The first church at Hackness was a monasteryMonastery The house of a religious community founded in 680 by St HildHild, St (c.614-680). Sometimes Hilda. Abbess of the double monastery at Whitby., abbessAbbess Head of a community of nuns of WhitbyWhitby 1. A monastery was founded in Northumbria in 656 by Oswry, Christian king of Northumbria. The first abbess was Hild or Hilda. 2. Also see Synod of Whitby.. Some grave covers from the late 7th century have been reused as building stone in the church. St Aethelburgh of Whitby was one of the early abbesses of Hackness and in the 11th century the church was said to hold her saintly relics. Fragments of an important 8th century memorial cross to St Aethelburgh survive. The monastic community was probably destroyed by the Vikings in the 9th century, although the church at Hackness continued as a parishParish Area with its own church, served by a priest who has the spiritual care of all those living within it. The system evolved gradually, reaching completion by the 13th century church and ‘mother church’ for the region. The earliest parts of the current church, in the naveNave The central aisle in a longitudinal (basilican) church, often used for processions. Also the area used by the congregation during worship., date from the 9th century.
References: Taylor and Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture, vol. 1, pp. 268-70; BedeBede, the Venerable (c.673-735) Anglo-Saxon historian and biblical scholar. Sent to study at the monastery of Wearmouth at seven; later transferred to Jarrow. Renowned in his lifetime for his learning, Bede wrote treatises on poetry, time and cosmography. Historical works include History of the Abbots, prose and verse versions of the Life of St Cuthbert and Ecclesiastical History of the English People., The Ecclesiastical HistoryEcclesiastical History Full title: Ecclesiastical History of the English People. The best known work of the Venerable Bede (c.673-735), a five-book account written in Latin which covers the period from the Roman invasion of Britain to 731CE. It was later translated into Old English of the English People, 4:23.