Reports from 2020
September 2020
College Valley Outdoor Meeting 09/09/2020
College Valley Outdoor Meeting 09/09/2020
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Glendale Local History Society is finding ways to engage members while its normal meeting schedule is on hold due to the pandemic. On September 9th, the Society held a second of its Outdoor Meetings, this time in the College Valley, following a successful pilot event in August. Led by Eileen Lyons, a group of members, divided into sets of six, met up at Hethpool on a fine Autumn morning. Carefully following the Society’s Covid 19 Etiquette, the Group set out to explore aspects of the Valley’s history.
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A first stop was at the Stone Circle near the Hethpool carpark. Patsy Healey encouraged members to imagine they were back in Bronze Age times, four to five thousand years ago. She gave a brief outline of conditions at the time, according to archaeological experts, and left people thinking about why the site was chosen and what its significance was for the people who gathered there.
Keeping in our six-person sets, the Group walked on up the Valley, stopping for a talk about land management since mediaeval times from Eileen Lyons and further discussion of the area’s pre-history, this time in the Iron Age, from Patsy.
Eileen explained that the valley, located at the Border with Scotland, was from the 1300s to the 1600s a lawless and dangerous place, at the mercy of the Border Reivers with constant raids and plundering of people and their belongings and cattle. Farming at this time was largely subsistence with animals and crops, perhaps supplemented with summer grazing on higher slopes. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the development of upland farming and shepherding. Small tenancies gradually expanded. In 1919 Sir Arthur Munro Sutherland, a Tyneside businessman, bought the estate (1294 acres) and Hethpool House which he remodelled in Arts and Crafts style. He also built the estate cottages, circa 1926, and the Sutherland Hall (since replaced by Cuddystone Hall in 1961) at Southernknowe which was used for gatherings, music and dancing. In 1953 College Valley Estates Ltd (CVE) bought the estate for £75,000, funded by a legacy from the estate of the late Sir John Knott, business man and politician. There were then 20 shepherds and families but this has today declined to 2 shepherds. Bill Elliot, best known breeder of North Country Cheviots, has been part of the valley for 40 years and retires this November. Also of note are the Collingwood oaks at Hethpool Bell (planted from 1813 onwards) and approximately 150 feral long haired goats, usually to be seen below the Tors or near Yeavering Bell. Today the valley is the largest SSSI in northern England and CVE aims to continue to enhance biodiversity and to improve public access while continuing to restrict daytime car access beyond Hethpool to no more than 12 cars per day. Permits can be purchased on the website.
Keeping in our six-person sets, the Group walked on up the Valley, stopping for a talk about land management since mediaeval times from Eileen Lyons and further discussion of the area’s pre-history, this time in the Iron Age, from Patsy.
Eileen explained that the valley, located at the Border with Scotland, was from the 1300s to the 1600s a lawless and dangerous place, at the mercy of the Border Reivers with constant raids and plundering of people and their belongings and cattle. Farming at this time was largely subsistence with animals and crops, perhaps supplemented with summer grazing on higher slopes. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the development of upland farming and shepherding. Small tenancies gradually expanded. In 1919 Sir Arthur Munro Sutherland, a Tyneside businessman, bought the estate (1294 acres) and Hethpool House which he remodelled in Arts and Crafts style. He also built the estate cottages, circa 1926, and the Sutherland Hall (since replaced by Cuddystone Hall in 1961) at Southernknowe which was used for gatherings, music and dancing. In 1953 College Valley Estates Ltd (CVE) bought the estate for £75,000, funded by a legacy from the estate of the late Sir John Knott, business man and politician. There were then 20 shepherds and families but this has today declined to 2 shepherds. Bill Elliot, best known breeder of North Country Cheviots, has been part of the valley for 40 years and retires this November. Also of note are the Collingwood oaks at Hethpool Bell (planted from 1813 onwards) and approximately 150 feral long haired goats, usually to be seen below the Tors or near Yeavering Bell. Today the valley is the largest SSSI in northern England and CVE aims to continue to enhance biodiversity and to improve public access while continuing to restrict daytime car access beyond Hethpool to no more than 12 cars per day. Permits can be purchased on the website.
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Having pointed out the cluster of iron age hillfort sites which can be seen from the Stone Circle, Patsy then explained how the changes that happened in the area around 2500 to 3000 years ago were not just about a shift to the use of iron. It was also a time when the climate got a good deal cooler, and it was no longer possible to grow grain on the upland plateaux. There was a change in the settlement pattern too, reflecting the development of a more hierarchical social order. Dwellings clustered together into groups, surrounded by a wall or fence. By around 300 BC, the settlements which have become
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known as hillforts began to appear, characterised by two or more surrounding walls and ditches. Yeavering Bell, which we could see down the Valley, is one of the largest such forts on our area. It is now recognised that the Cheviot Hills has the highest density of hillforts in the UK, although they are all smaller than the great structures to be found in Southern Britain.
Finally, most of the group continued on to the Cuddystone Hall. Chrys Murphy then welcomed the group to the Cheviot Memorial opposite the Hall, a poignant memorial to all the airmen who lost their lives on Cheviot Hills during WW2. In all 20 air crashes occurred and 59 airmen were killed and just 16 survived from these crashes. These happened because of primitive navigational systems, pilot errors and inexperience and low clouds in the Cheviot Hills. These tragedies went unmarked for some time but in 1995 RAF Boulmer erected a memorial to pay tribute to the airmen from 8 nations. The memorial was made from slate and a dedication ceremony was carried out in May 1995 attended by HRH the Duke of Gloucester as well as 3 survivors from the crashes and their families. Two were from the USAF B17 air crash where two shepherds of the valley rescued 7 of the crew where 2 died.
As time moved on the slate memorial began to look weatherbeaten so, as part of the RAF 100 Celebration in 2018, a small project team of five including Chrys Murphy MBE, GP Capt Willbond and AVM Sandy Hunter and two others worked at erecting a more durable replacement memorial - a magnificent granite memorial with bronze plaque on top showing all crash site locations. Another feature within the memorial stell is the Roll of Honour Board with silhouettes of aeroplanes, as well as two wooden benches. One is dedicated to the memory of the shepherds who led rescue missions and their sheepdog Sheila who rescued the USAF B17 crew. The crew were each awarded the BEM and Sheila the dog was awarded the Dickinson Medal. The second bench is dedicated to all who lost their lives. Both benches now allow visitors to reflect and enjoy the wonderful Cheviot views from the new memorial which was re-dedicated on 6 September by HRH Duke of Gloucester. Chrys then displayed photographs of all the crash sites to the group and shared the notes about all crashes.
GLHS Members found this way of exploring local history ‘in the field’ very rewarding. The Society has arranged two more Outdoor Meetings this Autumn. The next will be on October 14th and will explore the area above Wooler (Green Castle, the Kettles and the Pinwell). Members are asked to book in advance. Please contact GLHS c/o the Cheviot Centre, Padgepool Place Wooler, NE71 6BL, or email [email protected].
Finally, most of the group continued on to the Cuddystone Hall. Chrys Murphy then welcomed the group to the Cheviot Memorial opposite the Hall, a poignant memorial to all the airmen who lost their lives on Cheviot Hills during WW2. In all 20 air crashes occurred and 59 airmen were killed and just 16 survived from these crashes. These happened because of primitive navigational systems, pilot errors and inexperience and low clouds in the Cheviot Hills. These tragedies went unmarked for some time but in 1995 RAF Boulmer erected a memorial to pay tribute to the airmen from 8 nations. The memorial was made from slate and a dedication ceremony was carried out in May 1995 attended by HRH the Duke of Gloucester as well as 3 survivors from the crashes and their families. Two were from the USAF B17 air crash where two shepherds of the valley rescued 7 of the crew where 2 died.
As time moved on the slate memorial began to look weatherbeaten so, as part of the RAF 100 Celebration in 2018, a small project team of five including Chrys Murphy MBE, GP Capt Willbond and AVM Sandy Hunter and two others worked at erecting a more durable replacement memorial - a magnificent granite memorial with bronze plaque on top showing all crash site locations. Another feature within the memorial stell is the Roll of Honour Board with silhouettes of aeroplanes, as well as two wooden benches. One is dedicated to the memory of the shepherds who led rescue missions and their sheepdog Sheila who rescued the USAF B17 crew. The crew were each awarded the BEM and Sheila the dog was awarded the Dickinson Medal. The second bench is dedicated to all who lost their lives. Both benches now allow visitors to reflect and enjoy the wonderful Cheviot views from the new memorial which was re-dedicated on 6 September by HRH Duke of Gloucester. Chrys then displayed photographs of all the crash sites to the group and shared the notes about all crashes.
GLHS Members found this way of exploring local history ‘in the field’ very rewarding. The Society has arranged two more Outdoor Meetings this Autumn. The next will be on October 14th and will explore the area above Wooler (Green Castle, the Kettles and the Pinwell). Members are asked to book in advance. Please contact GLHS c/o the Cheviot Centre, Padgepool Place Wooler, NE71 6BL, or email [email protected].
August 2020
Battle of Homildon Outdoor Meeting 12/08/2020
Battle of Homildon Outdoor Meeting 12/08/2020
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In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, this was the first Outdoor Meeting held by the Society. The weather was good, the sun shone and x10 of us set out in 2 separate groups with a leader and helper. One group started and finished at The Cheviot Centre and the other went to and from Doreen Wilkinson’s bench at High Humbleton. We all enjoyed exploring an important local history site with our GLHS friends.
We stopped at High Humbleton (parish of Akeld) and Eileen contrasted what we see today with the much more vibrant settlement of the medieval and 19th centuries. |
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Remnants remain of the chapel and several cottages but the pele tower and duck pond are gone. The Lonnen, ever popular today with walkers and joggers, has a long history, perhaps part of a network of what are known as “the Old Paths of the Cheviots” connecting England and Scotland and used for shepherding, smuggling and reiving.
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We continued to the NNP field gate, stopped again at the new Battle Information Board, where Eileen set the Battle of Homildon (1402) in its wider historical context. Then, staying low, we walked along to a knoll on the northern flanks of Humbleton Hill, which gave a good view of the Battle site, which stretched from Humbleton Hill, to Harelaw and Monday Cleugh and down to Millfield Vale. Here, Eileen contrasted the traditional understanding of how the Battle was conducted with a more recent interpretation, made after a visit by Robert Hardy in 2012.
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Robert, as well as being a renowned actor, was an expert on the use of the longbow in warfare and a former president of The Battlefields Trust. We were able to look at the topography and relate this to accounts of the Battle. We were also able to look down to the site of what is known as the commemorative battle stone, which is in reality a standing stone from the Bronze Age. Finally, we discussed the aftermath of the Battle. King Henry IV was preoccupied with, the Welsh revolt led by Owain Glyndwr while much of Northumberland remained lawless in the face of the Reivers and their continuing raids, plundering and killing. The Union of the Crowns came in 1603. Today Border issues between England and Scotland are still on the political agenda.
Please refer to the September 2020 newsletter (posted on the GLHS website) where you can find a summary of information about the Battle. You may also be interested in the following two references.
Please refer to the September 2020 newsletter (posted on the GLHS website) where you can find a summary of information about the Battle. You may also be interested in the following two references.
- Hardy, R. (Autumn 2017). The Battle of Homildon. Battlefield. 22 (2) 12-15.
- MacDonald Fraser G. (1995) The Steel Bonnets. Harper Collins.
March 2020
The Berwick Photo Centre
Cameron Robertson gave a fascinating talk about the Berwick Photo Centre, including the history of the small family business 1951–2012 and the huge collection of photographs, now in Berwick Record Office.
The story starts with David Smith, who left school in 1930 to become a journalist on his local newspaper, the Perthshire Constitutional. Once promoted to editor, he decided that every week there would be a full page of photographs, which he took himself.
He moved to the Berwick Advertiser, then served in the Royal Corps of Signals during WWII (the paper was run by women during the war, with his wife employed as chief reporter). He returned to the Advertiser, and in 1947 was appointed editor, then in 1949 he set up a Photo Department.
It was then common practice for journalists to send copies of their articles and/or photographs to other papers, but the Advertiser’s owner Major Smail wanted to curtail this. So in 1951 David Smith left to set up a freelance business, the Berwick Photo Centre, which provided both a commercial service and as a press agency supplied news photographs locally, across the UK, and internationally.
David Smith’s pictures appeared in many national papers, in prestige publications including the New York Times, and on the BBC. A notable example is that when scandal about local MP Lord Lambton hit the headlines, a small part of one of David Smith’s apparently routine photographs of a Berwick Conservative Party meeting appeared around the world, showing the MP apparently dozing beside his wife.
Local news items included Billy Smarts circus elephant crossing the border; laying turf for Berwick rangers FC; the last pit pony in a pub; the 1951 opening of the May Fair; the Wooler shepherds’ supper at the Angel; and the Queen’s visit in 1956. Most of the photographs are crowd scenes, which were found to increase newspaper sales.
A Photo Centre photographer was often first on scene at accidents, acting as unofficial police photographer, so there are images of the 1953 train derailment at Goswick; a road traffic accident in a blizzard on the Great North Road just north of Berwick; the 1971 fire at Walkers garage (now Mike Hope’s) in Wooler; and one of the first helicopter rescues from Holy Island causeway.
They also photographed celebrities: Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor at Bamburgh, before their relationship was made public; and Cliff Richard, the Moody Blues and the Beatles who at various times stayed overnight in Berwick on their way north. Photos also feature racing driver Jim Clark at Chirnside. Local celebrities include fishermen pictured with their record salmon catches in the Tweed, and the last shift at Black Hall Pit in 1959.
The photographers also recorded personal events: weddings, young men in uniform, dinner dances, night clubs, the aftermath of burglaries and injuries for insurance claims, and day trippers at Spittal beach – pictures which illustrate changing social conventions.
The Photo Centre operated first from premises above 120 Marygate, from 1952 at 10 Hyde Hill, which included a studio, and from 1953 at 17 Bridge Street. The Smiths’ son Ian and his wife joined the business in 1965. The photographic equipment available in the 1950s required considerable technical skill: for each individual picture, a glass plate had to be inserted into a large, heavy camera. There was no colour photography: the camera captured a black and white image, so when a colour picture was required the plate was sent to a processor in Yorkshire with a list of hues and shades for hand-colouring, sometimes with pieces of fabric or a lock of hair to ensure a good match. The first colour photo in the collection is of a Miss Berwick in the 1960s.
There are 3–4 million photographs in the Collection, which was bought by the Friends of Berwick Record Office in 2012. Images are being digitised to make them accessible on the BRO database. An exhibition at the Granary publicised the Collection, along with the publication of two books of photographs, on the ‘50s and the ‘60s
The Berwick Photo Centre
Cameron Robertson gave a fascinating talk about the Berwick Photo Centre, including the history of the small family business 1951–2012 and the huge collection of photographs, now in Berwick Record Office.
The story starts with David Smith, who left school in 1930 to become a journalist on his local newspaper, the Perthshire Constitutional. Once promoted to editor, he decided that every week there would be a full page of photographs, which he took himself.
He moved to the Berwick Advertiser, then served in the Royal Corps of Signals during WWII (the paper was run by women during the war, with his wife employed as chief reporter). He returned to the Advertiser, and in 1947 was appointed editor, then in 1949 he set up a Photo Department.
It was then common practice for journalists to send copies of their articles and/or photographs to other papers, but the Advertiser’s owner Major Smail wanted to curtail this. So in 1951 David Smith left to set up a freelance business, the Berwick Photo Centre, which provided both a commercial service and as a press agency supplied news photographs locally, across the UK, and internationally.
David Smith’s pictures appeared in many national papers, in prestige publications including the New York Times, and on the BBC. A notable example is that when scandal about local MP Lord Lambton hit the headlines, a small part of one of David Smith’s apparently routine photographs of a Berwick Conservative Party meeting appeared around the world, showing the MP apparently dozing beside his wife.
Local news items included Billy Smarts circus elephant crossing the border; laying turf for Berwick rangers FC; the last pit pony in a pub; the 1951 opening of the May Fair; the Wooler shepherds’ supper at the Angel; and the Queen’s visit in 1956. Most of the photographs are crowd scenes, which were found to increase newspaper sales.
A Photo Centre photographer was often first on scene at accidents, acting as unofficial police photographer, so there are images of the 1953 train derailment at Goswick; a road traffic accident in a blizzard on the Great North Road just north of Berwick; the 1971 fire at Walkers garage (now Mike Hope’s) in Wooler; and one of the first helicopter rescues from Holy Island causeway.
They also photographed celebrities: Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor at Bamburgh, before their relationship was made public; and Cliff Richard, the Moody Blues and the Beatles who at various times stayed overnight in Berwick on their way north. Photos also feature racing driver Jim Clark at Chirnside. Local celebrities include fishermen pictured with their record salmon catches in the Tweed, and the last shift at Black Hall Pit in 1959.
The photographers also recorded personal events: weddings, young men in uniform, dinner dances, night clubs, the aftermath of burglaries and injuries for insurance claims, and day trippers at Spittal beach – pictures which illustrate changing social conventions.
The Photo Centre operated first from premises above 120 Marygate, from 1952 at 10 Hyde Hill, which included a studio, and from 1953 at 17 Bridge Street. The Smiths’ son Ian and his wife joined the business in 1965. The photographic equipment available in the 1950s required considerable technical skill: for each individual picture, a glass plate had to be inserted into a large, heavy camera. There was no colour photography: the camera captured a black and white image, so when a colour picture was required the plate was sent to a processor in Yorkshire with a list of hues and shades for hand-colouring, sometimes with pieces of fabric or a lock of hair to ensure a good match. The first colour photo in the collection is of a Miss Berwick in the 1960s.
There are 3–4 million photographs in the Collection, which was bought by the Friends of Berwick Record Office in 2012. Images are being digitised to make them accessible on the BRO database. An exhibition at the Granary publicised the Collection, along with the publication of two books of photographs, on the ‘50s and the ‘60s
February 2020
Greys of Howick
Peter Regan gave a most interesting talk on the Grey family, of great renown in Northumberland.
Peter began with a résumé of this ancient family, who came to England with the Normans after 1066. An Anchtil de Greye is the earliest recorded member. His great-grandson Henry de Greye (1155–1219) was a courtier of King John, whose descendants include Lady Jane Grey and Hugh Derek Grey who came to Chillingham in 1203, the arrival of the Grey family in our area.
In the 14th century, John de Grey of Heton acquired the Howick estate. The Grey property included Chillingham, where the ornate tomb (1319) of Ralph Grey and his wife can be seen in the church beside the castle.
The first baronet, Sir Henry Grey (born 1691) married Hannah Wood, heiress to Fallodon Hall. They had nine children who were brought up at Fallodon: Henry, the eldest son, became second baronet but never married, so the second son, Charles, continued the line and inherited Fallodon from his mother. Charles became the first Earl Grey in 1806, in recognition of his distinguished military service (he was known as “No flint Grey”, as he had made his soldiers remove the flints from their muskets in order to make surprise attacks with bayonets).
Charles’ eldest son Charles, second Earl Grey, was the most prominent member of the family. He became Whig Prime Minister 1830–34, introducing reforms including tthe abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire; and restrictions on the employment of children. (Charles’s younger brother George inherited Fallodon; his son Edward became Lord Grey of Fallodon, the Foreign Secretary who is famously reported to have said in 1914 “All over Europe the lights are going out.”
Howick Hall – Sir Henry Grey, bachelor uncle of Charles second Earl Grey, built Howick Hall near the site of a pele tower in 1782. The fine Georgian house, designed by Newcastle architect William Newton, is 9 bays wide and 5 bays deep. Sir Henry left Howick to his nephew Charles, who lived there with his wife and 15 children. Charles moved the main entrance to the north side, added the quadrants linking the main house and its wings, and built the Bathing House – now a holiday cottage – for the use of his children.
The estates of the family gradually diminished and much of the land was sold to pay off debts deriving from their ancestors’ political activities.
The 5th Earl, Charles (born 1879) married Mabel Palmer, and together they developed the gardens which we know today. Their daughter Lady Mary carried on her parents’ work in the gardens. She married Evelyn Baring who in 1960 became Baron Howick of Glendale (the gates from Barings Bank are now used in the walled garden).
The present Lord Howick (born 1937) has continued the development of the gardens with a 65-acre arboretum, a scientific collection now growing about 11,000 of trees & shrubs grown from seed collected in the wild on expeditions to temperate regions worldwide.
Greys of Howick
Peter Regan gave a most interesting talk on the Grey family, of great renown in Northumberland.
Peter began with a résumé of this ancient family, who came to England with the Normans after 1066. An Anchtil de Greye is the earliest recorded member. His great-grandson Henry de Greye (1155–1219) was a courtier of King John, whose descendants include Lady Jane Grey and Hugh Derek Grey who came to Chillingham in 1203, the arrival of the Grey family in our area.
In the 14th century, John de Grey of Heton acquired the Howick estate. The Grey property included Chillingham, where the ornate tomb (1319) of Ralph Grey and his wife can be seen in the church beside the castle.
The first baronet, Sir Henry Grey (born 1691) married Hannah Wood, heiress to Fallodon Hall. They had nine children who were brought up at Fallodon: Henry, the eldest son, became second baronet but never married, so the second son, Charles, continued the line and inherited Fallodon from his mother. Charles became the first Earl Grey in 1806, in recognition of his distinguished military service (he was known as “No flint Grey”, as he had made his soldiers remove the flints from their muskets in order to make surprise attacks with bayonets).
Charles’ eldest son Charles, second Earl Grey, was the most prominent member of the family. He became Whig Prime Minister 1830–34, introducing reforms including tthe abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire; and restrictions on the employment of children. (Charles’s younger brother George inherited Fallodon; his son Edward became Lord Grey of Fallodon, the Foreign Secretary who is famously reported to have said in 1914 “All over Europe the lights are going out.”
Howick Hall – Sir Henry Grey, bachelor uncle of Charles second Earl Grey, built Howick Hall near the site of a pele tower in 1782. The fine Georgian house, designed by Newcastle architect William Newton, is 9 bays wide and 5 bays deep. Sir Henry left Howick to his nephew Charles, who lived there with his wife and 15 children. Charles moved the main entrance to the north side, added the quadrants linking the main house and its wings, and built the Bathing House – now a holiday cottage – for the use of his children.
The estates of the family gradually diminished and much of the land was sold to pay off debts deriving from their ancestors’ political activities.
The 5th Earl, Charles (born 1879) married Mabel Palmer, and together they developed the gardens which we know today. Their daughter Lady Mary carried on her parents’ work in the gardens. She married Evelyn Baring who in 1960 became Baron Howick of Glendale (the gates from Barings Bank are now used in the walled garden).
The present Lord Howick (born 1937) has continued the development of the gardens with a 65-acre arboretum, a scientific collection now growing about 11,000 of trees & shrubs grown from seed collected in the wild on expeditions to temperate regions worldwide.
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January 2020
Bamburgh Ossuary Outing: 18th January 2020 On Saturday 18th January around 25 members and friends of Glendale Local History Society visited Bamburgh on a sunny but cold and breezy morning. We met up at St Aidan’s Church where Jessica Turner gave us a brief resume of the salient points from her recent talk to the Society. Inside the beautiful Church are to be found a number of display boards, a short video presentation and a digital interface providing detailed information on each skeleton interred in the ossuary. We then made our way back outside and down a few steps to the crypt, the former Forster family mausoleum. Here Jessica filled us in with further details of the history of the crypt and how it came to house the remains of around 120 individuals dating from the seventh and eighth centuries, contemporaries of St Aidan himself, now contained securely in Italian charnel boxes. She also pointed out a number of medieval stone gravestones that would have laid flat on top of graves – a carved sword indicating a man, and a key, a woman. We then watched the rather novel video presentation cleverly projected onto the side wall of the crypt. Finally we were able to crouch down and peer through a low ornate gateway to see the collection of boxes contained within the inner sanctum. Several members of the group then made their way to the Castle Inn for some social time and refreshments before heading homeward. An interesting and enlightening time was had by all, and many people left planning to return on a later date to study the material more closely. Allan Colman |
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January 2020
Bamburgh ossuary & the Anglo-Saxon context
Jessica Turner, Project Officer in the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that stretches for 52km from Spittal to Amble, gave a fascinating talk. An ossuary is defined as a place for the storage of bones: it could be a room or just a box, and is also known as a charnel house. It is normally housed in a building close to but often set apart from a church. There are many such places throughout Europe but very few in the UK.
It was Catholic practice that a priest or monk would be called to pray for the safe passage of the soul to heaven once the flesh has left the bones. This would have been too expensive for most individuals’ families, but when the bones of a number of people were collected together in an ossuary the cost could be shared. After Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries in 1537, this tradition ceased in the UK which is why ossuaries are so unusual here. There are two surviving major charnel houses in this country, one in St Leonard’s, Kent and another in Northamptonshire.
Prior to c. 800 AD the dead were usually buried alongside roads outside the towns and villages, but then it was decreed that bodies should be buried on consecrated ground. Limiting the space available in this way meant that over time older bones would need to be disinterred to make way for new burials. The disinterred bones, or at least the femur and skull, would be stored in a charnel house or ossuary.
An old map of Bamburgh shows a ‘Danish’ graveyard and Bowl Hole amongst the dunes adjacent to Bamburgh Castle. In 1837 a massive storm exposed a number of bones, and later excavations revealed a number of skeletons buried on an east-west alignment with no grave goods – indicating classic Christian burials. Over a period of 8 years 110 identifiable skeletons were excavated and it was possible in some cases to determine the occupation and likely cause of death. The skeletons were radio-carbon dated to between 650 and 750 AD, when Bamburgh was the cosmopolitan, spiritual centre of the great Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
Isotope analysis revealed that the skeletons are those of men, women and children, of different ages and origins: some are Scandinavian, mainly males who may well have been Vikings; some grew up as far away as North Africa and the Mediterranean; some came from Ireland; and others came from Iona and may well have travelled with St Aidan who brought Christianity to Northumbria. Just a few came from the local area, showing that people travelled far and wide even in the 7th century. It seems most likely that these people served in the royal court at the castle, so many of them could have been part of Aidan’s congregation and heard him preach. This period is often referred to as the Dark Ages, but in Northumbria it was an age of enlightenment, reflected in the production of the Lindisfarne Gospels.
St Aidan’s church in Bamburgh is dedicated to Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne Priory who also founded the first church on the site in the year 635. After the excavation, the bones were largely forgotten in a cupboard in Bamburgh Castle. They were rediscovered in 2016 and it was decided to place them to St Aidan’s church in the unused crypt, which had long since been closed to the public. With the help of a large National Lottery grant the crypt was restored, access made safe, and the skeletons packed into individual boxes on purpose-built shelves in a section of the crypt separated off by a wrought iron gate, designed and made by a local craftsman, and through which the boxes are visible.
An elaborate, very well-attended funeral ceremony took place when the boxes were brought from the castle and placed in part of the crypt.
The crypt is now open to the public and is easily accessible from outside the church. A short video presentation telling the story of the excavations can also be watched inside the crypt. Also, a wide range of interpretation and information boards are to be found at the back of the church for the enlightenment of visitors.
Further information is available free of charge on the website www.bamburghbones.org.
Bamburgh ossuary & the Anglo-Saxon context
Jessica Turner, Project Officer in the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that stretches for 52km from Spittal to Amble, gave a fascinating talk. An ossuary is defined as a place for the storage of bones: it could be a room or just a box, and is also known as a charnel house. It is normally housed in a building close to but often set apart from a church. There are many such places throughout Europe but very few in the UK.
It was Catholic practice that a priest or monk would be called to pray for the safe passage of the soul to heaven once the flesh has left the bones. This would have been too expensive for most individuals’ families, but when the bones of a number of people were collected together in an ossuary the cost could be shared. After Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries in 1537, this tradition ceased in the UK which is why ossuaries are so unusual here. There are two surviving major charnel houses in this country, one in St Leonard’s, Kent and another in Northamptonshire.
Prior to c. 800 AD the dead were usually buried alongside roads outside the towns and villages, but then it was decreed that bodies should be buried on consecrated ground. Limiting the space available in this way meant that over time older bones would need to be disinterred to make way for new burials. The disinterred bones, or at least the femur and skull, would be stored in a charnel house or ossuary.
An old map of Bamburgh shows a ‘Danish’ graveyard and Bowl Hole amongst the dunes adjacent to Bamburgh Castle. In 1837 a massive storm exposed a number of bones, and later excavations revealed a number of skeletons buried on an east-west alignment with no grave goods – indicating classic Christian burials. Over a period of 8 years 110 identifiable skeletons were excavated and it was possible in some cases to determine the occupation and likely cause of death. The skeletons were radio-carbon dated to between 650 and 750 AD, when Bamburgh was the cosmopolitan, spiritual centre of the great Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
Isotope analysis revealed that the skeletons are those of men, women and children, of different ages and origins: some are Scandinavian, mainly males who may well have been Vikings; some grew up as far away as North Africa and the Mediterranean; some came from Ireland; and others came from Iona and may well have travelled with St Aidan who brought Christianity to Northumbria. Just a few came from the local area, showing that people travelled far and wide even in the 7th century. It seems most likely that these people served in the royal court at the castle, so many of them could have been part of Aidan’s congregation and heard him preach. This period is often referred to as the Dark Ages, but in Northumbria it was an age of enlightenment, reflected in the production of the Lindisfarne Gospels.
St Aidan’s church in Bamburgh is dedicated to Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne Priory who also founded the first church on the site in the year 635. After the excavation, the bones were largely forgotten in a cupboard in Bamburgh Castle. They were rediscovered in 2016 and it was decided to place them to St Aidan’s church in the unused crypt, which had long since been closed to the public. With the help of a large National Lottery grant the crypt was restored, access made safe, and the skeletons packed into individual boxes on purpose-built shelves in a section of the crypt separated off by a wrought iron gate, designed and made by a local craftsman, and through which the boxes are visible.
An elaborate, very well-attended funeral ceremony took place when the boxes were brought from the castle and placed in part of the crypt.
The crypt is now open to the public and is easily accessible from outside the church. A short video presentation telling the story of the excavations can also be watched inside the crypt. Also, a wide range of interpretation and information boards are to be found at the back of the church for the enlightenment of visitors.
Further information is available free of charge on the website www.bamburghbones.org.