This Gatehouse guarded the Hall of the Archbishops of York. The were Lords of the Manor of Hexham for nearly 500 years until 1545. These were troubled times on the Scottish borders. This late mediaeval tower was heavily fortified with three sets of doors, overhanging parapets and murder holes. In the first-floor courtroom the Archbishop’s Bailiff administered justice. From the raised dais he heard pleas, settled disputes, delivered judgements and consulted with tenants.
In later centuries the gatehouse became the setting for the Quarter Sessions of county magistrates and for meetings of the town’s Borough Courts. Since then it has been know as the Moot Hall.*
This drawing shows the possible appearance of the Archbishop’s Hall in about 1450. The two larger buildings, the Moot Hall on the left and the Old Gaol on the right, still remain.*
*From a signboard next to the Moot Hall.
Tags: Hexham, Northumber- land, The Moot Hall, The Old Gaol, Weekend away
The church of Hexham Abbey as we see it today was built over the ruins of Wilfrid’s church in the 12th century. It was part of a priory surrounded by a high stone wall. People gathered outside the stone wall to their goods and local produce. Markets have been held in the place ever since.
The gatehouse (in the centre of the photo) was built about 1400 to guard the Bailiff’s Hall. The bailiff governed the whole of Hexhamshire for the Archbishop of York. The gatehouse is know today as the Moothall. There were buildings crowded all around it until 1950.
Tags: Hexham, Northumber- land, Weekend away
All that remains of the lavatorium in the west walk of the cloister are these decorative arches. The monks would have washed their hands here before entering the refectory to eat.
Tags: Hexham, Hexham Abbey, Lavatorium, Northumber- land, Weekend away
This rare edition of the Geneva Bible was translated from the Hebrew and Greek by exiles in Geneva. It was imported because, for the first time, the bible had text divided into numbered verses, which was extremely useful for preachers and readers alike.
It was popularly called the Breeches Bible because, wheras the Authorised Version says “sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons”, this edition says “they sewed figge tree leaves together and made themselves breeches” (Genesis, Chapter 3, verse 7).
This copy was presented to Hexham Abbey in 1954 by Col.H. L. Swinburne; it had been in the family’s possession for 150 years.*
*from an information plate next to the Bible
Tags: Bible, Hexham, Hexham Abbey, Northumber- land, Weekend away
In the centre of the nave a steep stone stair descends into the original 7th-century crypt.
This was discovered only in 1725 when the tower was being reinforced, but would have been the first part of the Saxon church to be built, delved out of the earth before the walls of the main church were erected and bearing out Wilfrid’s biographer Eddius Stephaunus’ description of ‘crypts of beautifully dressed stone’. Like the nave walls, the crypt contains much re-used Roman stone, some with frieze patterns, some with a recurring leaf and berry design, and one slab in the roof (part of which, the ‘Geta’ stone, is now displayed in the nave) that carries a Latin inscription commemorating the building of a granary by the Emperor Septimus Severus and his two sons in 208 before they marched into Scotland.
The scale and complex plan of the crypt is almost unique in England at this time – only Wilfrid’s church at Ripon has something comparable. The closest parallel is Italy, where small tomb chambers similar to the Roman catacombs were constructed to hold the bodies of relics of saints, and churches dedicated to them were built above. At Hexham the stairs lead down into a narrow tunnel-vaulted antechamber which in turn opens through an archway into the main shrine. Two other passages now blocked, once gave access to the crypt from outside the church, one into the antechamber, one into the shrine itself.
We can imagine pilgrims, drawn by tales of relics brought here by Wilfrid, making their way along a dark passage. When they reached the opening of the central chamber, they would see, in the soft radiance from the lamp niches set in the walls, a display of the precious relics of the apostle Andrew, a close friend of Jesus himself. Filled with awe and wonder, they would offer a prayer, and then climb the steep steps into the church and the daylight.*
*From the Hexham Abbey guidebook
Tags: Hexham, Hexham Abbey, Northumber- land, The Crypt, Weekend away
THE CROSS WHICH STOOD AT THE HEAD OF THE GRAVE OF ACCA BISHOP OF HEXHAM AD 709-732 WHO DIED AD 740
…So says the modern inscription on the plinth in the south transept of Hexham Abbey. On it is all that remains of a tall, intricately carved cross. It is worn and weathered, its inscription no longer readable. It lacks nearly a metre of the shaft and three parts of the cross-head, but what remains is a significant remnant from the 8th century that has played a leading part in the Abbey story.
Acca became the best loved of Hexham saints. During St Wilfrid’s later years, he was the older man’s loyal companion, eventually succeeding him as abbot and bishop. He had little of Wilfrid’s abrasive energy and tireless ambition. Acca’s godly work was mostly limited to Northumbria, but in that narrower setting he worked many wonders.
Acca journeyed with the ageing Wilfrid on his last visit to Rome. Later he told his friend Bede of their stay at Utrecht with the saintly Archbishop Willibrord, Wilfrid’s old pupil who was carrying on his work of converting continental heathens. For his part, Acca devoted himself to building the faith in Northumbria, bringing to completion Wilfrid’s great centre of Christian worship and learning at Hexham.
Bede left a glowing account of the work Acca did during the quarter of a century when he led the community at Hexham. He adorned the church with paintings, sculpture and rich hangings; he gathered sacred relics and built side-chapels to house them; he created a library of godly books; he brought from Kent a skilled teacher of Gregorian chant named Maban, to ensure that the music and liturgy of the church were as fine as any in Europe. Acca was both a first-class musician and a learned theologian.
Tags: Hexham, Hexham Abbey, Northumber- land, Weekend away
What life can compare to this?
Sitting quietly by the window, I watch the leaves fall and the flowers bloom, as the seasons come and go.
Hsueh-Tou
Tags: Cherie's Place, Cherie's Place Thought, Flower, Garden
