The first thing we had to do was to check the tide times. Lindisfarne is linked to the mainland by a causeway and the road is covered twice each day by the tide.
In 635, an Irish monk, St Aidan, arrived in Lindisfarne and founded a monastic cathedral on the island. He served as its first bishop and travelled throughout the countryside of Northumberland spreading the gospel. He's credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. The ruins which can now be seen on the island are from a priory established in the 12th century by monks from Durham, which claimed direct descent from the early monastery.
At the side of the priory is a modern day sculpture of St Aidan.
St Mary's Church is reputed to stand on the site of the original monastery which was founded by St Aidan and parts of its structure date back to the 7th century. I'm always drawn to stained glass windows, there were some beautiful ones here.
Inside the church is this statue made from elmwood, carved principally with a chain-saw. It's known as The Journey and depicts monks of Lindisfarne carrying St Cuthbert's coffin on the first stage of its journey to Durham. St Cuthbert was a monk and bishop associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne. He's regarded as the patron saint of northern England.
Lindisfarne also has a castle, however, as with many National Trust sites, dogs aren't allowed so we admired from afar.
Travelling back to the mainland over the causeway, some water had been left on the road which splashed the car windows as we drove across. We must have been splashing the cars behind us too.
It's amazing to think that this area gets fully covered by the sea. The residents of Lindisfarne must have to plan their journeys to the mainland very carefully otherwise they're at risk of being stranded and having to wait for the tide to go out again.
We had a lovely day and even though the weather wasn't at its best, it kept dry and didn't rain.
How skillful to be able to sculpt with a chainsaw.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful place to visit I bet, whenever I see photos it always looks such a serene place.
I wonder if life is restricted very much by the tides, funny to think you can drive over the land that is under the sea!
Lisa x
The sculpture is amazing, so detailed and to think it was created with a chain-saw. I think the islanders will have to be very organised, I bet quite a few of them will have been caught out by the tide at one time or another.
DeleteI remember visiting Holy Island when I was a kid. It seemed very romantic and exciting to live on an island that was cut off by the sea twice a day. It's been lovely to see you photos in this post. Jx
ReplyDeleteIt is a bit of a romantic idea living on an island such as this. I'm not sure being so restricted by the tide is for me though.
DeleteLindisfarne is on our list of places to visit. We thought about going when we were in Northumberland at Easter but we decided that it would be heaving with folk at Easter time so we left it for another day - hopefully soon!
ReplyDeleteIt's a very popular place so I think you did the right thing waiting for another time to visit. I thought there'd be lots of walking, there's a bus from the car park but I'm glad we didn't take it as it certainly wasn't as far as I thought.
DeleteThanks for the tour and information. It must be amazing living on an island with comings and goings dictated by the tides. Maybe another trip one day can reward you with a visit to the castle. Take care.
ReplyDeleteWe had to plan our visit very carefully because of the tide. There's so many places we can't visit these days because we've got Archie with us but we knew this would be the case when we were thinking of getting a dog. It can still be annoying and disappointing though.
DeleteA most enjoyable post and terrific pictures about a fascinating place. I have been there once many years ago. Flighty xx
ReplyDeleteThe island is steeped in history so there's plenty of interesting things to see, we didn't get to see everything we wanted to.
DeleteI really love old churches. I once took a course in college on church architecture, which I found fascinating. It's amazing to think that virtually every church that has ever been built has relied on a few key elements for its design. Thanks for sharing another interesting thing from your holiday.
ReplyDeleteYour college course sounds really interesting. We have some beautiful old churches here, I always enjoy looking round them, and the churchyards too.
DeleteIt is so nice to be able to take time and visit special places like this. Those stained glass windows look lovely, and a lovely shot of the castle perched high on top of the hill.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
There's so many places in the UK I'd like to visit, if only time and money were no object. We used to holiday abroad every year but have stayed in England since 2008, I don't think you can beat it.
DeleteIt looks like a very beautiful place to visit, with a lot of fascinating history. I am not sure that I would want to live there and be cut off like that though! xx
ReplyDeleteIt's a lovely place to visit, very spiritual with its history but like you, I'm not sure I'd want to live there.
DeleteIt's a magical place to visit! The day we were there we saw people walking across the sands ...... but I would be worried that it took longer than expected and I would have to take refuge in the raised hut!!
ReplyDeleteWe were fortunate, that weather permitting, our dogs would happily snuggle down in the footwells and snooze when we popped in for a cuppa on a day out.
We saw people walking across the sands too and noticed the raised hut, I wonder how many people have taken refuge in that over the years. There's no way we could leave Archie in the car, he howls endlessly if he's left outside a shop with one of us whilst the other pops inside, he really is a needy dog.
DeleteLovely post, thank you for sharing your visit with us. Definitely on the 'to visit' list for when take the 'van over to the east coast.
ReplyDeleteThere's so many wonderful places to visit along the east coast. I've still got some posts to write about other places we visited on our holiday so I hope you can get some ideas from those.
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