Jarrow Hall

Jarrow Hall stands on an 11-acre site in Jarrow, South Tyneside, beside the remains of the Anglo-Saxon monastery of St Paul. The museum celebrates Bede, the monk and scholar who wrote at the nearby Wearmouth-Jarrow double monastery in the 8th century. A Georgian house from the 18th century forms the core of the complex, now called Jarrow Hall House. The site also includes a reconstructed Anglo-Saxon farm named Gyrwe. Activities range from farm talks to live combat re-enactments and heritage workshops. The museum’s exhibits display excavated finds from the monastery: stained glass, imported pottery, coins and stone carvings. Artefacts illustrate Bede’s life, the daily routine of monks and the medieval Kingdom of Northumbria. Gyrwe farm shows timber buildings reconstructed from archaeological evidence, including a large hall, a sunken store and a monk’s cell. Visitors can walk among the ruins of the scheduled ancient monument of St Paul’s monastery. Jarrow Hall House contains a coffee shop and a gift shop, while a medieval herb garden grows over 200 species behind the house. The site hosts events and conferences in both buildings. Traditional thatching and wattle-and-daub techniques were used to rebuild the farm structures. Visitors leave with the scent of woodsmoke from the farm’s central fire pit still in the air.