Jarrow

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Jarrow, on the south bank of the Tyne, was founded in 682 by Benedict Biscop and thereafter formed a single monastery with Monkwearmouth. Largely through the work of Bede this foundation had an enormous impact on medieval European learning. One of Biscop's churches still survives as the present chancel; the larger basilica, dedicated in 685, lay to its west and was destroyed in the 18th cent. As at Wearmouth, these churches and the surrounding excavated monastic structures reflect Gaulish tastes. The present standing buildings lying to the south of the church are of post-Conquest date, some associated with Aldwine's attempt to revive monasticism on the site in the 1070s.

Richard N. Bailey

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