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Friends of St Paul's Web Pages

The Aims of the Friends of St Paul's

  • To pray for the ministry of St Paul's
  • To raise money for the church fabric and fittings
  • To support the congregation
  • To get involved with the life of the church
  • To encourage pilgrimage to Jarrow

 
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The Friends of St. Paul's

The Friends of St Paul's Church is a society committed to raising funds for the maintenance and good estate of the ancient monastery church of St Paul's Church, which lies on the banks of the rivers Tyne and Don at Jarrow.

The members support St. Pauls' Church with their subscriptions and other donations and are invited to advertise St Paul's to their friends.

The Society sends out newsletters twice a year bringing members up to date with events at St. Paul's and invites its members to Special Services and Events including the annual Jarrow Lecture in late May.

The annual subscription is £6.00 a year payable on 1st January (reduced rate for members under 18 years: £3.00 a year)

Friends of St Paul's Church are entitled to free entry into Bede's World - the Museum of Early Medieval Northumbria at Jarrow.

For more information, telephone St Paul's Church: 0191 489 7052.

Membership - Application Form, Downloadable form to follow shortly! In the meantime please call to request one.

Please follow the AGM Link: AGM Notes

 

St Paul's Church and Monastery was built on land given by King Ecgfrith of Northumbria in AD681.

It was founded by Benedict Biscop, who seven years ealier had built the church and monastery of St. Peter's at Wearmouth (Sunderland).

The chancel of St. Paul's is the original Saxon church, built as a separate chapel and possibly dedicated to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

A large basilica was built on the site of the present nave and dedicated on 23rd April AD685.

The present nave and north aisle are the work of the Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The monastery to which the Venerable Bede came as a boy, thrived in the 7th and 8th centuries. It was here that Bede lived, worked and worshipped. His bones now lie in the Galilee Chapel of Durham Cathedral. In AD794 the Vikings sacked the church and monastery.

In 1074 the church was repaired and the monastery refounded by Aldwin, Prior of Winchcombe Abbey in Gloucestershire. The monastery then became a daughter house of the Benedictine Community at Durham.

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, St. Paul's became a Parish Church.

Today the church is part of the Parish of Jarrow Team Ministry in the Diocese of Durham within the Church of England.

Links :

Bede: The Holy Abbots of Weremouth and Jarrow (Internet Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University, New York) | Saint Benedict Biscop (Sunderland City Council) | St Peter's Church, Parish of Monkwearmouth [Sunderland] | Saxon Monastic Houses (County Durham) (British History Online and Victoria County History, University of London)| Winchcombe Abbey (British History Online and Victoria County History, University of London) | Durham Cathedral - History (Durham Cathedral) | Durham: Echoes of Power Virtual Exhibitions, "Collect Britain" website (British Library)

Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture (CASSS) (Department of Archaeology, University of Durham)

Wood-Engraving of Jarrow Church and Monastery (1775-1785) One of the images of St Paul's Church, Jarrow, and the Jarrow Monastery ruins in the Structural Images of the North East database (SINE Project, Museum of Antiquities, University of Newcastle upon Tyne)