1 June 2024: Eyemouth and Lindisfarne
Our Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne
This was another big day out.
We hired a car and set out to visit Lindisfarne (another Holy Island) off the Northumberland (Northumbria) coast of England. It’s a very pleasant drive along the coast that takes about a 1.5 hours.
Iona (see previous posts) is on Scotland’s west coast and Lindisfarne is on the east coast. In 635 CE King Oswald of Northumbria, who had been exiled and educated on Iona, invited St. Aidan, a monk from Iona, to establish a monastery on Lindisfarne. This marked the beginning of Lindisfarne as a significant Christian centre. Aidan and his fellow monks from Iona played a crucial role in spreading Christianity in Northumbria, making Lindisfarne a daughter-house of the Iona monastery.
On the way we stopped for an early lunch at the charming seaside town of Eyemouth.
Our pilgrimage was blessed with perfect weather.
The significance of Branxton will become clear in my next post.
Highlights Slideshow
Eyemouth
Eyemouth is a small town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland.
The town’s name comes from its location at the mouth of the Eye Water. The Berwickshire coastline consists of high cliffs over deep clear water with sandy coves and picturesque harbours.
(Wikipedia)
The Primitive Methodist Church, Eyemouth.
The Primitive Methodist Church was founded in 1811 by Hugh Bourne and William Clowes. It developed out of the Camp Meeting movement, which was characterised by enthusiastic and often outdoor preaching events aimed at religious revival. They were big on evangelism and preaching to the working-class and rural populations.
The word ‘primitive’ here indicates a return to original or early practices.
The church building also seems to have a distinctive design.
We had lunch at a nice little café opposite the docks.
There was street fair taking place.
The house overlooking the market place looks interesting.
Lindisfarne
The quoted passages are from the many information boards around the island (or from Wikipedia).
Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland.
Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic Christianity under Saints Aidan, Cuthbert, Eadfrith, and Eadberht of Lindisfarne.
The island was originally home to a monastery, which was destroyed during the Viking invasions but re-established as a priory following the Norman Conquest of England.
Other notable sites built on the island are St Mary the Virgin parish church (originally built 635 AD and restored in 1860), Lindisfarne Castle, several lighthouses and other navigational markers, and a complex network of lime kilns.
In the present day, the island is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a hotspot for historical tourism and bird watching.
— Wikipedia: Lindisfarne
You drive onto Lindisfarne via a causeway that is under water twice a day, so you have to keep an eye on the tides.
We’ve visited Mont-St-Michelle in Normandy, France, which is also isolated by daily tides. There the tide comes in so quickly it creates a wave.
The causeway onto Lindisfarne
Notice the seaweed. At high tide the causeway is underwater.
People walk to the island as part of a personal pilgrimage.
View from the causeway.
Looking across to the mainland from the island near St Mary’s church.
Welcome to the heart of Holy Island
Holy Island is one of the most important places in the early history of Christianity in England. Its continuing significance as a place of pilgrimage is due to the lives of two medieval saints, Aidan and Cuthbert. St Aidan founded a religious community here in AD 635. St Cuthbert led the community as prior from 665 to 676 and bishop from 684 to 686.
The seventh-century Anglo-Saxon monastery was largely abandoned in the late ninth century due to Viking raids. In the early 12th century monks from Durham Cathedral refounded a priory here and built a magnificent stone church, the remains of which you can see today. In the 13th century the priory built the parish church dedicated to St Mary.
From here you can visit the Lindisfarne Priory Visitor Centre, the priory and the parish church of St Mary.
Outside the priory.
Celtic cross.
Statue of St Aídan of Lindisfarne
St. Aídan of Lindisfarne – created by Kathleen Parbury in 1958.
Welcome to Lindisfarne Priory
The medieval priory here stands on the site of a major Anglo-Saxon monastery. One of the greatest masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon art, the Lindisfarne Gospels, was produced here in about AD 700 and St Cuthbert, one of the most important saints in northern England, was buried at Lindisfarne in 687.
In the late ninth century the monks removed Cuthbert’s relics to safeguard them from Viking raiders, and monastic life declined on Lindisfarne. Several generations later, in 995, the community settled in Durham.
Durham Cathedral Priory was rebuilt from about 1093 to 1140 as a setting for a shrine containing Cuthbert’s relics. At the same time the Durham community established a ‘cell’, or outpost, at Lindisfarne and built this church. Monastic worship continued here for 400 years, until the priory was closed in 1537 during Henry VIlI’s Suppression of the Monasteries.
Then.
Now.
A Miniature Cathedral
Lindisfarne Priory and Durham Cathedral were remarkable architectural achievements in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. By that time the practice of building in stone had died out in the north of England. Instead, people built in wood, so skills in quarrying, stonemasonry and construction had to be reintroduced.
The priory church at Lindisfarne was closely modelled on Durham Cathedral and shares many features with it, including the patterned columns. The ‘rainbow arch’ - so-called because of its shape - spans the church crossing and is the only vaulting rib to survive. Lindisfarne was the only ‘cell’ of Durham to have had such a magnificent church built, probably because of its connection with St Cuthbert.
The well in the nave is probably Anglo-Saxon in origin. Excavations in the 20th century revealed it and left it visible. Over time important features of the priory church have disappeared, including the pulpitum, a stone screen which separated the nave from the more sacred area to the east.
The Site of St Cuthbert’s Tomb
St Cuthbert (c.634-687) was a revered and charismatic religious leader, known ton his love of the natural world. His life was marked by tension between his public roles, as bishop and religious advisor to the Northumbrian court, and a yearning to live a solitary existence. Cuthbert spent his last years as a hermit on the island of Inner Farne, just off the Northumberland coast between Seahouses and Bamburgh.
Cuthbert died on 20 March 687 and was buried under the Anglo-Saxon church on Holy Island. In 698 the monks are said to have opened his coffin and found that his body had not decayed. They took this as a sign of his sanctity.
After the Lindisfarne community settled at Durham, Cuthbert’s tomb in Durham Cathedral became the most visited shrine in northern England. From the early 12th century the site of his original tomb here was marked by a monument.
St Cuthbert Monument
On your right is a monument to Cuthbert. Feather star mantle (2022) was created by Russ Coleman. It was commissioned by English Heritage in collaboration with Durham Cathedral and the Church of St Mary, Holy Island. It marks the spot where the original monument may have been located.
Monument with St Cuthbert’s Cross.
Statue of St Cuthbert
Cuthbert of Farne – Fenwich Lawson A.R.C.A (20 March 2001)
Very imposing.
See what I mean?
Pilgrimage
In the eighth and ninth centuries pilgrims came to Holy Island to pray next to St Cuthbert’s coffin. Even though Cuthbert’s tomb is no longer here, the memory of his presence continues to attract pilgrims to Lindisfarne.
Owing to the threat of Viking raids, the Anglo-Saxon monks left Lindisfarne in the late ninth century. For eight years they travelled across Northumbria with Cuthbert’s remains, protecting them as sacred relics. They settled in Chester-le-Street, and in the late tenth century the monks moved again, taking Cuthbert’s coffin to Ripon and eventually to Durham.
Place and Nature
Holy Island is cut off from the mainland twice daily by the tide. The island is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and centre of the Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve, which stretches over 40 miles of coastline.
The island has a distinctive ecology, with tiger moths, marsh orchids and marsh helleborines. Migratory birds such as brent geese spend the winter here and other wildfowl and wading birds can be seen, including grey plover, wigeon, teal and bar-tailed godwit.
There are many stories relating St Cuthbert’s affection for animals and birds, in particular the eider duck or ‘Cuddy duck’, named after him. Cuthbert encouraged people to respect them and leave them in peace. His love for the natural world prefigured the environmental concerns of our own age.
The Church of St Mary
Following King Oswald’s invitation, the monks of Iona sent Aidan to bring Christianity to this area of northern England, where people worshipped Norse gods. Aidan did this by walking the lanes, listening to and talking with people, and creating a monastic school to prepare young men for their task of converting people to Christianity. It is likely that he built a wooden church on this site, which was replaced by this stone church. The oldest part of the church is the Anglo-Saxon chancel wall.
Thus began the remarkable age of the Island Saints - in particular Aidan, Eadfrith and Cuthbert - and the flourishing of artistic practice, exemplified by the Lindisfarne Gospels.
St Mary’s is steeped in centuries of prayer and peaceful reflection. We hope you experience this sense of calm during your time here.
The Journey
The Journey is a sculpture in elm by Fenwick Lawson. It show six monks taking St. Cuthbert’s body from the island on a journey across the North during the time of the Viking raids.
I was very taken by this sculpture. It depicts an amazing story.
The Reredos
The Reredos (decorated screen behind the alter) shows saints linked with Lindisfarne. Columba; Oswald; Aidan; Wilfrid; Cuthbert and Bede. In the centre is a depiction of Good Friday with Mary and John at the foot of Christ’s Cross.
The Crossman Window
The Crossman Window was made by Simon Harvey (Borderdale Stained Glass) in 2013.
This window was designed as a memorial to members of the Crossman family and represents the life of St Cuthbert and scenes and wildlife from the island.
The Lindisfarne Gospels
Lindisfarne Gospels (wikipedia).
Illuminated capital from St Mark’s Gospel. The script is called Insular Majuscule.
From the detailed information board in St Mary’s church:
When the monks left Lindisfarne in the 9th century with the relics of St. Cuthbert, they carried with them the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Produced on the Island in about 698 AD, the Lindisfarne Gospels survive as one of the greatest treasures of Northumbria/s Goldén Age.
On the last page is an inscription added in Old English some 250 years later that reads:
“Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne Church, originally wrote this book, for God and for Saint Cuthbert and, jointly, for all the saints whose relics are in the Island. And Aethelwald, Bishop of the Lindisfarne islanders, impressed it on the outside and covered it, as he well knew how to do. And Billfrith, the anchorite [hermit], forged the ornaments which are on it on the outside and adorned it with gold and with gems and also with gilded-over silver - pure metal. And Aldred, unworthy and most miserable priest, glossed it in English between the lines with the help of God and Saint Cuthbert.”
The Gospels are famous for their beautiful decoration, combining Celtic and Anglo-Saxon designs. The patterns were laid out on the vellum using compass and stylus.
Over 40 colours were used, made of extracts from a variety of plants and minerals, bound with egg white or fish glue, Local materials included red and white lead, yellow ochre, verdigris, gall and woad.
Some of the ingredients came from far distant places, such as kermes, a red colouring made from insects that live on oak trees around the Mediterranean, and blue lapis lazuli from the foothills of the Himalayas.
It has been estimated that 129 calves’ skins were used to make the vellum for the pages. Recent excavations on Holy Island have revealed what has been interpreted as a building where hides were turned into vellum.
The framework for the writing on each page was marked out by pricking with a stylus or knife-point. Each leaf was then ruled lightly using a hard, dry point. There are 24 or 25 lines in each column, two columns per page.
Pens were made from reeds or feathers. Goose quills were particularly suited for the purpose.
The writing is in a form of script known as Insular Majuscule, which had spread to Northumbria from Ireland. The dark brown ink contained carbon, probably from soot.
An Anglo-Saxon riddle from the 10th century Exeter Book describes the making of a manuscript:
“An enemy ended my life, deprived me of my physical strength; Then he dipped me in water and drew me out again, and put me in the sun where I soon shed all my hair. After that, the knife’s sharp edge bit into me and all my blemishes were scraped away; Fingers folded me and the bird’s feather moved over my brown surface, sprinkling meaningful marks; It swallowed more wood-dye and again travelled over me leaving black tracks. Then a man bound me, he stretched skin over me and adorned me with gold; Thus I am enriched by the wondrous work of smiths, wound about with shining metal.”
Lindisfarne Castle
The castle seen from St Mary’s church graveyard.
Built in the 16th century as a fort, the castle’s primary role was to defend the harbour against Scottish incursions. Its construction utilised stones taken from the nearby Lindisfarne Priory, which had been dissolved under Henry VIII.
The castle remained a military installation for several centuries, playing roles in the Scottish Wars, the Civil Wars, and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. However, its strategic importance lessened over time and by the late 19th century it had fallen into disrepair.
In 1901, Edward Hudson, the founder of Country Life magazine, leased the castle and commissioned the renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to transform it into a private residence.
It’s a very pleasant walk to get to the ‘castle’.
That’s the priory in the background on the right.
Old Law Beacons
I was intrigued to find out what these two ‘towers’ are.
They are navigation aids built between 1820 and 1840.
Glenn Bailey discovered this notice in the Newcastle Courant of December 12, 1829:
“The Corporation of the Trinity House of this Town has built Two Beacons Upon the Old Law, as leading marks into Holy Island Harbour, and the old Wooden Beacons are taken down.”
On the way back
We stopped for a swift pint.
Driving back just before crossing the causeway.
Stay tuned for more adventures on our European Odyssey!