Hexham Abbey

Hexham Abbey Project 

Project

Abbey Time Line

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE THE NORMANS BUILT THE GREAT CATHEDRAL AT DURHAM, HEXHAM ABBEY SHONE AS A BEACON OF LIGHT IN A DARK AGE

 674 - The Northumbrian Queen Etheldreda grants Bishop Wilfrid the lands of Hexhamshire to build a new Benedictine monastery.
 678 - Wilfrid’s priory church of St Andrew is completed. The original Saxon crypt is still in use today.
 681 - Hexham Priory becomes a cathedral.
 709 - Wilfrid dies as incumbent Bishop of Hexham and is canonised.
 821 - Hexham is downgraded from a cathedral due to the threats from Viking raids.
 875 - St Wilfrid’s church largely destroyed by Danish Vikings.
1079 - A Scots army under Malcolm III threatens Hexham but timely prayers from Eilaf the Elder (and a convenient fog!) save the town.
1113 - Archbishop Thomas II of York re- founds Hexham as a priory for Augustinian Canons.
1296 - Hexham Abbey is burned by a Scots army. You can still see where the melted lead from the roof scorched the Abbey’s stone floor.
1297 - William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace makes Hexham Abbey his headquarters for raids into Northern England.
1311 - Robert the Bruce ravages Tynedale but spares the Abbey priests from the slaughter.
1346 - Hexham Abbey is again sacked by the Scots under David II. The nave is completely destroyed.
1429 - Roger Thornton of Newcastle leaves 400 marks for rebuilding the nave but it is not certain whether the work was ever begun.
1536 - Henry VIII begins to dissolve the monasteries.
1537 - The Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion in support of Catholicism, is brutally suppressed and Edward Jay, the last prior of Hexham, is hanged from the monastery’s gateway. The lands and buildings owned by Hexham’s monks are granted to Sir Richard Carnaby.
1538 - The Abbey becomes Hexham’s parish church replacing the old church of St Mary located behind the market place.
1628 - The Worshipful Company of Mercers (one of the City of London’s Livery Companies) purchases tithes to support a lectureship in Hexham so beginning a long relationship with the Mercers as co-patrons of the Abbey.

1858 - John Dobson remodels the Abbey’s east end and the chancel’s medieval chapels are removed. The work is largely funded by the Abbey’s other patron, Viscount Allendale.
1908 - Much of the building is restored and repaired. The ruined nave is finally rebuilt using the surviving medieval foundations.
1917 - Stained glass designer Henry Bosde completes the glorious Great West Window (Charles Henderson Memorial Window) depicting Northumberland saints.
1952 - The First Hexham Abbey Music Festival.
1974 - The Queen visits Hexham as part of the Abbey’s 1,300th birthday celebrations and the new Phelps organ, imported from Philadelphia, is heard for the first time.
1996 - The new St Wilfrid’s chapel, a place for quiet reflection and prayer, is dedicated.
2008 - Launch of the Hexham Abbey Centre (now Project) Appeal.