Hilda (Hild) was the grand-niece of King Edwin of Northumbria and was baptised by Paulinus along with him in AD 627. She only decided to become a nun twenty years later, and St Aidan made her abbess of a convent at Hartlepool. The present magnificent 13th century church on the Headland may well have been built by the Bruce family (which included Robert the Bruce) as a family burial place. This may account for its unusual size, richness and fine workmanship.
In AD 657, Hilda made a foundation at Whitby, which she ruled for the rest of her life. It was a double monastery, women and men, and her subjects included the herdsman Caedmon, the first known English Christian poet, and John of Beverley. John became Bishop of Hexham in AD 687 (he ordained Bede as priest in Ad 703) and of York in AD 705. There was also, according to Bede, a monastery in South Shields, probably on the site of St Hilda's church; it was last heard of under Abbess Verca in Ad 685. Abbess Hilda supported the defeated Celtic party at the great Synod of Whitby in AD 664, which was held in order to decide between the Roman and Celtic ecclesiastical customs. Bede is enthusiastic about her: 'All who knew her called her Mother, such was her wonderful godliness and grace.'