A Wander Around Hexham Abbey

Hexham Abbey

Hexham Abbey has been the site of Christian worship for over 1300 years. It's seen Saxons, Vikings and Normans, withstood Scottish raids and protestant reformers, been a monastery, a cathedral and a priory church. It's survival and continued existence today speaks for the importance of faith from the pre-medieval age through to modern times.

The original church was founded in 674(-ish) by Bishop (later Saint) Wilfrid, part politician, part papal enforcer. This period, which saw the creation of The Lindisfarne Gospels and figures of the stature of Saint Cuthbert and Saint Bede, is often referred to as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria'. The original church no longer survives, except for an underground crypt, so we aren't sure what it looked like but we know that the builders made extensive use of stone quarried by the Romans. This makes sense as there was a Roman settlement at nearby Corbridge and there are many Roman artefacts dotted around the present building.

The south transept and entrance

 Like many great churches and cathedrals, Hexham Abbey is built in a cruciform (cross-shaped) plan, with two short 'arms' called transepts, then a main body on one side of the transepts called the nave and a shorter section on the other side called the choir.

The entrance is via the south transept and as you step through the door you're struck by the expanse of the interior, your eyes drawn upward by the soaring arches. It's also very quiet whenever I visit. Unlike the more famous Durham Cathedral, which attracts visitors from all over the globe (justifiably), Hexham is less well known and thus less visited. I have mixed feelings about this; it would be nice to see it teeming with tourists and visitors from near and far, but it does feel nice to have the place almost to myself and makes for a more contemplative and reflective experience.

Acca's Cross

On the right, just past a small chapel, are two ancient-looking stone monuments. Anglo-Saxon in origin, the taller one is known as Acca's Cross and is reputed to be a headstone from the grave of Acca, friend and successor to Wilfrid as abbot and bishop. Acca collected many religious relics and artworks during his leadership and was highly praised by his friend, the great early historian Bede. The cross itself is battered and worn, it's mid-section showing evidence of repair, but it's still a fantastic memorial.

Turning the corner takes you to the south aisle of the Choir, the oldest part of the building (above ground) and my favourite.

Anglo-Saxon Chalice

Set in the wall behind protective glass is a tiny copper chalice dated roughly to the tenth century. According to the guidebook it was discovered in a coffin during renovation work in the 1860s and would have been used to hold communion wine. I love the fact that something as fragile as this (it's not much bigger than an eggcup) has been lying around for a thousand years and makes me wonder what other romantic treasures could be lying in a hidden underground vault somewhere.

Gilbert De Umfraville, famous one-legged knight

Opposite the chalice are two effigies of medieval knights, hands clasped in prayer and legs crossed in the classic tomb effigy pose. There's a persistent myth that a knight having his legs crossed indicates that he went on crusade to the Holy Land but it's sadly untrue. In fact no one knows the reason for sure, it may even be simply due to the fashions at the times.
The first knight is thought to represent Thomas of Tynedale and the second Gilbert De Umfraville, whose family built nearby Prudhoe Castle. Both knights have seen better days and are missing some of their finer details, and a lower leg in the case of poor old Gilbert, but they're still a fascinating sight. You can feel the individual links of chainmail and the curious heraldic designs on their shields.

The high altar

The Choir is dominated by the magnificent high altar and, behind it, the great east window. Most of the choir dates from the 12th-13th centuries but the east window is a 19th century replacement. I'm not a big fan of reconstructions generally but in this case they've done a magnificent job, complementing the superb gothic arches on each flank to form the aisles. The term 'gothic' was first used in the Renaissance period and was intented as an insult. Just as the original Goths were a barbarian tribe during Classical Roman times, so this style of architecture was seen as barbarian compared to the classical style of Greece and Rome. The 'Romanesque' style is characterised by thick stone columns and rounded arches (Durham Cathedral is a great example of this) but can make for a cramped, chunky and gloomy appearance. Architects and masons wanted to explore ways of making the columns slimmer, leaving more room for windows and thus more light, and the pointed arch allowed them to do this, using a thinner column to support the same weight. Personally I think it's simply gorgeous.

The Frith Stool

Also in this part of the abbey is an old and worn-looking stone chair known as the Frith Stool. Carved from a single block of sandstone, this may well date from the early days of the building as a bishop's throne. 'Frith' is an old English word for peace, and the story goes that in medieval times an outlaw on the run from the authorities could claim sanctuary by touching the Frith Stool.

The Dance of Death (note the girly cardinal)

There's all sorts of other things to gawp at in this part of the abbey, my favourite being a series of painted wooden panels to the left of the altar. The top row of these panels show seven of the eight canonised bishops of Hexham and below are four panels showing the Dance of Death, where a skeletal figure  dances before a cardinal, a king, an emperor and a pope, presumably to show that even the most powerful earthly men are helpless in the face of death. The cardinal figure in the leftmost panel has a curiously female appearance to my eye.


 On the left and right of the altar are two chantry chapels. These are small, enclosed spaces containing the tomb of an important individual, who would pay for the chapel to be built and for priests to pray for their soul after death. It was thought this would speed up the process of the dead person gaining access to heaven and lessen the time they would have to spend in purgatory, a limbo state between heaven and hell.
The sums of money involved inevitably led to the process becoming corrupted and this, combined with the idea of purgatory becoming discredited in the new protestant thinking, led to chantries being banned during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. The wealth thus seized was supposed to go to charitable causes but most ended up in the hands of the king and his advisers. Funny that...


The right hand chantry chapel contains the tomb of Rowland Leschman, prior of the abbey from 1480 to 1491 and is most notable for the carved stonework figures on the side. These are comical, gargoyle-like effigies, my favourites being the bearded figure who is either playing the bagpipes or smoking a woodbine, and a figure in a hoodie squatting down while doing something unspeakable to a small donkey. Or at least that's what it looks like to me.

Having a sly ciggie?

I'd really rather not comment on what's going on here

Female effigies

Leaving the Leschman chapel and walking up the north aisle of the choir leads you past more carved stonework, some dating back to Roman and Saxon times. There's also another series of wooden panel paintings, this time depicting scenes from Christ's Passion. It's amazing to me that something as delicate as this could have survived from the 15th century. There's also another pair of life sized tomb effigies, women this time, but little is known of them, a plaque simply describing them as 'unknown early 14th century women'.

 As you turn the corner from the north aisle of the choir into the north transept, the sight is truly breathtaking. Like the choir it has the delicate looking rib vaulting, slender columns and pointed arches that are characteristic of English Gothic, but the undoubted highlight is the window arrangement. Two ranks of three lancet windows, thin and pointed (hence 'lance'), filled with Victorian stained glass. Unlike the choir, but like the south transept, it has only one aisle. It's much less cluttered than the latter though, creating a useful open space to appreciate the structure as a whole.

The North Transept and aisle

The North Transept

The remaining 'arm' of the cross-shaped building is the largest one; the nave. This was originally constructed in the 15th century but was largely rebuilt in the early 20th century. Some of the earlier wall remains however, visible as a darker section on the lower left wall (looking from the central crossing, toward the font).

The Nave. Note the older, darker section of wall on the left

Font Cover

 The most striking part of this section is the  great west window, designed in 1917 and featuring Northumbrian saints. Running a close second though has to be the font, or more specifically, the font cover. Font covers are fast becoming a 'thing' of mine. They were originally required for very practical purposes, to preserve the cleanliness of the water within and also to prevent the water being swiped for illicit purposes such as magic rituals. As time went by, craftsmen took the opportunity to create more elaborate designs, turning what could have been a very mundane lid into an intricate, multifaceted ornament requiring a hoist and pulley system to raise and lower it. The guidebook states that this particular example dates from 1916 and was made by a Belgian refugee re-using 15th century woodwork. It doesn't say what happened to the original but I'm guessing Henry VIII and his reformation agents may have had something to do with it. Unless it was those pesky Scots...

The Nave, with the font in the foreground

 Underneath the cover, the font is a history lesson in itself. It consists of a 17th century lid over a Roman bowl mounted on a medieval stone base.

Such are the visual distractions in the nave it would be easy to miss the oldest surviving part of the building: a set of stone steps that descend to the underground crypt, which dates from the seventh century when the original Saxon church was founded.

Flavinius administers a good kicking

Leaving the nave takes you back to the south transept. On the corner is a Roman tombstone found nearby, a memorial from the first century to a horse soldier named Flavinius. The stone depicts a horse and rider, presumably Flavinius himself, trampling on an unfortunate individual below. I think the message is 'Know your place, Britons!'


'Scoti combusserunt Hexcelsham cum tota Patria'
So says medieval chronicler Walter of Guisborough, which roughly translates as 'The Scots burnt the whole country of Hexham'. The border wars of the late 13th and early 14th centuries were hard times for this area and Hexham received attention from both William Wallace and Robert The Bruce at different times, amid much 'incendiis et rapinis' (fire and looting). An account in The Lanercost Chronicle tells of nuns being violated and churches being burned, with a crowd of schoolboys being herded into a Hexham school, the doors blocked, then the school burnt to the ground with the unfortunate scholars inside. The aforementioned Walter of Guisborough tells an entertaining tale of William Wallace in Hexham priory (as it was then) in 1297, with Wallace angry and embarrassed at the behaviour of some of his men in looting precious relics. He had previously granted the building immunity and the acts of his compatriots in ignoring his orders led to him admitting to the priory canons that the Scots he led were a wild and unruly bunch, who could not always be controlled. Some would say not much has changed, not me though...

Visiting Hexham Abbey
The abbey is open every day, services and events permitting, and the town of Hexham is a delight to visit. It's easy to reach, being located on the main A69 road between Newcastle and Carlisle and there's also a regular bus and train service. The abbey is (amazingly) free to visit, though donations are of course welcomed. No excuse not to visit really.

Hexham Abbey