The monastery of Wearmouth was founded by Benedict Biscop in 674, and that of Jarrow in 681-682.
It is with Jarrow that Bede is chiefly associated, though no doubt from the close connexion of the two localities he would often be at Wearmouth.
Other historical works of Bede are the History of the Abbots (of Wearmouth and Jarrow), and the lives of Cuthbert in verse and prose.
This industry must have won some reputation, for in 758 the abbot of Jarrow appealed t3 the bishop of Mainz to send him a worker in glass.
In 675 Benedict Biscop, abbot of Wearmouth, was obliged to obtain glass-workers from France, and in 758 Cuthbert, abbot of Jarrow, appealed to the bishop of Mainz to send him artisans to manufacture " windows and vessels of glass, because the English were ignorant and helpless."