Guidebook: Tynemouth Priory And Castle
The prominent headland, immediately north of the River Tyne, has a long and varied history. An early Christian monastery was established here by the end of the 7th century. St Oswin, the murdered king of Deira, is believed to have been buried at Tynemouth in 651. The monastery was plundered by the Danes in 800 and eventually destroyed in 875. It was refounded in 1085 as a Benedictine priory, dependent on St Albans Abbey in Hertfordshire. The priory was dissolved in 1539 with all other major religious houses.