42-mile route celebrates life of St Hilda
Today the North York Moors are a great tourist attraction, especially in August when the heather’s in full bloom. It’s strange to think our affection for the place is relatively recent.
Up until the mid-1800s, no stranger went onto moorland for pleasure. It was all mist and bogs and terrible roads, a wasteland haunted by boggarts and willie-wisps. Now the moors are a paradise for walkers, with thousands of miles of tracks and paths. And while there’s a route to suit everyone, from short circular strolls to long distance treks, there’s always room for another.
In June a new moors walk was launched, St Hilda’s Way. It’s a 42-mile pilgrimage walk, celebrating the life of the seventh-century Abbess of Whitby. Beginning at Hinderwell and ending in Whitby, it takes in ten churches and chapels, eight of which are dedicated to the remarkable Hilda. Saint’s way Hilda, or Hilde, was born in 614. She was related to King Edwin of Northumbria, whose kingdom stretched from the Tweed to the Humber. According to Bede, King Edwin and Hilda were converted to Christianity at York in 627.
Hilda’s sister married into the ruling family of East Anglia, but after bearing a son, she became a nun. Hilda, now in her thirties, intended to join her sister in Gaul. But she was persuaded to return to Northumbria by Aidan, the first Bishop of Lindisfarne.
Hilda was sent to head a monastery at Hartlepool where she devised her own Rule, based on Irish sources, to bring order and discipline to the daily routine. Success there led her to a new monastery at Streoneshalh (Whitby) where she created a double foundation of monks and nuns in the Celtic tradition.
The new monastery became famous as a centre of learning. Five of Hilda’s pupils became bishops, including St Wilfred, Bishop of York. Hilda encouraged Caedmon, who wrote the first Christian poetry in the Anglo-Saxon language.
In 664, when the differences between Celtic and Roman Christianity came to a head, Hilda’s monastery at Whitby was chosen to host a high-level debate. The list of disputed topics included the method for calculating the date of Easter. In spite of the efforts of the Celtic lobby – supported by Hilda – Rome won the day. Her former pupil, Bishop Wilfred, spoke in favour of Rome.
Hilda was respected for her wisdom. Without being ordained – impossible for a woman – she gained great influence in the Church of her day. Hilda died at Whitby in 680. Legend says that the tolling of the monastery bell was heard miles away in Hackness, where two nuns saw her soul being carried up to heaven by angels.
This was often said about Celtic saints. In that tradition, legends formed templates of events that were tailored to fit individual lives. While it seems odd to us, in those times such legends were understood to convey truths about a person’s life.
Hilda’s community at Whitby carried on until 867, when the Danes paid it a visit. The ruins that we see now, that have become an icon of the moors, are those of the Norman abbey built in 1067.