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Lindisfarne Priory - Lindisfarne, Northumbria (EH)

In 635, St. Aidan was called by King Oswald of Northumbria to Christianise his kingdom. Aidan settled on the island of Lindisfarne, close to the royal protection at nearby Bamburgh and established a spartan monastery, probably not unlike his former homes in Ireland and on the Isle of Iona. His slightly later successor, St. Cuthbert, came to Lindisfarne from the monastery at Melrose and became Bishop of Lindisfarne much against his will in 685. Both St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert were very pious and led lives of austerity and hermitage by choice. When St. Cuthbert died on the nearby island of Farne, his body was brought to the church at Lindisfarne and buried. However, when the monks dug up the remains eleven years later, in order to place them in a reliquary, they found that the body had not decayed. They quickly constructed a wooden reliquary-coffin, parts of which remain today, kept safely at Durham Cathedral where it was eventually taken for safe-keeping after the monks were forced to flee the attacks from the Vikings in the eighth century.

By this time, partly due to the miraculous remains of St. Cuthbert and continued royal patronage, the monastery had grown in size and especially wealth. The famous Lindisfarne Gospels, amazingly intricate and beautiful illuminated manuscripts from the late seventh century, were only one of the costly objects which made the monastery vulnerable to attack. The monastery had become a centre of learning and the arts and this atmosphere produced the Lindisfarne Gospels in the 690's. 

In 793, so the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us, there were 'terrible portents' in the sky over Northumbria and on the 8th June that year, Norwegian Vikings suddenly attacked destroying the church and slaughtering the inhabitants. Another account, that of Simeon of Durham, tells us that they captured some brothers and took them for slaves. The attack was one of the first of a series around the coasts of Britain, Ireland and France. News of the attack spread throughout Christian Europe and the fear of the Norsemen spread. Such is the desolate air of the present ruined church that it is easy to imagine the Vikings have recently left, but the stones are from the later Norman priory. 

 The re-founding of the Priory came in the early twelfth century, after St. Cuthbert's shrine had been settled in the new Norman Cathedral at Durham. Benedictine monks came from the Cathedral back to Lindisfarne and built the present stone Priory, whose carved pillars are very reminiscent of Durham in style if not in scale. It could be that the same masons were used, or that a conscious echo of St. Cuthbert's resting place was created on the site of his first internment.

The church at Lindisfarne seems to have been designed to be free-standing, but by 1200, the standard monastery plan had grown up around it, presumably as the numbers of monks increased. This number remained relatively small, probably around ten at its height, but after the Anglo-Scottish wars disrupted the North in the late thirteenth century, the countryside around, which provided the monk's living, became depressed. The monks numbers dwindled and they had to provide their own defense - an example remains above the great West Door to the church, where arrow loops sit incongruously above the carved decoration. There are lists of armour and weaponry from this time in the priory's documents but the garrison required to man the defenses proved too expensive and the monks asked if they could remove them in 1385. Alterations in size and decoration continued, with newer gothic windows being inserted into the Romanesque church.

Life changed gradually over the centuries and by the time of the monastery's dissolution in 1537, the monks' life was not as harsh as that of Aidan and Cuthbert's day. Documents from the fourteenth century show the visits to and from the mother house at Durham, the business transactions at Berwick and Newcastle and the matters of discipline and guidance required in this remote spot.

The church's decay was hastened by the stripping of the roof lead in about 1613 and by 1820, most of the nave and the central tower had collapsed. The level of deterioration in the stonework is high, due to the exposed site and the soft red sandstone, but enough remains to provide a glimpse of a once high status church and site. Still a place of Christian pilgrimage today, Lindisfarne Priory is managed by English Heritage and there is an interesting museum at the entrance. An enigmatic statue of St. Aidan faces the ruins and the parish church, parts of which are contemporary with the Priory, is opposite the West Door and is also worth a visit.  

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