St. Peter's church, is one of the oldest churches in Britain, where Christians have gathered for more than 1300 years. It was built in 674AD by Benedict Biscop, a pioneering monk who was given a grant of land by the Northumbrian King Egfrith. Benedict built an important complex of church and monastic buildings in the Roman style. Glaziers from Gaul, France created the windows for Benedict’s church, establishing Monkwearmouth as the birthplace of British stained glass.
However, much of what we know about St. Peter’s church and the lives of the monks at the Wearmouth-Jarrow Monastery comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede. The church and monastery site is considered to be of such importance it was nominated a Candidate World Heritage Site 2011
