Such was the uneventful life of Jarrow and Monkwearmouth till the revolution of 1536, which brought an end to the existence of the smaller monasteries. These two were valued at £38 14s. 4d. and £26 9s. 9d. respectively.

The property of both the cells passed thenceforth into lay hands, and the churches became poorer still. To Jarrow was preserved the meagre endowment of ten marks; to Monkwearmouth two marks less. The former church had, moreover, Easter offerings and a small parsonage. The incumbents of both had, of course, an uncertain income from fees. No attempt to mend matters was made till the commencement of the nineteenth century.

Before that period had arrived the neglected churches had at last fallen quite into decay. The parishioners had had to do something; what they did was to destroy the nave of Jarrow, and the southern (or Saxon) wall of Monkwearmouth. These demolitions took place in 1782 and 1806 respectively. The result of the alterations and rebuildings no doubt commended itself to those then concerned with such matters. We find a picture of the new Monkwearmouth Church accompanied with a note of much satisfaction in a contemporary number of the Gentleman’s Magazine.

Restorations followed in 1861 and 1873, but they could not give back the past. What was spared has been treated with reverence. The west front of Monkwearmouth still remains. The church, now apparently sunk into a hollow, is surrounded by poor and crowded tenements, built upon ballast brought from the Thames. The medieval chancel is there, its restored windows now filled with Kempe’s beautiful glass. The music of its services is worthy of the church of John the Chanter. Only we regret the loss of the Saxon Church as it once stood upon its hill overlooking river and sea. Jarrow has been more fortunate; it still crowns the hill above its wide slake—a landmark well known to all those who use the waterways of the Tyne. It, too, has its points of interest, its Saxon chancel and its Norman tower. Much, of course, is missing in both places. But there is still more than enough to attract and to fascinate the mind of the Englishman and the Christian, who looks back to the glories of that good old time that gave to Northumbria and to the world the life of the one man that was Venerable—the learning and the labours of Bede.

THE PARISH CHURCHES OF DURHAM
By Wilfrid Leighton

ARCHITECTURALLY, the parish churches of Durham are best described as of the "homely order," and one may search the county in vain for an oft-recurring and distinctive feature, such as the graceful spires of Northamptonshire, or the splendid Perpendicular towers, which distinguish so many of the churches of Somerset. In the country of Benedict Biscop and the Venerable Bede it is natural that we should look for other matters of interest than striking architecture, and undoubtedly many of the churches carry evidence of a high antiquity, though only perhaps a fragment of dog-tooth moulding breaking through lath and plaster restoration of the eighteenth century.

Two churches, Jarrow and Monkwearmouth, are no less interesting for the Saxon remains which they contain than for their association with the early Christian Fathers of the North. Both these churches date from the latter part of the seventh century. At the time of their erection Theodore of Tarsus, to whom the division of the country into parishes is generally attributed, was Archbishop of Canterbury; but it would not at this early date be correct to describe them as parish churches, for it was not until the decay of the brotherhoods to which they were attached that they ceased to be other than the chapels of their respective monasteries.

In another part of this volume full justice has been done to these early churches, but some reference must be made here to the church of Escomb, in the west of the county. It is perhaps of an equally early date and a remarkably perfect example of a church of the period. Very little is known of its early history, but after the Dissolution it was regarded as a chapel-of-ease to St. Andrew’s, Auckland. In 1879 it had fallen into disuse, a new church having been built at some distance. But upon the "re-discovery" of the nature of the old building, in that year, funds were at once raised for its repair.

The church consists of a square chancel, a nave, and a porch as a later addition. The church has undoubtedly been built with stones from the Roman camp of Binchester, many of which show the diamond broaching. Professor Baldwin Brown is of the opinion that the chancel arch, which is the most striking feature of the interior, was removed bodily from the camp and set up in pre-Conquest times in its present position.

On the south side of the chancel there are two original windows, with semicircular heads, cut out of single blocks, and jambs battering inwards. There are two original windows on the north side with square heads. The sills of these windows are thirteen feet from the floor level, and another window in the west end is placed still higher. At later dates the walls have been pierced with other windows, two in the south wall of the nave, one in the west gable, one in the east end, and one in the south wall of the chancel. Between the two original windows on the south is a "Saxon" sundial. The original entrances were in the north and south walls of the nave, and there is a later doorway in the chancel. A fragment of an early cross is preserved in the church.