Holy Island or Lindisfarne is a small tidal island of the North East coast of England near Berwick. Its written history can be found from the 6th century. Monks from Iona went to Lindisfarne in the 6th century to establish a Christian mission under Cuthbert. Cuthbert was known for his holy life and the order was established. He retreated to the nearby Farne Islands in his later life and on his death Aidan took over the order. The island became the centre for the Christianisation of England. The Vikings invaded and destroyed the priory. The bones of the saints were taken by the monks to Durham for safety. After the Normans invaded England a new priory was built which is now a red sandstone ruin. Lindisfarne castle was built on the island in 1550 and designed by Luteyns in the twentieth century along with a garden designed by Beatrice Jekyll. Both are own by the National Trust.
The island of Lindisfarne appears first in Old Welsh as Medcaut in the 9th century in Historia Brittonum.
Both the Parker Chronicle and Peterborough Chronicle annals of AD 793 record the Old English name, Lindisfarena. Holy Island was in use by the 11th century when it appears in Latin as Insula Sacra.
The name Lindisfarne has an uncertain origin. The name may be Celtic in origin, with Lindis- meaning "stream or pool". Farne probably comes from Farran meaning "land", but may come from Faran, a traveller or the nearby Farne Islands are fern like in shape.
The island measures 3 miles (4.8 km) from east to west and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from north to south.It is accessible at low tide by crossing sand and mud flats which are covered with water at high tides. These sand and mud flats carry an ancient pilgrims' path, and now a causeway. Lindisfarne is surrounded by the 8,750-acre Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve, which protects the island’s sand dunes and the adjacent intertidal habitats. The island had a population of about 180.
For drivers, tide tables are prominently displayed at both ends of the causeway. The causeway is generally open from about three hours after high tide until two hours before the next high tide, but the period of closure may be extended during stormy weather.
Despite these warnings, about one vehicle each month is stranded on the causeway, requiring rescue by HM Coastguard,Seahouses Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat, or RAF helicopter.
Trinity House operates the lighthouses to guide vessels entering Holy Island Harbour, named Guile Point East and Heugh Hill. The first is one of a pair of stone obelisks standing on a small tidal island on the other side of the channel. The second stand on the hill, the Heugh. The obelisks are leading marks which, when aligned, indicate the safe channel over the bar. Since the early 1990s, a sector light has been fixed to it about one-third of the way up Guile Point East.
The monastery of Lindisfarne was founded by Irish monks, first Cuthbert and then Aidan, who had been sent from Iona off the west coast of Scotland to Northumbria at the request of King Oswald. The priory was founded before the end of 634 and Aidan remained there until his death in 651.
Lindisfarne became the base for Christian evangelising in England. Monks from Iona settled on the island. Cuthbert the founder and later abbot of the monastery, had his miracles and life recorded by the Bede. Cuthbert later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. An anonymous life of Cuthbert written at Lindisfarne is the oldest piece of English historical writing. From its reference to "Aldfrith, who now reigns peacefully" it must date to between 685 and 704. Cuthbert was buried on the island but his remains moved to Durham Cathedral (along with the relics of Saint Eadfrith of Lindisfarne). Eadberht of Lindisfarne. The priory was abandoned in the late 9th century.
Cuthbert's shrine was the major pilgrimage centre for much of the region until its destruction by Henry VIII in 1539 or 1540. The grave was preserved however and when opened in 1827 yielded a number of remarkable artefacts dating back to Lindisfarne. The inner (of three) coffins was of incised wood, the only decorated wood to survive from the period. It shows Jesus surrounded by the Four Evangelists. Within the coffin was a pectoral cross 6.4 centimetres (2.5 in) across made of gold and mounted with garnets and intricate tracery. There was a comb made of elephant ivory, a rare and expensive item in Northern England. Also inside was an embossed silver covered travelling altar. All were contemporary with the original burial on the island. When the body was placed in the shrine in 1104 other items were removed: a paten, scissors and a chalice of gold and onyx. Most remarkable of all was a gospel (known as the St Cuthbert Gospel or Stonyhurst Gospel. The manuscript is in an early, probably original, binding beautifully decorated with deeply embossed leather.
The Synod of Whitby in 663 changed allegiances to Canterbury and Rome.
Thousands of tourists and pilgrims still visit the island every year.
Lindisfarne Gospels
At some point in the early 700s the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latincopy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne and the artist was possibly Eadfrith, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne. Sometime in the second half of the 10th century a monk named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon (Old English) gloss to the Latin text, producing the earliest surviving Old English copies of the Gospels. Aldred attributed the original to Eadfrith (bishop 698–721). The Gospels were written with a good hand, but it is the illustrations done in an insular style containing a fusion of Celtic, Germanic and Roman elements that are truly outstanding. According to Aldred, Eadfrith's successor Æthelwald was responsible for pressing and binding it and then it was covered with a fine metal case made by a hermit called Billfrith. The Lindisfarne Gospels are now in the British Library in London.
Present day
The lime kilns were used to burn lime on the island until at least the end of the 19th century. The kilns are among the most complex in Northumberland. Horses carried limestone, along the Holy Island Waggonway, from a quarry on the north side of the island to the lime kilns, where it was burned with coal transported from Dundee, Scotland. There are still some traces of the jetties by which the coal was imported and the lime exported close by at the foot of the crags. The remains of the wagon way between the quarries and the kilns makes for a pleasant and easy walk. At its peak over 100 men were employed.Workings on the lime kilns stopped by the start of the 20th century.
The island is within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the Northumberland Coast. The ruined monastery is in the care of English Heritage, which also runs a museum/visitor centre.
Lindisfarne also has the small Lindisfarne Castle, based on a Tudor fort, which was refurbished in the Arts and Crafts style by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Lutyens also designed the island's Celtic-cross war-memorial on the Heugh. Lutyens' upturned herring buses near the foreshore provided the inspiration for Spanish architect Enric Miralles.
One of the most celebrated gardeners of modern times, Gertrude Jekyll (1843–1932), laid out a tiny garden just north of the castle in 1911. The castle, garden and nearby lime kilns are in the care of the National Trust and open to visitors.
Turner, Thomas Girtin and Charles Rennie Mackintosh all painted on Holy Island.
Lindisfarne was and is even today mainly a fishing community, with some farming.
The Island is well known for mead. In the medieval days when monks inhabited the island, it was thought that if the soul was in God's keeping, the body must be fortified with Lindisfarne mead. The monks have long vanished, and the mead's recipe remains a secret of the family which still produces it. Lindisfarne Mead is produced at St Aidan's Winery, and sold throughout the UK and elsewhere.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin
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. 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 to the 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.
Holy Island Partnership
In response to the perceived lack of affordable housing on the isle of Lindisfarne, a group of islanders established a charitable foundation known as the 'Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development Trust' in 1996. They built a visitor centre on the island using the profits from sales. In addition, eleven community houses which are rented out to community members who want to continue to stay on the island were built. The trust is also responsible for management of the inner harbour.
Tourists
Tourism grew steadily throughout the 20th century, and the isle of Lindisfarne is now a very popular destination for visitors to the area. Tourists staying on the island while it is cut off by the tide experience the island in a much quieter state, as most day trippers leave before the tide rises. At low tide it is possible to walk across the sands following an ancient route known as Pilgrims' Way. This route is marked with posts and has refuge boxes for stranded walkers, just as the road has a refuge box for those who have left their crossing too late. The isle of Lindisfarne is surrounded by the 8,750-acre Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve which attracts bird-watchers to the tidal island.
Lindisfarne in culture
Sir Walter Scott wrote:
For with the flow and ebb, its style
Varies from continent to isle;
Dry shod o'er sands, twice every day,
The pilgrims to the shrine find way;
Twice every day the waves efface
Of staves and sandalled feet the trace.
Birds
Lindisfarne is famous for its over wintering bird populations. Six internationally important species of wildfowl and wading birds winter here. For the pale-bellied brent geese from Svalbard, this is their only regular wintering place in all of the United Kingdom. Pinkfooted and greylag geese, wigeons, grey plovers and bar-tailed godwits are the other visiting birds.
(with thanks to Wikipedia!)
(with thanks to Wikipedia!)
