by Paul Matheson

‘Meditatio’- performed by The Amyas Ensemble in St Cuthbert’s Church Norham, 23 July 2026, as part of the Music at Paxton festival www.musicatpaxton.co.uk

The superbly atmospheric venue for this concert was St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church in the English village of Norham, just across the river Tweed from the Scottish village of Paxton. Norham is reputed to be the place where St Aidan crossed the River Tweed on the way from Iona to establish his monastery at Holy Island in 635AD. Norham’s church was originally built in wood in 840AD and the present stone church was built between 1165 and 1170, contemporaneously with Durham Cathedral. (The name Norham is a corruption of ‘North Durham’, so-called because it was the northern stronghold of the Prince Bishops of Durham). Norham’s impressive church is bult in the Norman Romanesque style. With its elegant arches, windows, bays and doorways, it has been described as a ‘mini Durham Cathedral’.

This evening’s concert ‘Meditatio’ was a programme of vocal and instrumental music designed to evoke the culture, zeitgeist and mindset of the time when this church was built: a world in which the local people of Norham and Northumbria were inspired by the life of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, and expressed their devotion in music, prayer and song. Leading this powerful evocation of the 12^th century were the Amyas Ensemble (www.amyasensemble.com): the warmly engaging, multi-instrumentalist duo of Emily Baines (recorders, bagpipes, vocal) and Arngeir Hauksson (gitterns, lute, percussion, symphonie, vocal).

Paul Matheson has been writing music reviews for over twenty years. He is also a policy advisor on equality, human rights and standards in public life.

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Image: The Amyas Ensemble, Emily Baines and Arngeir Hauksson, at St Cuthbert's Church, Norham - Photo by  Paul  Matheson