Wearmouth and Jarrow Monastic Sites, Volume 1. By Rosemary Cramp (with contributions from G. and F. Bettess, D. J. Craig, J. Hunter, P. C. Lowther, S. McNeil, C. D. Morris, and A. Piper). Swindon: English Heritage, 2005. Pp. xxii + 440 + 459 ill. $160.

Wearmouth and Jarrow Monastic Sites. Volume 2. By Rosemary Cramp (with 56 specialist contributors), edited by Pamela Lowther. Swindon: English Heritage, 2006. Pp. xv + 676 + 322 ill. $160.

These books comprise the publication of the excavation of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow directed by Rosemary Cramp between 1959 and 1988. Volume 1 contains the reports of the excavations, structural analyses of the monastic buildings, and background material on both sites. Volume 2 contains the finds and specialist reports. The focus of the report is on the period before the mid-sixteenth century Dissolution, when occupation at both Wearmouth and Jarrow changed from ecclesiastical to secular. The later developments will be published elsewhere, although the introduction to volume 1 does contain a useful table that summarizes important events at both monasteries down to 1998. As the author acknowledges, the publication process has been a long one, and readers will find that much of the material has been published elsewhere, but it is of course useful to have all the information collected in one place, and the book does contain new material, new insights, and even some reinterpretations of previously published opinions and analyses.

Catherine E. Karkov
University of Leeds