Today's Object of the Week is a monument to the prehistoric remains of an Anglo-Saxon palace of the King of Northumbria. At the foot of Yeavering Bell in the vale formed by the River Glen on the edge of Northumberland National Park once stood the Royal Anglo-Saxon palace and town of Ad Gefrin. And on the northern side of the Wooler to Kirknewton road stands a monument marking this site - one of the most remarkable discoveries of the 20th century.
About 1,300 years ago great timber halls stood here, once the royal residence of early Anglo-Saxon kings. This field was once the site of the Ad Gefrin palace (Image: DAVID SIMPSON) Excavated in 1955, this consisted of timber halls and defensive works and is most closely associated with Edwin, the sixth century King of Northumbria. King Edwin’s Palace at Yeavering, or another great hall much like it somewhere in the Kingdom of Northumbria, is sometimes associated with a debate in which the king and his senior followers made the momentous decision to convert from Paganism to Christianity.
In the ‘History of the English Church and People’ written only a century later by the Venerable Bede, details of a speech are recorded in which one of Edwin’s heathen followers speaks out in favour of converting to Christianity. A slate plaque is fixed to a monument commemorating the site of Ad Gefrin (Image: DAVID SIMPSON) Aerial photos and excavations at Ad Gefrin have revealed that as well as the halls of the royal palace there was a templ.