South of Berwick, just off the coast, is Holy Island, a tidal island with an interesting history. It can only be accessed when the tide is low enough to expose the causeway. So if you want to visit, it has to either be during this low tide time, or an overnight stay. Today, the low time ended about 1.35 pm, which meant at 1 pm everything started closing. As most places don’t open until 10 am, it’s not a long visiting period. Fortunately, I stayed overnight.
There are two main attractions on Holy Island. The Prior and (seen in the background here) and the castle that is not a castle.
There is also a good view of the castle that is a castle, but that’s on other other side of the water so we’ll ignore it.
The Priory is the reason for the island settlement, but it’s story is long. Back to the 7th century in fact. When an Irish monk by the name of Aidan came over to spread Christianity through the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria (which is basically northern England, with a bit of Scotland thrown in) and he established a monastery on the island. He was succeeded by, amongst others, a guy by the name of Cuthbert, who was buried on the island (and when they came to move his body ten years later, it was still intact!) and is still the subject of pilgrimages.
Now the monastery was happily going along being a monastery, and the villagers in the nearby village were happily being villagers until the summer of 793 when the Vikings came. They raided the monastery, attacked the monks, kidnapped the villagers and did other piratical things. This upset lots of people right across Europe, because you just don’t go around attacking monasteries and their villages, even if they are fill of riches.
The monks fled, to Durham, taking their relics of St Cuthbert with them. They established a cathedral there, and the monastery on Holy Island disappeared on the way abandoned buildings disappeared. Until the 12th century, when they returned to the island and built a new priory with the big stone church that we see today.
Being on the border, the next problem they had to deal with was the conflict between the Scots and the English. There’s a panel in the English Heritage exhibition centre that says:
Fortunately the Priory’s location made it somewhat inaccessible and defensive features could be added to the existing buildings. . . . But the policy of fortification had its dangers. Following the burning by an English army of two fortified Scottish monasteries in 1385, Durham immediately tried to “neutralise” Holy Island. However the monks continued to keep a few weapons.
Remains of the monastery buildings.
The priory seems to have gone on with life until the 16th century, when Henry VIII took a dislike to the monasteries and Church, and had them all closed down. The Holy Island priory was abandoned in 1537.
Now, also from the exhibition panels:
Stone was plundered from the priory to build a Tudor fort, Lindisfarne Castle, on an outcrop of rock called Beblowe Crag. The fort had been built to safeguard the harbour that sheltered English ships during the war with Scotland.
A hundred years later the island was being used as a naval staging post. During the Dutch Wars in the 1670s a second platforme and redoutte was built at the southern end of the hill overlooking the priory. In 1715, during the Jacobite Rising, a small Scottish force briefly seized the fort.
In the 1890s, the original fort is given to the coast guard and within a few years it’s empty. Then a guy by the name of Edward Hudson comes across it and with the help of a friend, remodels it into a holiday home. Hence, the castle that is not a castle.
With a nearby garden developed by Gertrude Jekyll.
The village is Lindisfarne. It’s all stone cottage and shops. The priory is on the far left.
A view of boats, not the castle on the other side.
The white pub behind the priory is where I was staying. The white pub on the right is a good place to eat.
Some photos of Lindisfarne. At 1pm, the castle closed. The shops started closing. The last straggling tourists leave. And what was a very busy little town suddenly becomes quiet.
St Cuthbert’s Island. The story goes Cuthbert used to go here to get away from things. There are also the remains of a medieval chapel there (well after Cuthbert’s time.)
There’s a lighthouse on the hill beside the village, which has good views of everything, including the priory.
You have to admit that’s a pretty good photo of Bamburgh Castle, considering how far away it is.
Beside the lighthouse are the remains of what might be a 7th century chapel, probably associated with the original monastery. St Aidan’s first church was wooden (and later moved to Norham) but it was replaced by a stone church.
And now the sun is setting, so it’s time for bed.
