BattlefieldsWearmouth Monastery Norse Raid
Early Medieval

Wearmouth Monastery Norse Raid

860
Tyne and Wear, England
Era
Early Medieval
Battle Type
Raid
Location
Tyne and Wear, England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Wearmouth monastic community
VS
Victor
Norse raiders
Outcome
Danes destroyed the abbey about 860; it seems to have been finally abandoned in the late 9th century.
The Battle

History & Significance

Wearmouth Monastery Norse Raid was an early medieval raid, fought at Tyne and Wear, England in 860. Norse raiders prevailed over Wearmouth monastic community. Danes destroyed the abbey about 860; it seems to have been finally abandoned in the late 9th century.

Confirmed battlefield location
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Wearmouth Monastery Norse Raid lies on Zechstein Group, bedrock that formed in the Late Permian. The rock here is dolomitised limestone and dolomite.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Overview
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Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
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Timeline
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Wearmouth Monastery Norse Raid

Hylton Castle: a medieval fortified house, chapel, 17th and 18th century country houses and associated gardens
Hylton Castle: a medieval fortified house, chapel, 17th and 18th century country houses and associated gardens
Scheduled monument · ~2.6 mi

Hylton Castle is a medieval fortified house located near Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England, dating primarily to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The principal structure is a substantial gatehouse of rendered stone, erected by the Hylton family as part of their fortified residence, which…

Cwhitehouse / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Ryhope pumping engines
Ryhope pumping engines
Scheduled monument · ~3.1 mi

Ryhope Pumping Station is a Victorian water pumping installation located near Sunderland in Tyne and Wear (formerly County Durham). The station was constructed in the 1860s to supply fresh water to the growing urban areas of the Sunderland district, representing an important development in ninete…

GracieLizzie / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Marsden lime kilns
Marsden lime kilns
Scheduled monument · ~4.4 mi

Marsden lime kilns is a complex of stone-built lime kilns located near Marsden in Durham. The kilns date from the post-medieval period, likely from the eighteenth or nineteenth century, reflecting the industrial exploitation of local limestone resources in the region. The structures retain eviden…

Mick Garratt / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Dalden Tower: a medieval fortified manor house and related earthworks
Dalden Tower: a medieval fortified manor house and related earthworks
Scheduled monument · ~5.5 mi

Dalden Tower is a medieval fortified manor house situated in Durham, England, dating to the later medieval period. The structure represents a type of defensive domestic architecture characteristic of the northern English borderlands, where landholding families constructed fortified residences to…

Andrew Curtis / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
St Paul's Monastery, Jarrow
St Paul's Monastery, Jarrow
Scheduled monument · ~6.1 mi

St Paul's Monastery, Jarrow is a Benedictine monastic foundation established in 681 by Ceolfrith, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and churchman, on the south bank of the River Tyne in County Durham. The monastery became one of the most significant centres of learning in early medieval Northumbria, and is…

Vallan / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Roman fort, South Shields
Roman fort, South Shields
Scheduled monument · ~6.9 mi

Arbeia, the Roman fort at South Shields, is a auxiliary fort established in the late second century AD as part of the Hadrian's Wall system in what is now Tyne and Wear. Originally constructed around AD 160 as a supply depot for the wall garrison, the fort served as a crucial logistics and milita…

Agnete / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
Monkwearmouth Anglo-Saxon monastery and medieval priory
Scheduled monument · ~0.3 miles
First World War early warning acoustic mirror on Namey Hill, 570m north of Carley Hill Cricket Ground
Scheduled monument · ~1.5 miles
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