newton prison for women and young offenders on your left. When you reach the main road turn right and then first left. In summer the fields here are often bright with poppies. You will pass the bunkers of what was once the Brasside Ammunition Stores on your left. This road leads you down the hill to Finchale Priory. Godric and Finchale Priory Finchale Priory is beautifully situated in a loop of the River Wear and is associated with a remarkable man called Godric or sometimes St Godric although he was never officially canonised. Godric was born C1065 in Norfolk and had a varied career as a peddler and a merchant seaman, before in his 30s, having a visionary encounter with St Cuthbert on Lindisfarne that transformed his life. He then spent a number of years travelling around the Mediterranean and making pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem and Santiago before preparing for life as a hermit. He persuaded Ranulf Flambard, the Bishop of Durham, to give him land at Finchale where he settled for the last sixty years of his life, living to over 100 before he died in 1170. He lived a life of great austerity living on herbs, crab apples, honey and nuts and sleeping on the bare ground. He was much sought after for his sanctity and wisdom and gained a reputation as a miracle worker. He had a great affection for wild creatures and was reputed to allow snakes to warm themselves by his fire. He also has the distinction of composing the oldest songs in the English language for which we also have the original musical scores. The fact that there is a priory here is entirely because of the fame of St Godric. There are a few remains of a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist, built around the time Godric died and where he was buried. The Benedictine Priory was established in 1196 and the 2 major building work took place in the 13th century. For most of its history it operated as a rest home for monks from Durham who would come for breaks of three weeks. They still attended the times of prayer but enjoyed more freedoms than in Durham. The priory was closed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. Cross the fine wooden bridge over the River Wear and walk up the steps to the road where you turn left and then right into Cocken Lane. There are wide grass verges here as you walk the next 700 metres until, when the road bears right, you go on the footpath straight ahead. This leads you to Great Lumley. Turn left when you reach the road and walk round with fields on your left and housing on your right. When you reach the T-junction, turn left and right into Back Lane. On your left you come to a good place for a rest where there is a striking wooden carving, incorporating a bench and a rectangle through which many take photos of the view down to Chester-le-Street. If the day is clear enough, you should be able to see The Angel of the North. Take the footpath which leads you down along the field edges, until you reach some woods which you go through before reaching the River Wear again. Walk along the river side to Lumley Bridge which you pass under and then go right and right again to cross over the bridge. Walk into Riverside Park keeping the mini roundabout and the car park on your left and then taking the main path ahead before forking left. As you approach the A167, walk up the ramp and cross over the bridge into Roman Avenue. After passing two schools on your right, turn right into Church Chare and you will soon find St Mary and St Cuthbert’s Church on your right. Chester-le-Street The town derives its name from the Latin word castra meaning a fort and the street refers to the Roman road which still runs north to south in what is now called Front Street. The Romans built their fort called Concangis here around 100 AD. In those days the River Wear was navigable up to this point, so it was probably an important supply depot for other Roman garrisons in the area. The Romans left in 410. During the Anglo-Saxon period, this became the most important town between the Tyne and the Tees and this was particularly the case when the monks fled from Lindisfarne with the precious coffin of St Cuthbert and, after many wanderings, finally settled here in 882. They built a wooden shrine and a church most probably using stone from the Roman fort. For 113 years, Chester-le-Street was the home of the Bishops of Lindisfarne, the forerunners of the Prince Bishops of Durham, so the church was a cathedral. There was a constant stream of pilgrims to the shrine including England’s first king, Athelstan, in 934 and the Viking king of Norway and York with the fearsome name of Eric Bloodaxe in 952.