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continued from above: Then there's the work of John Hodgson, A History of Northumberland in Three Parts. Hodgson notes that the parish of Bedlington had already been given to the see of Durham soon after the year 900. I may be wrong but, to my way of thinking, if there’s a parish, there’s very likely to be a priest and if there’s a priest there is likely to be a church. Hodgson says of Bedlington that "there is little doubt that a church existed here prior to the Norman conquest. It continued a rectory, and in the patronage of the see of Durham till Bishop Farnham, about the year 1242, appropriated it to the prior and convent of Durham". Hodgson suggests that this may have happened in order to obtain financial backing for the improvements which started round about that time. Looking at the publication posted by Eggy, St Cuthbert’s Church, An Archeological Assessment, July 2015, page 10 https://cofenewcastle.contentfiles.net/media/documents/document/2019/01/Bedlington_St_Cuthbert_-_January_2015.pdf I see that even today there is a carved stone, previously situated on the eastern side of the nave and outside, which is now built into the internal face of the west wall to prevent further damage. This stone is dated to the 10th century while the earliest parts of the present church are from the 12th century. This seems to indicate that something has stood there prior to the present building. Who knows how long the ground may have been in use for religious purposes.

My school memories are that the monks rested for one night IN the church at Bedlington during their escape from Lindisfarne in 875 Rightly or wronly, I've also believed that the church in question was St Cuthberts, albeit an earlier version of the present. I’ve also always believed that the flight from Lindisfarne ended up at Durham in 995, the monks having taken the long way round via Chester-le-Street and Ripon. No GPS in those days evidently! I was, therefore, somewhat surprised to see, on reading Maggie’s brochure, that the relics had been in Bedlington in 1069, some 74 years after reaching their final resting place in Durham! This prompted a bit of revision on my part. It's not at all impossible that the ground upon which St Cuthbert's stands was concsecrated much earlier. Generally we tend to think of christianity as having arrived in Britain with the mass conversions of the sixth century. Such conversions in Northumbria are recorded by Bede. However, there's good proof in Northumberland that christianity was being practised in the roman fort at Housteads a couple of centuries prior to this , as a place of christian worship is built into the fort. Then there's the work of John Hodgson A History of Northumberland in Three Parts. Hodgson

Merry Christmas everyone.