Hilda of Whitby was a saint of the early Church in Britain. She was the founder and first abbess of the monastery at Whitby which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby in 664. An important figure in the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, she was abbess in several convents and recognised for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice.
Saint Hilda at Hartlepool by James Clark (oil painting)
Aidan of Lindisfarne visits Hild. Gloucester Cathedral, by Christopher Whall.
St. Hilda monument detail in Whitby. Note ammonites at feet.
Northumbria was an early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is now Northern England and south-east Scotland.
The colophon to the Gospel of Matthew from the Durham Gospel Fragment, featuring non-zoomorphic interlace patterns.
The Book of Kells, (folio 292r), c. 800, showing the lavishly decorated text that opens the Gospel of John
Sword pommel from the Bedale Hoard, inlaid with gold foil.