Holy Island - an enchanted place

Date: 2004-10-04, Publication: The Journal

Cross the causeway to Holy Island and the sensation is that of entering a different world.

You are, after all, following in the footsteps of saints, kings and countless pilgrims.

This series has featured special places in the North-East. But when it comes to the best of all, Lindisfarne must be a leading candidate.

It was one of the holiest Anglo-Saxon sites in England and a hugely important early centre of Christianity, winning international recognition as the home of learning and culture.

After St Cuthbert's body was found undecayed in 698 after 11 years of burial and enshrined in the island's St Peter's Church, Lindisfarne became a centre for pilgrimage - and it is still.

Another landmark is the castle, perched on Beblowe Crag - a 90ft cone of rock rising from the pasture land. Facing it is a walled garden created by one of the country's best garden designers, Gertrude Jekyll.

Then there is Lindisfarne national nature reserve, which supports tens of thousands of birds.

The spiritual centre of the island is Lindisfarne Priory. Founded in 635 by St Aidan, it is where the Lindisfarne Gospels and other treasures were created by the monks. The priory's remains which visitors see today date from the 12th Century and stand beside the mainly 13th century Church of St Mary the Virgin, the oldest building in use on the island and which contains Anglo-Saxon stonework. St Aidan was invited by King Oswald of Northumbria to be a missionary bishop, and he chose the island as the home for his community in 635, going on to oversee the establishment of Christianity in the kingdom. Aidan came from the island monastery of Iona off the west coast of Scotland and another island base would have had a natural appeal.

Lindisfarne's pre-eminence was confirmed by St Cuthbert, who became prior and withdrew to live the life of a hermit on Inner Farne.

In 685 Cuthbert was elected bishop and on his death in 687 his body was buried in St Peter's Church. When monks exhumed it 11 years later, they expected to find bones which could be enshrined in a casket. But the body was intact. It was placed in a wooden coffin, parts if which still survive.

The Lindisfarne Gospels are believed to have been created for St Cuthbert's enshrinement. They were worked on by a scribe, Eadfrith, who became bishop. St Cuthbert's shrine established Lindisfarne as a pilgrimage centre and that in turn attracted gifts of money, treasures and land. The growing wealth of Lindisfarne also caught the attention of less welcome visitors - the Vikings.

In 793, their raids devastated the island. A stone grave marker in the priory museum bears a carving of a procession of armed warriors, who could be Viking raiders.

The monks were forced to leave the island, bearing the body of St Cuthbert and finally reached Durham.

This led to the building of one of the greatest cathedrals in Europe, where St Cuthbert is buried. It was from Durham that monks returned to Lindisfarne to build their new priory. Its design reflects that of Durham Cathedral and it is believed that it was in fact built by the same masons.

Today, the surviving rainbow arch of the priory presents one of the island's most dramatic images.

A complex of monastic buildings stands next to the priory. They include remains of what was probably the 13th Century infirmary, the warming house - originally the only room where a fire was allowed - the prior's lodging, brewhouse, bakehouse kitchen and guest accommodation.

The priory suffered in the Anglo-Scottish wars and in the 14th Century the church was fortified. In 1537, Henry VIII's commissioners closed it and it seems to have been disused by the 17th Century, having served as a storehouse as Lindisfarne became part of the Crown's border defences.

The great and the good have passed through, or lived on, Lindisfarne, among a procession of people over the centuries attracted by this alluring island. Among them are two who left a tantalising trace of their lives.

One of its earliest stone carvings is a grave marker from about 1,300 years ago to an individual called Osgyd. Outside the museum, in the churchyard, is a gravestone which has lost most of its inscription, apart from the name - Field Flowers. It is a name which is at one with its setting.

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