. Cathedrals, abbeys and churches of England and Wales, descriptive, historical, pictorial . hes as they stood were enough for thewants of the monks ; and there, in considerable part, they are standing yet. The present church of Monkwearmouth has a tower on the porch. Thelower part of this tower and the porch are taken to be the original work ofBenedict Biscop. The same may be said of the west wall, with its curiouswindow from the tower, ornamented at the sides with baluster-shafts. Theupper part of the tower was taken down by the late vicar, and built again MoNKWEAUMOUTIl AND JaHUOW.] BENEDIC
. Cathedrals, abbeys and churches of England and Wales, descriptive, historical, pictorial . hes as they stood were enough for thewants of the monks ; and there, in considerable part, they are standing yet. The present church of Monkwearmouth has a tower on the porch. Thelower part of this tower and the porch are taken to be the original work ofBenedict Biscop. The same may be said of the west wall, with its curiouswindow from the tower, ornamented at the sides with baluster-shafts. Theupper part of the tower was taken down by the late vicar, and built again MoNKWEAUMOUTIl AND JaHUOW.] BENEDICT BISCOP. 3G1 with the same stones, set in the same places. Tlie openings in the tower, ofthe nature of windows, divided into two arches by a central baluster-shaft, are ofthe same cliaracter as those commonly known as Saxon at St. Benets, Cambridge,St. Mary Wigford, Lincoln, and in other well-known examples. The string-course Avitli cable edging, divided into panels bearing the representations of variousanimals, is unlike any of the other early string-courses which have been preserved ;. MONKWEARMOUTH. and there are no examples elsewhere of the flat stone jambs, carved with inter-lacing serpents, on the sides of the door leading into the nave, surmountedby two baluster pillars on either side of the doorway. The north wall of theoriginal church was in existence when the repairs of a few years ago were com-menced. All trace of the monastic buildings other than the climxh has was in 674 that the pious servant of Clirist, Benedict Biscop, beganto build a monastery in honour of the most blessed Peter, chief of theApostles, on the north side of the mouth of the Wear. The venerable anddevout King of Northumbria, Ecgfrith, gave him a site and helped him in thework. That is what Bede tells us. Bede was only a baby at the time, it istrue, but he passed his early boyhood in the monastery, and at Jarrow he livedand died, so that he had personal knowledge of what he wrote ab
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectchurcharchitecture
