Works bring site to life

Visiting Wearmouth-Jarrow is now better than ever thanks to a £350,000 investment.

New information panels, interactive displays, signage and display units have been installed to help tell the story of the 7th century Anglo-Saxon monastery, which is this year’s UK nomination for World Heritage Site status.

The bid for World Heritage Site status centres on St Peter’s Church, Sunderland and St Paul’s Church in Jarrow. The National Glass Centre, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and Bede’s World are also key venues in the bid.

Funded by One North East, the works are designed to help visitors understand the unique history of Wearmouth-Jarrow by linking up the different sites,which come together to tell the story of the Anglo Saxon monastery.

Rt Revd Mark Bryant, Bishop of Jarrow and Chair of the Wearmouth-Jarrow Partnership, said: “We are delighted with the new interpretation work, and hope our many visitors will appreciate it too.  With the site spread across two areas of the region and five venues it was important for us to link all of the sites together to give visitors the best possible understanding of the unique history of Wearmouth-Jarrow and we are delighted with the result.

It really helps bring the story of Wearmouth-Jarrow to life and demonstrate why the site is so special. “

Adam Stanning from BrightWhite, the company who designed and produced the new installations, said: “This was a really interesting project for us to work on, and we’re very pleased with the results. It’s a unique site, with many different elements, and hopefully our work will help visitors discover more and understand the reasons why it is so important to the world. “