A medieval palace reborn
In England’s far north, an early medieval king’s house has been vividly reimagined. FIONA EDMONDS visits Ad Gefrin, a museum and distillery transporting visitors back to the seventh-century kingdom of Northumbria
The year is AD 627. I pass through a door flanked by spears: no one must wield a weapon in the king’s hall, decree the ancient laws. A soft glow illuminates the room, revealing interlaced carvings that snake around the wooden pillars. Taking my place on a bench, I await the royal party. King Edwin is in residence, along with Bishop Paulinus, who will baptise many in the nearby river. Amid song and story I am made welcome in the Great Hall of Ad Gefrin.
This is not a scene from my historian’s imagination. Rather, it’s what awaits visitors to the new Ad Gefrin Anglo-Saxon Museum and Distillery in Wooler, Northumberland, named after the seventh-century palace that stood less than five miles up the road at Yeavering. That site features in the writings of Bede as well as in excavation reports, and is crucial to our understanding of the kingdom – once the most powerful polity in Britain.
This inspiration is evident everywhere at Ad Gefrin, notably in the sustainable modern buildings with façades designed to echo those of early medieval halls. Even the signs in the car park are written in Old English.
Visitors sitting in a reconstruction of the original Gefrin’s Great Hall enjoy an immersive audiovisual experience. A screen recreates virtually the other half of this vast chamber in which characters from Northumbrian history go about their business. Some stop and talk: Queen AEthelburh (paraphrasing Bede) tells us that these are peaceful times, when a mother with a newborn baby can walk undisturbed from coast to coast.
The hall features impressive attention to detail, with light-bearing bowls suspended from carved wooden goat-heads – Ad Gefrin means ‘by the hill of goats’. Intricately embroidered textiles cover the walls, featuring designs reminiscent of early medieval masterpieces such as the Book of Durrow and the Sutton Hoo helmet.
Historic gems
As visitors move to the museum next door, they are greeted by some 50 fascinating artefacts lent by such organisations as the British Museum and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. A memorable display of jewellery features an array of amber, amethyst, glass and garnet, highlighting the extensive external contacts of the Northumbrian kingdom. Another important collection has been contributed by the Gefrin Trust, custodians of the excavated site at Yeavering. Fragments of cooking vessels, loom-weights and wattle-and-daub hint at the daily life of the original palace. Some of these items were collected during 2021 excavations, others from Brian Hope-Taylor’s Yeavering excavations of 1953‒62 – digs that uncovered an astonishing complex of timber structures, including a Roman-inspired auditorium.
Collectively, the museum and the immersive experience help us to overcome one of the challenges of studying early medieval Britain: a lack of buildings in which to imagine life in the seventh century. That era’s intricate wooden carvings and skilfully embroidered textiles have mostly perished, but Edwin’s palace was clearly built to impress.
The Ad Gefrin initiative also shows how early medieval history can be a catalyst for modern regeneration. The museum is part of a wider complex developed by a local family business, featuring a bistro as well as the distillery. A single malt whisky is expected in 2025; for now, Ad Gefrin’s first whisky blend is available, named Tácnbora (Old English for ‘standard-bearer’). That new spirit recalls the hospitality offered to visitors at the king’s hall all the way back in 627.
Fiona Edmonds is professor in regional history at Lancaster University
For more information on Ad Gefrin, head to adgefrin.co.uk
A soft glow illuminates the room, revealing interlaced carvings that snake around the wooden pillars