My Adventures 3: Lindisfarne Priory

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On Wednesday the 29th of August 2018 I set off from home for the 6 hour drive to Lindisfarne. Been meaning to visit for years but never got round to it, well here I go. After just over 6 hours later due to an accident on the A1(M) , My son and I are driving onto The Holy Island!

Make sure you check the safe times to cross here as the tide comes in real fast.

Driving Over The Causeway.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, also known simply as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic Christianity under Saints Aidan of Lindisfarne, Cuthbert, Eadfrith of Lindisfarne and Eadberht of Lindisfarne. After the Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England, a priory was reestablished. A small castle was built on the island in 1550.

The northeast coast of England was largely unsettled by Roman civilians apart from the Tyne valley and Hadrian's Wall. The area had been little affected during the centuries of nominal Roman occupation. The countryside had been subject to raids from both Scots and Picts and was "not one to attract early Germanic settlement". King Ida (reigned from 547) started the sea-borne settlement of the coast, establishing an urbs regia at Bamburgh across the bay from Lindisfarne. The conquest was not straightforward, however. The Historia Brittonum recounts how, in the 6th century, Urien, prince of Rheged, with a coalition of North British kingdoms, besieged Angles led by Theodric of Bernicia at the island for three days and nights, until internal power struggles led to the Britons' defeat.

I paid £2.40 for 3 hours of parking (or £5 for the day) in the car park and walked into the village, and withdrew some money from the Post Office.

We walked on and stopped in The Lindisfarne Mead shop for some Mead tasting. I was pleasantly surprised! I thought it would be really sweet and unpleasant, but I was so wrong! I bought a bottle of original mead and left the shop.

We wondered on and up to Lindisfarne Priory managed by English Hertitage.

Lindisfarne is intimately connected with the history of Christianity in Britain. In 635 the Northumbrian king, Oswald (reigned 634–42), summoned an Irish monk named Aidan from Iona – the island-monastery off the south-west coast of what is now Scotland – to be bishop of his kingdom. Oswald granted Aidan and his companions the small tidal island of Lindisfarne on which to found a monastery.

Following the general collapse of Roman military rule in the early 5th century, Britain had fragmented into numerous small kingdoms, many ruled by Anglo-Saxon warlords. By the 7th century Oswald’s Northumbrian kingdom dominated Britain. Northumbria consisted of two parts: Deira, centred on the old Roman city of York, and Bernicia further north. Oswald’s accession in 634 focused Northumbrian power in Bernicia, around the royal palaces at Yeavering, Mælmin (Milfield) and Bamburgh.

Oswald’s gift of Lindisfarne, 6 miles up the coast from Bamburgh, to the monks from Iona enabled them to establish a monastery and a bishopric in the political heart of the Northumbrian kingdom. The ultimate success of the monks’ mission, together with the long-term wealth of their monastery, was founded on their proximity to the royal dynasty of Bernicia.

Sometime in the 670s a monk named Cuthbert joined the monastery at Lindisfarne. He eventually became Lindisfarne’s greatest monk-bishop, and the most important saint in northern England in the Middle Ages.

As prior of Lindisfarne, Cuthbert reformed the monks’ way of life to conform to the religious practices of Rome rather than Ireland. This caused bitterness, and he decided to retire and live as a hermit. He lived at first on an island (now called St Cuthbert’s Isle) just offshore, but later moved across the sea to the more remote island of Inner Farne.

On the insistence of the king, however, Cuthbert was made a bishop in 685. His new duties brought him back into the world of kings and nobles, but he acquired a considerable reputation as a pastor, seer and healer.

Statue of St. Aiden

Cuthbert died on 20 March 687 and was buried in a stone coffin inside the main church on Lindisfarne. Eleven years later the monks opened his tomb. To their delight they discovered that Cuthbert’s body had not decayed, but was ‘incorrupt’ – a sure sign, they argued, of his purity and saintliness. His remains were elevated to a coffin-shrine at ground level, and this marked the beginnings of the cult of St Cuthbert, which was to alter the course of Lindisfarne’s history.

Miracles were soon reported at St Cuthbert’s shrine and Lindisfarne was quickly established as the major pilgrimage centre in Northumbria. As a result, the monastery grew in power and wealth, attracting grants of land from kings and nobles as well as gifts of money and precious objects.

The cult of St Cuthbert also consolidated the monastery’s reputation as a centre of Christian learning. One of the results was the production in about 710–25 of the masterpiece of early medieval art known today as the Lindisfarne Gospels.

ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF ELEVEN OF THE CREW OF THE HOLMROOK S.S. WHO LOST THEIR LIVES THROUGH THE VESSEL BEING WRECKED ON THE FALSE EMANNUEL NEAR HOLY ISLAND 26TH MARCH 1892 OF WHOM ARE BURIED HERE W. B. BAINES, MASTER - JAMES SKINNER - JOHN JAMES - A. WILKINSON - WM. TAYLOR - W. M. ROBSON - S. HAGGERSTON - H. R. GUTHRIE AND ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIED - JOHN NYE.

On 8 June 793 Lindisfarne suffered a devastating raid by Viking pirates – their first significant attack in western Europe. The raid caused horror across the continent. Alcuin, a York scholar working at the court of King Charlemagne in Francia, wrote to the Northumbrian king and the bishop of Lindisfarne:

Pagans have desecrated God’s sanctuary, shed the blood of saints around the altar, laid waste the house of our hope and trampled the bodies of saints like dung in the streets … What assurance can the churches of Britain have, if St Cuthbert and so great a company of saints do not defend their own?

The raid was physically and psychologically devastating: one of England’s holiest shrines had been attacked by pagans, and St Cuthbert had not intervened to stop them.

In response to the threat of Viking raids, the documentary sources say that the Lindisfarne monks retreated inland to Norham during the 830s and that in 875 the decision was made to leave Lindisfarne for good. After seven years of wandering, the community – carrying St Cuthbert’s coffin and the treasures of Lindisfarne – settled at Chester-le-Street, building a church in the middle of the old Roman fort.

A Christian community survived at Lindisfarne, however. At least 23 carved stones found here date from the late 8th to the late 10th centuries, showing that the Christian burial ground remained in use throughout the period of instability when Viking armies ravaged Anglo-Saxon Northumbria.

In 995 St Cuthbert’s relics were moved again and eventually enshrined at Durham, where they remain. The prosperity of the Durham monastic community was based on its ability to attract pilgrims to the shrine.

In 1069–70 the Durham monks returned briefly to Lindisfarne with St Cuthbert’s relics to escape the ‘harrying of the North’ by the armies of William the Conqueror, which sought to suppress northern resistance to the Norman Conquest.

This brief return prefigured the establishment of a permanent cell, or outpost, of the Durham community on Lindisfarne. Its purpose was to reaffirm the link between Anglo-Norman Durham and Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne, and to establish the right of the Norman monks of Durham to be the guardians of St Cuthbert’s legacy.

The precise date of the foundation of the new cell on Lindisfarne is uncertain, but by 1122 a Durham monk called Edward was active there. The earliest surviving reference to a full-scale community of monks is in a document dated 1172.

The church, which was built by about 1150, contained a cenotaph (an empty tomb) marking the spot where, according to tradition, Cuthbert’s body had been buried. Although his relics were by then in Durham, the place of his primary shrine on Lindisfarne was still a sacred spot which attracted pilgrims.

Initially there were probably only a few monks here, with numbers rising to about ten during the 13th century. Lindisfarne was staffed by monks from Durham, with each monk staying for two or three years before returning to the mother-house.

View across to Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Castle

Statue Of Saint Cuthbert

Plan of The Priory

We left the priory and walked over to St Marys Church next door.

When the abbey was rebuilt by the Normans, the site was moved. The site of the original priory church was redeveloped in stone as the parish church. As such it is now the oldest building on the island still with a roof on. Remains of the Saxon church exist as the chancel wall and arch. A Norman apse (subsequently replaced in the 13th century) led eastwards from the chancel. The nave was extended in the 12th century with a northern arcade, and in the following century with a southern arcade.

After the Reformation the church slipped into disrepair until the restoration of 1860. The church is built of coloured sandstone which has had the Victorian plaster removed from it. The north aisle is known as the "fishermen's aisle" and houses the altar of St Peter. The south aisle used to hold the altar of St Margaret of Scotland, but now houses the organ.

The Journey Wooden statue

The south aisle is home to "The Journey", a magnificent elm sculpture by Fenwick Lawson carved largely with a chainsaw. This depicts six rather larger than life hooded monks, carrying a coffin towards the entrance. It represents the journey undertaken by the monks of Lindisfarne, carrying St Cuthbert's coffin, after they left the island in 875 and before the community finally settled in Durham in 995.

Lindisfarne Priory was closed on the orders of King Henry VIII's commissioners in 1537 and eventually became the ruin you see today. St Mary's Church carried on as a reformed parish church. While much of the structure dates back to well before the Reformation, many of the fixtures and fittings are more recent. The east end of the church is glorious, and comes complete with three beautiful stained glass windows which, like most of the stained glass in the church, is Victorian in date. The reredos behind the high altar carries depictions of a number of saints associated with Iona(where Aidan had come from to found the monastery on Lindisfarne) or with Lindisfarne itself.

The oldest grave marker seen outside the church is dated 1686, though one set into the north wall of the sanctuary has been dated to the 1100s and is carved with a mitre, a sword and a cross, an unusual mix of symbols.

We leave St Marys and walk towards Lindisfarne Castle beside the seafront.

On way we pass an Birds of prey tent!

Eagle Owl

Tawney Owl

Male Kestrel

We pop in the Island Store for a quick look about.

Passing The priory again as we head to the coast path.

Bamburgh Castle seen across fro The Holy Island

View back to the Priory

As we head down a path, George spies a playground made in the trees from old rope and bouys.

We now pass the fishermans huts and its many lobster pots and the aroma of fish.

Lindisfarne Castle

Clever sheds mad from the hulls of old boats!

Navigation markers , marking the deep channel for boats.

We pass a Scotsman playing the bagpipes.

We now reach Lindisfarne Castle managed by The National Trust after a bit of walking.

Such a shame that when I eventually get to visit the Castle is covered in scaffolding after a multi million pound refurbishment. The scaffolding was being removed and the furniture still not put back in the castle.

Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-century castle much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901.

The castle is located in what was once the very volatile border area between England and Scotland. Not only did the English and Scots fight, but the area was frequently attacked by Vikings. The castle was built in 1550, around the time that Lindisfarne Priory went out of use, and stones from the priory were used as building material. It is very small by the usual standards, and was more of a fort. The castle sits on the highest point of the island, a whinstone hill called Beblowe.

Lindisfarne's position in the North Sea made it vulnerable to attack from Scots and Norsemen, and by Tudor times it was clear there was a need for a stronger fortification, although obviously, by this time, the Norsemen were no longer a danger. This resulted in the creation of the fort on Beblowe Crag between 1570 and 1572 which forms the basis of the present castle.

After Henry VIII suppressed the priory, his troops used the remains as a naval store. In 1542 Henry VIII ordered the Earl of Rutland to fortify the site against possible Scottish invasion. By December 1547, Ralph Cleisbye, Captain of the fort, had guns that included a wheel-mounted demi-culverin, 2 brass sakers, a falcon, and another fixed demi-culverin. However, Beblowe Crag itself was not fortified until 1549 and Sir Richard Lee saw only a decayed platform and turf rampart there in 1565. Elizabeth I then had work carried out on the fort, strengthening it and providing gun platforms for the new developments in artillery technology. These works in 1570 and 1571 cost £1191. When James I came to power in England, he combined the Scottish and English thrones, and the need for the castle declined. At this time the castle was still garrisoned from Berwick and protected the small Lindisfarne Harbour.

In the eighteenth century, the castle was occupied briefly by Jacobite rebels, but was quickly recaptured by soldiers from Berwick who imprisoned the rebels; they dug their way out and hid for nine days close to nearby Bamburgh Castle before making good their escape.

In later years the castle was used as a coastguard look-out and became something of a tourist attraction. Charles Rennie Mackintosh made a sketch of the old fort in 1901.

In 1901, it became the property of Edward Hudson, a publishing magnate and the owner of Country Life magazine. He had it refurbished in the Arts and Crafts style by Sir Edwin Lutyens. It is said that Hudson and the architect came across the building while touring Northumberland and climbed over the wall to explore inside.

The walled garden, which had originally been the garrison's vegetable plot, was designed by Lutyens' long-time friend and collaborator, Gertrude Jekyll between 1906 and 1912. It is some distance away from the castle itself. Between 2002 and 2006 it was restored to Jekyll's original planting plan which is now held in the Reef Collection at the University of California, Berkeley. The castle, garden and nearby lime kilns have been in the care of the National Trust since 1944 and are open to visitors.

Lutyens used upturned disused boats (herring busses) as sheds. In 2005, two of the boats were destroyed by arson. They were replaced in 2006 and the third boat has now been renovated by the National Trust. The replacement of the two burned boats by two new boat sheds features on a new DVD Diary of an Island. This shows a fishing boat from Leith being cut in half in a boatyard in Eyemouth and the two "sheds" being transported to the island and lifted into place by crane.

The Spanish architect Enric Miralles used Lutyens' upturned herring busses as an inspiration for his design of the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh.

Lindisfarne Castle has provided a shooting location for a number of films. Roman Polanski's 1966 Cul-de-sac, starring Donald Pleasence, Lionel Stander and Françoise Dorléac, was shot entirely in and around the castle. It serves as the residence for Pleasence and Dorléac's characters. Polanski later returned to the castle to shoot scenes for his The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971), in which it stands in for Glamis Castle. The castle's use in Macbeth inspired the producers of the TV series Cold Feet (1998–2003) to use it as an exterior filming location in one episode, though interior scenes were shot at Hoghton Tower in Lancashire. It was also used as a stand-in for Mont San Pierre in the 1982 film The Scarlet Pimpernel starring Anthony Andrews. In the British television show Wolfblood, filming was done there for an episode. Some external shots of the castle are used in the fourth season of the period television drama Reign.