Return of Gospels 'a real chance'

Jan 29 2007 By Ross Smith, The Journal

The return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the North-East is a "real possibility", MPs have claimed.

Gateshead East and Washington West MP Sharon Hodgson told Parliament it is "not acceptable" for the artefacts to remain at the British Library until 2012, as officials are insisting.

A delegation of North-East MPs is due to meet representatives of the Library, which is refusing to allow even a temporary exhibition of the artefacts in the region.

And they hit out at claims from a junior shadow minister that they must stay in London because they are a "national treasure".

The historic texts were taken from Durham Cathedral in 1537 by Henry VIII, and the British Library said last year it would never allow them to permanently return.

Speaking in a House of Commons debate, Mrs Hodgson said: "If we all co-operate, the return of the Gospels is a real possibility.

"The Gospels are icons of the heritage of the North-East. The last time they were in the North-East, people queued for half a mile to see them. With the best will in the world, I cannot imagine such queues forming at the British Library.

"The return of the gospels is also a matter of social justice. It is a 600-mile trip to go from the North-East to London and back, and many people in the North-East simply cannot afford to make that trip.

"I completely take on board the fact that other people need to see the gospels, but for them not even to be allowed to come to the North-East for people in the North-East to see them for another six or more years is not acceptable."

Tim Loughton, a Conservative junior shadow health minister from Sussex, claimed the Gospels are a "national, indeed an international treasure" which could be seen by "many, many more people" in London than in the North.

But Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods retorted: "There is no reason why a national treasure cannot be located in the North-East, because we want people to travel to the North-East to see those wonderful gospels in the context in which they were written."