Saints, Stones and Stories:
Modern Discourses in the Heritage Interpretation of the Christianity of Northumbria’s Golden Age

Abstract

The Christianity of Northumbria’s Golden Age is a source of enduring academic interest. The literature of its Anglian people continues to engage researchers while the wealth of material evidence increases year on year through excavation, research and other discoveries. The disassociation of modern British society with Christian belief is, however, well observed and visitors to those heritage places which relate the Northumbrian story may be increasingly unlikely to have a familiarity with the practice of Christianity nor an empathy with the world view of believers. This is despite the widespread societal use of Christian tropes, metaphors and imagery, not least those of early medieval Northumbria in the North East of England.


The aim of this research is to examine the discourses which surround the interpretation of Christian Northumbria in heritage settings. Its objectives are to evaluate whether the interpretation of Anglian belief should be seen as a distinctive field, to attempt a characterisation of the relationship between developing archaeological and historical theory and interpretative outputs and to investigate the uses of the heritage of early medieval Christianity in the creation of modern identity. The methodology is primarily ethnographic and, following an initial investigation of the issues in the heritage presentation of early medieval belief, centres on field work in six case study sites conducted between 2022 and 2024 where the interviewing of heritage professionals was informed by an autoethnographic observation of interpretative schemes and the analysis of supporting material. Critical realist perspectives are used to theorise and scaffold the research.


The results suggest that much of the interpretative discourse surrounding early medieval belief is didactic and emphasises traditional and received narratives over revisionist themes. Interpretations are necessarily limited by the mediums through which they are transmitted and, in avoiding complex ideations, tend to reinforce essentialisms while privileging artistic and aesthetic meanings over religious understandings. Heritage professionals suggest diminishing audience religious capitals which indicates a need to review models of visitor engagement. The use of the early medieval in the creation of identity is shown to differ between Scotland and England, although much of evidence for its role in identic discourse is anecdotal.


This study brings together archaeological, museological and heritage perspectives to theorise the development of the practice of the interpretation of early medieval belief using six case study exemplars. It points towards a need for the re-evaluation of approaches towards Northumbrian Christianity and further develops some of the conceptual pathways which are currently deployed. It invites the exploration of future directions in the interpretation of the beliefs of the Golden Age through targeted empirical visitor research and the utilisation of pedagogic models to enable audiences to more fully create authentic meanings.