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.
It is recorded that in the 7th century the abbot of Wearmouth in England obtained artificers in glass from France; and there is a tradition that in the 11th century glass-workers migrated from Normandy and Brittany and set up works at Altare near Genoa.
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."