The Frith Stool, Hexham Abbey, Hexham

The Frith Stool stands in the middle of the Choir at Hexham Abbey, a solid block of sandstone that was broken in two during the 19th century and cemented together again; the stone has been worn smooth by human hands over many centuries. It was made into a seat in the earliest days of the church, probably in the 7th century, and it has played a part in its story ever since. Perhaps Saint Wilfrid had this stone seat made soon after he founded the first monastery here about 674. Wilfrid was copying the stone churches that he had seen when he stayed in France, on his journeys to and from Rome. He was much impressed by the splendid buildings and political power of the Church in Merovingian Gaul, and he would have seen there stone and wooden seats like this one, where bishops and abbots sat presiding over their teams of clergy. When Wilfrid founded the first church at Hexham he was Bishop of the Northumbrians with his seat at York; but later he became a… 📍 [Hexham, England](https://scaniver.se/L54.97138,-2.10242)