At Jarrow-on-the Tyne the chancel of the Saxon church remains. It has few characteristic features. The windows are of a very pristine form, in this case with no external splay, the jambs of upright stones with horizontal stones for imposts, and arches cut out of single stones. They had been walled up at a very early date to a certain thickness from the exterior with very small perforations,--some circular and some more elongated,--in the filling up wall. This, I fancy, was as a means of defence. There is one doorway, which is a plain arched opening running square through the wall, the door having been hung as usual against its inner face, and the jambs formed of large stones facing the reveal. There are some signs of an apse having existed, but of this I cannot speak with any certainty. A tower was erected between the nave and the chancel--as I am informed by a local antiquary--in the reign of the Conqueror. The nave has long since perished, but in the walls of a modern erection on its site were found, used as building material, about twenty baluster columns, some 2 ft. 3 in. high and a foot in diameter (Fig. 220). This was in all probability the very church erected by Benedict Biscop, and in which the Venerable Bede worshipped. [Illustration: Fig. 220.--Baluster Columns, Jarrow-on-the-Tyne.] At Monk Wearmouth are the remains of the other church of Benedict Biscop. This church was burnt, as also was that at Jarrow, by the Danes in 867, and both remained in ruins till about 1074, when (or a few years later) both churches were re-roofed and restored to their sacred use. It was at this time that the tower at Jarrow was erected. The most interesting portion of the church at Wearmouth is its western end. From this projects a tower evidently of Anglo-Saxon date. This tower has arches on three sides of its lower storey, which, till recently, were not only walled up, but almost buried in the accumulated earth. In September 1866 they were excavated, and the western entrance opened out by the local Archæological Society, with the help of Mr. Johnson, architect, of Newcastle. The side doorways were found to have monolith jambs, 6 in. wide on the face, which are notched into a continuous cill, and support massive imposts, from which the arch springs, with very bold voussoirs. The western entrance, which is 6 ft. 4½ in. [Illustration: Fig. 221.--Western Entrance. Church at Monk Wearmouth.]