Holy Island

Another nice day although still a little windy. Went to Holy Island for the day. You can only reach Lindisfarne, as the island used to be called, when the tide is out.
First we went to Lindisfarne Castle. It was built in the sixteenth century to protect the island from the Scots. In 1901 it was just a decaying shell when it was discovered by the founder of Country Life magazine, Edward Hudson, who had it restored as his holiday home, to designs by Edward Lutyens, who tried to keep the austere spirit of the castle alive.

It was on Lindisfarne that St Aidan of Iona founded a monastery in 634. The monks established a reputation for scholarship and artistry exemplified in the Lindisfarne Gospels which are now kept in the British Library. The most famous bishop of Lindisfarne Priory was St Cuthbert who, never really settled here and after 2 years, headed back to his hermit’s cell on Inner Farne, where he died in 687. His colleagues rowed his body back to Lindisfarne, which became a place of pilgrimage until 875 when the left the island in fear of the Vikings.

 On the way back we called for take away Fish and Chips in Seahouses.