Royal visit will boost museum’s Bede bid
BACKING BID ... the Duke of Gloucester.
A ROYAL visitor will tomorrow provide a major boost to a landmark tourist bid in South Tyneside.
His Royal Highness, The Duke of Gloucester, will support the World Heritage Site bid by the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow.
The Duke, who is patron of Bede’s World in Church Bank, Jarrow, will return to the museum to hear all about the latest developments over the bid and the museum itself.
A decision is due this summer after the twin Anglo-Saxon monastic site was put forward as the UK’s nomination for World Heritage Site status.
If confirmed, a successful bid would put the dual monastic site on the same heritage footing as Durham Cathedral, the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall of China.
The bid is centred around two churches – St Paul’s, Jarrow, and St Peter’s, Sunderland – which were created by Benedict Biscop in the 7th century, and were home to the Venerable Bede, Europe’s greatest 8th century scholar.
Bede’s World, next to St Paul’s, was set up to help visitors learn more about Bede and the Anglo-Saxon way of life in Northumbria, and includes an Anglo-Saxon farm, complete with rare breed animals.
During his visit, the Duke will meet a group of eight and nine-year-olds from St Aloysius RC Primary School, Hebburn, which is one of the many schools to take advantage of the educational facilities offered by the museum.
Dressed as monks from 700 AD, in keeping with the museum’s aim of providing an authentic experience of life at the time of Bede, the children will also try their hand at calligraphy, with quill pens.
The Duke will be guided round the museum site by Professor Dame Rosemary Cramp, emeritus professor of archaeology at Durham University.
Dame Rosemary, who is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished archaeologists in Britain, is an expert on the Anglo-Saxon period, and led a programme of comprehensive archaeological investigations of St Paul’s and St Peter’s monastic sites over a 50-year period.
Dame Rosemary said: “The significance of this joint site is widely recognised outside the British Isles.
“His Royal Highness is very knowledgeable about Bede, and has taken a keen interest in Bede’s World and the bid for World Heritage Site status over a number of years.”
She added: “I’m very much looking forward to talking to him about the bid, and the latest plans for Bede’s World.”
During his tour of the museum, the Duke will also meet with some of the community volunteers who help keep the museum going, and with local business people and entrepreneurs, who have offered their support to Bede’s World.
He will also visit the hands-on science gallery, which demonstrates how Bede linked the movements of the moon with the tides, and how his influence lives on today.
His Royal Highness gave his official backing for the Wearmouth-Jarrow nomination for World Heritage Site status during a visit to St Peter’s Church in Sunderland, in 2008.
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