Lindisfarne

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Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne

Despite living in North East England until I was 18, and visiting regularly until my parents retired and moved away in the early 90s, I had never been to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne until our recent weekend in Northumberland. Neither had John or my friend Valerie – I went to school with her, so you can guess where she comes from. Only her husband Kenn, a southerner, had been before and that was – ahem – a few decades ago. I am ashamed. Lindisfarne, often known simply as Holy Island, is wonderful. There’s also a lot more to it than I thought. I imagined a small island with a priory, but there’s a village, a castle and more trails than we had time to do.

It’s a tidal island, so you have to be careful when you cross. We parked in the main car park (fee) and walked down to the village. Our first port of call was the priory – to reach it, we passed St Mary’s Church, to which we would return, and the statue of St Aidan. We also admired the views over to the castle.

Lindisfarne – village
St Aidan
St Mary’s Church
Lindisfarne Castle from the Priory
Lindisfarne Castle from the Priory

Aidan, an Irish monk, founded the monastery of Lindisfarne around 634. It became the base for Christian evangelism in the North of England and Northumberland’s patron saint, Saint Cuthbert, was a monk here and later abbot. There’s a statue of Cuthbert within the priory grounds.

Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne Priory
St Cuthbert
Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne Priory

After the priory, we explored St Mary’s Church. The sculpture here is of monks carrying Cuthbert’s body.

St Mary’s Lindisfarne
St Mary’s Lindisfarne
St Mary’s Lindisfarne
Monks carrying Cuthbert’s body
Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland
St Mary’s Lindisfarne
St Mary’s Lindisfarne

Next, we climbed to the old Coastguard Lookout from which there were good views down to the priory and across to the castle.

Priory
Castle
Cenotaph

A different path took us back to the village – and lunch – before we set off for the castle. Along the way, we came across this lovely building, Window on Wild Lindisfarne, part of the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve. John’s picture shows it better, but I rather like my iPhone silhouette of him and Kenn.

Window on Wild Lindisfarne
Window on Wild Lindisfarne

The castle approached – a steep climb up and we were in!

Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Castle is an old fort that was converted to a holiday home by Edward Hudson, founder of Country Life magazine, in 1901. Obviously he pulled in all his connections, because the architect was Edwin Lutyens and the garden was designed by Gertrude Jekyll.

The first thing you notice in the Entrance Hall is the wind indicator, painted by Max Gill. A weather vane on the roof powers the central needle via a mechanism in the chimney and turns it in the direction of the wind. I’ve not seen anything quite like it before.

Wind indicator
Max Gill

Moving into the kitchen, I was impressed at how many artefacts were lying in the open rather than behind glass or a rope barrier. I asked the guide on duty and she said this was now policy and so far no harm had been done. I was also struck by the parcel addressed to Austin Reed, which was poignant because the company had just gone into administration.

Lindisfarne Castle kitchen
Parcel from Austin Reed
Old newspaper

Some of the rooms were closed for conservation, but there was plenty to see. I absolutely loved this bijou castle – it must have been a joy to stay in. Not only that, the guide leaflet had such engaging stories to tell about Hudson that I think I’d have liked him too.

Dining Room
Ship Room
Ship Room
Bedroom

Before we left the castle, we spent some time on the Upper Battery which had great views over the island.

Kenn, Anabel and Valerie
Lindisfarne from the castle
Lindisfarne from the castle

Below the castle, someone had been having fun making art from stones. The other castle you can just see across the water is Bamburgh which I’ll be taking you to in a couple of post’s time.

Lindisfarne below the castle
Lindisfarne below the castle
Lindisfarne below the castle

Finally, we walked across to the garden but it hadn’t been planted for the season yet so there wasn’t much to see. There were other trails we could have followed back to the car, but by this time there was less sun, more wind and a definite nip in the air so it was decided to take the same route back because it was quickest.

Gertrude Jekyll
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle

This was a wonderful day out – and remarkable cheap! The priory is administered by English Heritage and the castle by the National Trust, so our Historic Scotland and National Trust for Scotland cards got us in free. Even if you don’t have these memberships, I’d say they were well worth visiting at £6 and £7.30 respectively. Just don’t forget to check the tides…

Linked to Jo’s Monday Walks – lots of walks this week ranging from Poland to Canada.

England, UK ,

62 Comments »

  1. I wish I had the time to visit the monastery ! You had beautiful weather !! Thanks for sharing these pictures with us. I can’t wait to go back there to visit what I have missed the first time 🙂

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  2. It does look like a beautiful day. Such an amazing place.
    And I love the castel. I love wisiting places that are preserved the way they used to be. It’s like going back in time 🙂

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  4. Have always thought Lindesfarne would be worth visiting Anabel – my dad has been there and recommends it too. Lovely photos – had no idea there was so much to see here. The history is fascinating too. Think you’d want to go on a good day as it must get so wild in stormy weather!

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  6. Pingback: Jo’s Monday walk : Yorkshire Sculpture Park | restlessjo

  10. What an amazing place. The castle on the rock is beyond picturesque. And, you taught me a new word: “priory”. I love all the culture, nature and history you are sharing on your blog, Anabel! And Lindisfarne for sure is a destination I would like to check out one day.

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  13. If you keep adding places to my “must go” list, I’m going to be in the UK for a lot longer than 4 years (not like that’s a bad thing) 😉

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  17. Thanks for the tour, Anabel. It looks like great place to visit, and I enjoyed your photos very much. The only Lindisfarne I was acquainted with was the pop group by that name. My favourite song of theirs was ‘Run For Home’. 🙂

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  19. being a southerner! I’ve been twice but not since 2004. It sounds like it has moved on and it was good then. I suppose it’s like me and St Paul’s; I’ve been in once and that was twenty five plus years ago.

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  23. I never heard of this place but what a beautiful place to visit and get away from the hustle and bustle. Some great pictures as always

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  24. This looks like a wonderful place to visit! The architecture is beautiful, and the entire island looks like it has such character. Thanks for taking us along on your adventure – your photos of everything were great.

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      • I drove from Edinburgh to Newcastle a couple of years ago with every intention of visiting, but realised very quickly that I hadn’t allowed nearly enough time and had to keep driving. Britain has so many wonderful places that I want to visit and wish I’d made more effort to when I lived there. Your blog is adding to my list!

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  26. I’m not entirely surprised that you and your friend hadn’t been before. Our relatives from Sunderland rarely drift up there. You don’t always appreciate what’s on your doorstep.
    A few years ago we stayed in a cottage on the coast about halfway between Bamburgh and Holy Island. A short walk across the dunes and we were on the deserted beach from where you could see both of them. A lovely, relatively unknown part of the country.

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  27. Thanks so much for sharing one of my favourite places, Anabel. It was a treat! 🙂 I’ve only been a couple of times myself and always mean to go back, but you know how it is… 🙂 The place has so much atmosphere! I didn’t see so much of the castle because there were quite a few people inside. Did you visit Bamburgh too? Many thanks for the link. Sunny up there today?

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  28. Hi Anabel – wonderful telling about Lindisfarne – I was entranced donkeys years ago! I went with my father … but it was an incredibly hot year … but I don’t remember seeing much on Lindisfarne, but we went to Bamburgh too – places I need to visit again. Marvellous arrangements they seem to have got … cheers Hilary

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