April 04, 2010 Jarrow Vikings

These Jarrow Vikings live on a plinth on Grange Road near the corner with Ellison Street. You may notice also the Shopping Centre is called the Viking Centre, the pub across the road is called the Ben Lomond but used to be called the Viking and the Taxi company on Grange Road well that'll be Viking Taxis....
So why all the vikings then - well lets look at jarrows history.
The Angles re-occupied a 1st century Roman fort on the site of Jarrow in the 5th century[citation needed] Its name is recorded around AD 750 as Gyruum, representing Old English[æt] Gyrwum = "[at] the marsh dwellers", from Anglo-Saxon gyr = "mud", "marsh". Later spellings are Jaruum in 1158, and Jarwe in 1228. Today Jarrow residents popular nickname for Jarrow is "Jarra"
The Monastery of Saint Paul in Jarrow, part of the twin foundation Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory, was once the home of the Venerable Bede, whose most notable works include The Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the translation of the Gospel of John intoOld English. At the time of its foundation, it was reputed to have been the only centre oflearning in Europe north of Rome. In 794 Jarrow became the second target in England of the Vikings, who had plundered Lindisfarne in 793. The Monastery was later dissolved byHenry VIII.