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In 627 King Edward of Northumberland brought the Roman
missionary Paulinus to preach Christianity in his lands around Bamburgh.
Although Edward was killed by his Pagan enemies, his son Oswald carried on
the work and in 635 he summoned the monk Aidan from Iona to found a
monastery on Lindisfarne (Holy Island). Under this Celtic Christian
influence Northumbria became one of the mightiest of all English Kingdoms
and one of the great centres of learning and art even surpassing that of
Canterbury for quite some time.
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Photo taken from the castle looking over the harbour
towards the Priory.
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Two tall beacons in the distance, which
helped seagoing vessels chart a course out of the natural
harbour that is known locally as the Ouse.
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The upturned fishing boats lining the beach are now no
longer seaworthy and are used as work sheds for the small
remaining seagoing fraternity. Many of these boats were part
of one of the largest herring fleets to sail off the east
coast of England. The fleet operated from Holy Island harbour
up until the turn of the 19th century.
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At high tide the causeway linking Holy Island to the
Northumbrian coast is submerged and the Island is cut off from the
mainland. Wooden poles mark the route taken by pilgrims at low tide from
the mainland to Lindisfarne and on to the ruins of the Priory.
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The Castle was built in the 1550's using stones from the
demolished Priory following Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries.
In 1901, Edward Hudson (founder of Country Life magazine) negotiated its
purchase from the Crown and in 1902 the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens began
the conversion to create an Edwardian country house.
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500m to the north of the castle is the walled
garden which was created in 1911 when Gertrude Jekyll re-designed
the Fort's vegetable garden.
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View of the castle from the walled garden
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Sun dial in the walled garden
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The Abbey that was home to St Cuthbert was on Lindisfarne
and it remained in use after his death. In 875 the Danes destroyed the
Abbey when they invaded the Island. There was no further ecclesiastical
life on Lindisfarne until the 11th Century when the Benedictines from
Durham built the Priory following the Norman conquest and the ensuing
religious changes.
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Remains of the 11th Century Benedictine Priory
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Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (635AD-687AD)
Founder of the Celtic Church in England
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The Benedictine Priory and a view of the
castle
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The Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin is reputed to
stand on the site of the original monastery founded by Aidan.
Parts of the structure date back to the 7th century, several
hundred years before the appearance of the Priory. It is the
oldest building on Holy Island and the only building that
retains work from the Saxon period.
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