Durham Memories: Hermit's life for a former pirate

Pronounced Finkle it signifies a river meadow inhabited by finches.

The first actual mention of Finchale was in 765 AD when a meeting was held in which the reigning king of Northumbria was forced out. Records also show that in 792, 798 and 810 AD Finchale was the site of synods or religious meetings that discussed church matters and discipline throughout Northumbria. Such events demonstrate Finchale's importance. All these events occurred about two hundred years before the story of Durham City even begins.

However Finchale owes its fame to Saint Godric who lived here centuries later. Born in Walpole, Norfolk around 1065 he worked as a pedlar for many years but longed for adventure. Eventually he and some friends got together and built a boat to take them to sea. It gave them greater opportunities for trading their wares.

Early journeys took Godric as far north as St Andrews in Scotland and from an early stage in his life he took a keen interest in Christian pilgrimage. The Farne Islands and Lindisfarne were regular stopping points for Godric on his journeys and he became fascinated by St Cuthbert, the hermit who had inhabited these isles four centuries before.

As time passed Godric's career became more adventurous. He sailed to Brittany, Flanders and Denmark and travelled across land to Rome and the Holy Land. Some sources say Godric was a pirate and he may well have been Guderic, an English pirate remembered for transporting King Baldwin I of Jerusalem. However, pirate could simply mean an independent mariner.

Some time shortly after Godric visited St James the Apostle's shrine at Compostella in Spain he made the life changing decision to become a hermit. In 1104 he chose Carlisle for his hermitage, perceiving it to be a remote part of Britain. However he soon sought enlightenment elsewhere and his wandering brought him to a wild and heavily wooded site by the banks of the River Wear. This was not Finchale but Wolsingham in Weardale where Godric encountered a hermit called Aelric, a former monk of Durham, with whom he became great friends. After Aelric died in 1106 Godric received a vision from St Cuthbert instructing him to go to Finchale.

Godric didn't know where Finchale was but headed to Durham. He became a bell ringer at St Giles Church at Gilesgate in the city but later joined the congregation of St Mary's church in the Durham Baileys where he received an education in a boy's school. Godric was previously illiterate.

One day Godric was walking near Durham when he overheard shepherds discussing Finchale. He remembered the vision and enquired about Finchale's location. Ranulf Flambard, the Bishop of Durham granted land at Finchale to Godric and he initially established his hermitage at Godric's Garth a mile up river from where Finchale Priory now stands. Godric later moved his hermitage to the site that is now Finchale Priory.

Miracles were associated with Godric at Finchale and he is said to have spent winter nights with the River Wear up to the neck of his naked body. Acts of endurance were part of a hermit's life but it didn't seem to do Godric any harm. He passed away in 1170 at the remarkable age of 105.

Following Godric's death Finchale became a small monastic cell inhabited by Benedictine monks from Durham Cathedral priory. In the meantime a man called Henry Pudsey, son of Hugh Pudsey, a powerful Bishop of Durham, invited Augustinian canons from Guisborough to establish a priory near Durham. They settled at Haswell east of Durham, but then moved to Baxter Wood, a more preferable site by the Browney at Crossgate Moor west of Durham.

The Benedictine monks of Durham Priory were unhappy with Augustinians near to their monastery. When Bishop Pudsey died they pressured Henry Pudsey into giving up the land to the Benedictines. The Augustinians had to leave. As an appeasement to Henry, the Benedictines agreed to establish a Benedictine priory at Finchale. It was granted to Henry so he could be proclaimed the founder - and find favour with God - but agreed to return it immediately to the Cathedral priory.

So Finchale Priory was established in 1196 and Thomas, the Sacrist of Durham became its first prior. The first priory buildings were modest but the presence of Godric's tomb made it popular with pilgrims and significant development took place from 1237. In the 1300s the priory became a holiday retreat for monks from Durham. Details show that in 1408 there was a prior and four permanent monks at Finchale. Four visiting monks from Durham also lived at the priory but the four visitors changed every three weeks.

Finchale has a beautiful riverside setting but because it was tied to the Benedictine establishment at Durham it never grew into a wealthy monastery like Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. It closed in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII and subsequently fell into ruin. The tomb of Gordric may have been robbed and desecrated at this time. It was rediscovered in the 1920s and can still be seen at Finchale within the priory. It is an empty tomb and the whereabouts of Godric's bones are unknown.

Part Finchale's charm is that it still stands in unspoilt surroundings. The major reminder of the twentieth century is an amunition dump a quarter of a mile west and a nearby caravan site. There is a farmhouse here but no village although plenty of people reside nearby at Frankland Prison and the Newton Hall Housing Estate. Both are only a mile away.

If you have any memories of Durham City, Chester-le-Street, Derwentside or the Durham coast, including old photos or stories of people and places you would like to share with readers of The Northern Echo, write to David Simpson, Durham Memories, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF or email David.Simpson@nne.co.uk. All photos will be returned.