EXPERTS are boring into the past in a bid to recreate the Anglo-Saxon landscape around the North East’s hoped-for next world heritage site.
Boreholes 15 metres deep have been drilled in the area of Sunderland University’s St Peter’s Campus and the nearby Seventh Century St Peter’s Church.
The aim is to find out where the riverside and coastline would have been in the days of the Anglo-Saxon Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery.
Centred on St Peter’s Church in Sunderland and St Paul’s Church in Jarrow, the twin site which was the home of the Venerable Bede is the UK’s nomination for world heritage site status, with a decision expected in the summer.
Rt Rev Mark Bryant, Bishop of Jarrow and chairman of the Wearmouth-Jarrow Partnership, said: “One of the exciting things about the Wearmouth-Jarrow site is that, while we do know a lot about its role in the Seventh Century, there is still so much to discover.
“This work is vital to help us understand more clearly what the shoreline would have looked like in Saxon times, when Bede would have travelled to and from the monastery by boat.
“The material retrieved from the dig will be carbon dated and from that we can build up a better picture of the river.
“Over the centuries the dumping of ships’ ballast and other material would have covered up the riverside and the question is what lies beneath all that.
“We hope to discover information about the course of the river then, which will add to our fund of knowledge about the site.”
The operation has been jointly funded by English Heritage and Sunderland City Council.
Laura Sole, project coordinator for the world heritage bid, said that pollen finds from the drilling may also shed light on what was growing in the area and how the Anglo-Saxon landscape looked.
She said: “Bede talks about the riverside setting and how important it was. But ballast dumping, industrial development and regeneration schemes mean that the riverside in the Anglo-Saxon period was probably 300 metres nearer the church.”
There may also have been important sculptures to mark arrival at the monastery. A joint project between Newcastle and Durham universities is also researching what the monastic estate would have looked like, with agricultural land, woodland, and small settlements.
The Wearmouth-Jarrow site has had a three-day inspection by a professor on behalf of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, which works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the globe and offers advice to Unesco on world heritage sites.
His report will feed into the world heritage bid decision-making process.
The twin Anglo-Saxon monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow, was created by Benedict Biscop in the Seventh Century and was one of the most influential institutions in the Western world, contributing to learning, creativity and culture.
