The medieval monastery of Monkwearmouth

After its destruction by the Vikings the once proud Anglo-Saxon monastery of Wearmouth remained ruinous and uninhabited until the later 11th century when it was re-founded by Aldwin, a Mercian priest and prior of Winchombe who established a Benedictine order of monks there. However, following the assimilation of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow into the Benediction Priory of Durham in 1083, and the removal of the monks to Durham,it iseems likely that  Wearmouth ceased to function altogether for some considerable time thereafter. Only from 1235, when the statutes of Durham Priory, does evidence survives to indicate that the monastery of Wearmouth was again operational. Thereafter  it functioned as a dependent cell  of the Priory, governed by a master and and just one or, occasionally, two fellow monks drawn from the monastic community of Durham. The cell was dissolved in 1536, with Wearmouth being granted to Thomas Whitehead, who subsequently purchased the  monastic site. At the close of the 16th century the estate was conveyed to John Widdrington, esq., and it remained vested in his family until the death of Widdrington’s grandson in 1641. Archaeological excavations have subsequently revealed evidence of a square cloister, surrounded by three walls and it has been suggested that the medieval east and south ranges survived and were incorporated into the later Monkwearmouth Hall when it was rebuilt in the 17th century.