More pressure on British Library
It is some time since I first posted about the Lindisfarne Gospels in this blog and proposed the idea of a temporary exhibition at St. Paul’s Jarrow. You can rest assured that politicians in the North-East have not given up the cause, and that further pressure has been forthcoming both from David Miliband (South Shields MP) who has written to Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell setting out the case for at least a temporary exhibition, and Roberta Blackman-Woods (MP for City of Durham) who has spoke in the House of Commons urging MPs to return the Gospels to their home in the North-East.
The fabulously illustrated manuscripts were made by the monks at Lindisfarne having learned their bookwriting skills from the Venerable Bede at Jarrow, and were kept in Durham Cathedral for hundreds of years before being ’stolen’ by King Henry Vlll. It is still hoped that the current keeper of the book, The British Library, may relent to pressure to allow the artefact to be returned to it’s rightful place!
Culture Minister David Lamy has promised to discuss the matter further with Ms Blackman-Woods, we hope she reminds him of Jarrow’s bid to become a World Heritage Site! (It would be nice too, to see the MP for Jarrow opining strongly on the subject and adding his weight to the campaign.
Curly feels that The British Library is unwilling to release it’s firm grip on the historic manuscript on a permanent basis, but might well be a little disposed to allow it to travel for a ‘temporary’ exhibition, therefore it would work well as part of a World Heritage Site such as Jarrow.
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