Hadrians wall; The wall is the most important structure built by the Romans in Britain. It was best known frontier in the Roman Empire and is a symbol of one of histories' greatest empires. The emperor Hadrian was not even a Roman but was born in Spain when that country was a colony of Rome.The wall was started in 122 and over the next six years Roman soldiers built a wall 80 Roman miles long (117km or 73 modern miles), from Wallsend-on-Tyne on the east coast to Bowness-on-Solway on the west. The Wall was built to separate the Romans from the Barbarians not the Picts and the Scots as they didn’t arrive until later.It is likely that the wall was built to mark the northern limit of the Roman empire.There are still people who describe Scotland as "north of Hadrians wall" despite the fact this area also includes a lot of Northumberland and Tyneside.The wall was recognised as a world heritage site in 1987.
The Kingdom of Northumbria;
After the Romans left the region now known as the North East the area was settled by Angle people from what is now Denmark.
The Kingdom of Northumbria was formed in 603 by the uniting of two kingdoms, Bernicia to the north and Deira to the south.It was the dominant power in Britain for 300 years before England and Scotland were nations, Northumbria was an Anglo-Celtic nation in many ways.
Northumbria stretched from the Humber river in the south to the Forth in the north and the beautiful Scottish capital city of Edinburgh is named after one of the great Northumbrian kings,Edwin.
St. Aiden came to Northumbria and founded a monastery on Lindisfarne in the year 635 AD. The island is close to Bamburgh, the home of the Northumbrian King Oswald, who had invited the Saint to his Kingdom from the Scottish island of Iona. The monastery quickly became a centre of learning. St. Cuthbert became the Bishop of Northumbria and later became a hermit on the nearby Inner Farne island. During his lifetime he performed miracles, and after his death in 687 AD he was venerated as a Saint. 11 years later his body was exhumed and it was found to be incorrupt. It was then placed in an over ground coffin. This coffin is still in existence and, together with other objects associated with the saint, is on display at Durham Cathedral, his final resting place.
The Lindisfarne Gospels were written in his honour at this time. The miracles that occurred at St. Cuthbert's shrine soon established Lindisfarne as the major pilgrimage centre of Northumbria, causing the monastery to grow in power and wealth.
The monastery was raided by Vikings and the monks fled to the mainland, taking with them St. Cuthbert's remains. They first went at Norham, on the Tweed but this wasn’t safe either. At one point they tried to go to Ireland but were turned back by storms, and in 883 they went to Chester-le-Street.They finally settled in Durham about 995. In 1104 the Norman Cathedral was built at Durham as a shrine to Cuthbert. There then was a revival in devotion to St. Cuthbert which eventually led to the re-establishment of a Priory on Holy Island this building was a smaller version of Durham Cathedral and it remained in use for more than four centuries until its dissolution around 1538. To this day the island is still a place of pilgrimage for both the Catholic and Protestant Faiths. St. Cuthbert and St. Bede are venerated as two of the greatest Saints.
The Lindisfarne Gospels are the greatest Northumbrian treasure and are currently held in the British library in London although there is an on-going campaign to have them brought home to the North East, visit the Northumbrian association link to find out more.
http://www.northumbrianassociation.co.uk/
St Cuthbert is the patron saint of modern Northumbria and his saints day is 20th of march.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Cuthbert
William Shield (1748-1829, Composer)
William Shield is not strictly an ancient ancestor but gets the credit for writing the music to one of the most famous songs in the world.
Although just about everyone has heard of Auld Lang Syne and knows that that the famous Scottish poet Rabbie Burns wrote the words few people know that Gateshead born Shield wrote the music.
A discovery in Gateshead has proved that a melody heard by Burns was Rosina an operetta written by the Northumbrian 5 years before Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne in 1783 Burns used the melody for his song.
Shield moved to London and went on to become one of the most popular musicians of his day, strangely he died on January 25th (1829), the date now celebrated by Scots everywhere as... Burns Night.
