One Monastery in Two Places Project
(Universities of Newcastle & Durham)
This project, funded by English Heritage, is designed to explore the wider landscape and hinterland of Wearmouth-Jarrow and to explore the impact of the monastic foundation and its archaeological legacy across time.
The 2 year project has two elements:
Archaeological surveys
The project has been engaged in undertaking geophysical survey within the immediate environs of Wearmouth and Jarrow. The Project Officer has been undertaking Ground Penetrating Radar Survey at both sites combined with geoprospection using magnetometry and gradiometry. The data has not yet been refined fully, but, below ground anomalies, graves, ditches, walls and possible structures can be made out. The excavated foundations of both monastic complexes can be discerned. The extensive truncation of the environs of the monasteries is also apparent.
Contemporary conceptions
A 12 month studentship, funded by English Heritage and offered at the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, focusses on past and current public perceptions of the early medieval monastery and its surviving remains and its intellectual and historic legacy. The studentship will develop a project aimed to capture public perceptions of both monuments and their surroundings. For more information go to http://www.wearmouth-jarrow.org.uk/