Writing group brings history to life at museum

Creative Calligraphers, based in South Shields, responded to an appeal from Jarrow Hall Anglo-Saxon Farm, Village and Bede Museum, for volunteers to create a range of ‘work in progress’ pieces.

Members put pen to paper to create calligraphic artworks which will be displayed in the Monk Cell at Jarrow Hall.

Creative Calligraphers is made up of two groups, who each meet once a week at Mortimer Community Centre, in Reading Road, under the guidance of tutor Angela Reed.

Angela said: “Both groups love a project to work on and an opportunity to apply their calligraphy skills in a practical way, so when I saw that Jarrow Hall was looking for calligraphers to contribute to the Monk Cell, I knew we could help.

“It has been lovely to see the variety of work created by both total beginners and more experienced members of the groups and I know the staff at Jarrow Hall are absolutely thrilled with what they have produced.”

The look and feel of the Monk Cell has been inspired by an image of Ezra in the Codex Amiatinus – also known as the Jarrow Codex - which was produced at

the Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery around the year 700 and was taken to Italy as a gift for Pope Gregory II.

The look and feel of the Monk Cell has been inspired by an image in the Codex.

The calligraphy samples, which feature uncial script, illuminated letters and Celtic knotwork, will be spread out on the desk and around the room to give the impression of a medieval monk at work.

Molly Wyatt, cultural learning and participation officer at Jarrow Hall, said: “With this beautiful artwork we’re another step closer to bringing the Monk

Cell to life.

"The artwork is incredible – a true testament to the group.”

*Jarrow Hall, which is managed by Groundwork South and North Tyneside, celebrates the life and time of The Venerable Bede, a monk, author and scholar who lived in the twin monastery of Wearmouth-Jarrow in the early middle ages.

The reconstructed Monk Cell is based on archaeological excavations carried out in the 1980s at a monastic site in Hartlepool.