On the long drive back from Hadrian's Wall I decided to make a quick detour to have a view of the UK's next prospective WHS. So on a very quiet Sunday morning I dove through the suburban streets of South Tyneside to arrive at St Paul's church in Jarrow, just after that day's service had started. This stopped me from exploring the interior, however I had really come to see what was outside.

The church itself is small, and pretty unremarkable if I am being honest, looking like many other churches across the country. It is set in a pleasant little park just away from the Tyne tunnel and industrial docklands beyond. The ruins of the monastery were actually a little more substantial than I had imagined they would be with several walls still standing. There are explanatory boards dotted around showing the evolution and importance of the remains, but on the whole I wouldn't say that it was a particularly remarkable place to visit.

I didn't make it down to St Peter's church in Sunderland which is the "Monkwearmouth" part of this site, preferring instead the more classical joys of nearby Durham. I must admit having looked at the pictures of the site I doubt I would go too far out of my way to visit, unless I had other reasons to be in Sunderland.

The importance of the two churches in this nomination is that they are the remnants of the twin monastery that once stood here. The Wearmouth site 10 miles south in Sunderland was the founding location; and it quickly spread to a second site in Jarrow. Although this was located in a rather remote outpost at the time it was in fact a rather important institution and had one of the largest libraries in the world at its height of power. The history of the institution is apparently very well documented. The main thing I knew about the site was its association with the Venerable Bede who Paul has mentioned below. He was a rather impressive figure, writing one of the earliest histories of the English peoples as well as creating an authoritative Latin translation of the bible which was apparently still the Vatican's preferred version up until 1963. There is a good radio documentary on him in the BBC's excellent 'In Our Time' series (I hope it is available outside the UK).

The sites have a pretty significant history; however the remains today are really not that impressive. I would be surprised if the site made it the list, though if it did it would be more for what it represents than what is on display today. The location of the sites means they are reasonably easy to tack onto visits to the nearby WHS at Durham and Hadrian's Wall, otherwise I wouldn't say they were worth making too much of a detour for.

[Site 2: Experience 2]