17 September 2026

Many years ago, we visited Whitby. I remember the magnificent ruins of the abbey and the parish church, the clifftops, the rugged coastline and the sea. Our children don’t remember much of this. They associated Whitby with Bram Stoker and his novel, ‘Dracula’.

But, for me, it was the church and the fascinating story of Aidan, Hilda and Bede which preceded the vampire, Stoker’s visit to Whitby and even the ancient ruins of the abbey. For Hilda was born in 614 AD and died n 680AD at the age of sixty-six. Her life has been recorded by the historian, Bede.

Bede was only seven years old when Hilda died. When he grew up, he became a priest and was ordained by John of Beverley, one of the monks who had lived in the monastery under Abbess Hilda. His history includes a chapter about Abbess Hilda. It was written in 731AD, four years before he died.

By this time, Bede was fifty-nine years old. Hilda had been dead for fifty-two years. Memories were still fresh. His ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ was unique. Without it, we would never have known about Hilda’s ministry at Whitby.

‘Hilda’s life on earth fell into two equal parts,’ writes Bede, ‘for she spent thirty-three years most nobly in secular occupations and dedicated the ensuing thirty-three even more nobly to our Lord in the monastic life.’ She established a small monastery on the River Wear.

She became Abbess of Hartlepool then Tadcaster before finding her true vocation at Whitby. With land from the king and Aidan’s encouragement, Hilda founded a monastery on the clifftops at Whitby. It was a double monastery for men and women. Hilda became the Abbess.