wanderings along the way of Hild

i want to start with a prayer from Hild that I found on a card at Hartlepool.

it reads

God, here I am

You alone fully know why.

May I rest

on that knowledge

And let it near me

Where you will.

Amen

As many of you know Hild has been a great inspiration and consolation for me in difficult times when something I had worked for seemed to have been lost so it was wonderful to spend a day travelling through and visiting key sites associated with Hild.

She was acknowledged in Durham Cathedral with an altar dedicated to her and it was there I learned about the connection with South Shields.

Accordingly South Shields was added to my itinerary and i headed north to start the day since the church's website said it was open between 9.30 and 11 am on wednesday's. I made it in time for the second half of Mass joining the two very elderly parishioners who claimed not to know much about Hilda and Father Mark who expressed doubt about the veracity of the claim that South Shields was actually "Abbess Hilda's First Religious House". He gifted me a reprint of the "Miscellaneous Tract" published by the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1898 based on a paper presented by Henry Edwin Savage, Vicar of South Shields between 1891 and 1904. It does appear that Rev. Savage did extrapolate rather broadly from two of Venerable Bede's reference to the location of the land Bishop Aidan to Hild to found her first monastery.

Still given how far Hild travelled around Northumbria I think it is possible that she did spend time near South Sheilds and the church that bears her name still honours Hild's legacy.

Any way given that St.Hilda's at Hartlepool (said Hartley Pool) was opening at 11.30 to 1 pm I needed to get moving.

St. Hilda's of Hartlepool is definitely on the Pilgrim's Ways with several pilgrimage routes starting or ending at Hartlepool. Whichever direction you make the pilgrimage you will receive a Pilgrim stamp at Hartlepool. There is a interesting exhibition which acknowledges Hilda's promotion of Caedmon and special areas for school children to dress as monks and nuns.

I will take the pilgrimage options further in a forthcoming blog. For now I will end with a few images of Hild's final abbey on the atmospheric headland at Whitby.

And to top off the day this mother duck guiding her offspring to safety spoke to me of Hild's gentle and encouraging leader.