As recently as March 1907 some interesting excavations have been made at Hexham. The Reverend E. Sidney Savage, Rector of Hexham, writes to _The Times_ giving particulars of discoveries of archæological interest made on the site chosen for a nave in the Hexham abbey church. “Several lengths of enriched cornices have been found, with various ornaments of late Roman character, the forerunners and dictators of many of the ornamental details of a subsequent Saxon and Norman period. Two great arch stones are from a grand ornamental arch fully 20 Roman feet across, and can hardly have come from a lesser structure than the entrance gate was into the town from the main road, such as Watling Street. The upper part of a well-finished altar, a stone hypocaust pillar, and a number of smaller stones with various ornaments are amongst the architectural vestiges. A part of what was apparently a sculptured panel has a finely cut bust of a Roman Emperor, probably Severus; and a portion of a Legionary stone has the remains of two panels divided by pilasters with pediments. It is much shattered, but the sculpture is of the best class. The gem of the yield is another and important portion of the well-known and Imperial Inscription, built into the covering of the north passage of the crypt.” JARROW (_Benedictine_) 674, Ecgfrid King of Northumbria gives land to the Holy Abbot Benedict Biscop for the building of a religious House--679, Bede becomes a student of the Monastery--685, Benedict Biscop builds the first church--793, The Monastery burnt by the Danes--1069, After restoration again burnt down by William the Conqueror--1074, Monastery rebuilt--15--, Dissolved. Annual revenue, £25, 8s. 4d. The history of Jarrow Abbey is intimately associated with the revered name of Bede, for here this wonderful writer and thinker spent his days and accomplished his life’s great work--a work for which his fellow-countrymen have reason to be grateful to this day. Born in 672, Bede was, at the youthful age of seven years, placed by Benedict Biscop in the care of the monks at Jarrow Abbey, where, with the exception of an occasional visit to Wearmouth, he spent all the days of his useful life. His writings include commentaries on the Scriptures, translations, biographies of his contemporaries, treatises on many learned subjects, and also poetry, whilst in ecclesiastical matters he is the most reliable authority of the time. One of his scholars has given the following account of the characteristic ending of Bede’s strenuous and devout life:--