Monkwearmouth - St Peter

In 674 a monastery was founded in Monkwearmouth by King Egfrid of Northumbria.

It was one of the two churches of the Benedictine double monastery of Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey. Benedict Biscop became the first abbot.The original church on the site was built at the behest of Benedict Biscop in 674–75. Bede Venerabilis 673/735) wrote that Benedict (who travelled to Rome six times!) brought stonemasons and glassworkers from Gaul to build the church, as these crafts were not yet established in Anglo-Saxon England.

Of Benedict's building only the west wall and porch survive. The ground floor of the porch is barrel vaulted. Its outer arch, at the west end of the porch, is decorated with stone reliefs.

By about 700 the porch had been enlarged by the addition of a second storey and north and south porticus, forming a westwork. By the end of the 10th century further storeys had been added to the porch, raising its height to form the present west tower. The rest of the church is much later. The north aisle was first built in the 13th century. A five-light east window was inserted in the chancel in the 14th century.