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Ireland and the Making
of Britain
ingham are mentioned by Bede. Others existed at Wim-
borne, Repton, Wenlock, Nuneaton and perhaps Carlisle. 1
The following churches in England are given as dedicated
to St. Aidan: Bamborough, Benwell, Blackball, Bos-
ton, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Harrington, Leeds, Liverpool,
Newbiggin, South Shields, Thorneyburn and Walton-le-dale,
with several others in Scotland.
3. FINAN SUCCEEDS AIDAN AND WINS MIDLAND
ENGLAND
When Aidan died in 651 the vacancy in the see of
Lindisfarne was filled by his fellow countryman Finan,
who was likewise a monk from lona. Bishop Finan
speedily revealed himself as a man of action as well as a
student. He erected a church at Lindisfarne, larger and
stronger than the temporary structure which had served
Aidan. Bede says that after the manner of the Irish, he
made the church not of stone but of hewn oak and covered
it with reeds ; and the same was afterwards dedicated in
honor of St. Peter the Apostle by the Reverend Archbishop
Theodore. Bede's words here have often been taken as evi-
dence that there were no churches or buildings of stone and
lime in Ireland in those days. This is an error, as is shown
elsewhere in this volume. Numerous stone churches and
buildings existed in Ireland in the earliest days of Christianity
and some of them are in existence to-day. The
oldest stone churches in England, Scotland and Wales are
built in the Irish fashion. Eadbert, later bishop of Lindisfarne,
took off the thatch at Lindisfarne and covered both
roof and walls of the church with plates of lead.
Finan established the monastery of St. Mary's at the
mouth of the Tyne and another at Gilling on the spot
i See Howorth, Golden Days of the En&l. Church, III, 184.
224