The Priory Church

The Priory Church. . , In the 11th century, a great Norman baron, Robert Mowbray, earl of Northumbrian, founded a stone church and monastery here and gave the monks a vast area of land. , There were very few stone buildings in the area then and most of the inhabitants would never have seen anything like it before. , After the monastery was closed in 1539, the church nave was used as the local parish church. The grander east end of the church was allowed to fall into ruin. The parish church remained here until the mid-17th century, which is why the town cemetery was laid out on the headland, to your right. , Look closer … , The buildings are made of a yellow-brown sandstone. It is so soft that over hundreds of years the wind and salt have worn the stones into very strange shapes. , ( photo captions ) , The stone church that Robert Mowbray founded was actually smaller than the ruins in front of you suggest. In the early 13th century, the east-end, to your right was rebuilt on a much grander scale, as shown in this drawing. , Tynemouth Priory Church, painted in 1819 by a local artist, Thomas Miles Richardson. , In the Middle Ages, the nave (the main area of the church to your left) was open to anyone, but the east end of the church to your right was only used by monks. This stone wall, or rood screen, was used to separate the two areas.