Holy Island's Lindisfarne Priory

We stopped off at a small cafe after our adventures up the hill at Lindisfarne Castle. We warmed up in the cafe for about a half an hour before setting off again to see the other main attraction on Holy Island, the Anglo-Saxon era Priory. Along our walk to the priory we spotted lots of mossy stone walls. We love mossy rock walls, but the photographs never really do them justice. 

Mossy wall

Non-mossy wall

Lindisfarne Priory was established by St. Aiden in 634-ish AD. He was a Celtic monk who lived on the island of Iona (just off the Isle of Mull, in Scotland. We visited Mull and Iona last year.) for many years. When he was consecrated as a Bishop in 634, he began walking across Scotland and England, teaching the locals about Christianity. He set up his monastic center on the island now called Lindisfarne. It was a great location, as it was isolated, yet at low tide the monks could walk to the mainland Northumberland or directly to the local King's house in Bamburgh.

St. Cuthbert, the patron saint of Northern England, was a Celtic monk and hermit who was the bishop of Lindisfarne from 684 - 686 before resigning and retiring. I couldn't quite figure out why Cuthbert's so highly regarded, aside from the fact that he was and is famous for his piety, diligence, and obedience. 

Viking Doomsday Stone

Many Anglo-Saxon era stones and carvings have been found during various digs, such as the Viking Doomsday Stone (above) depicting the devastating Viking raid on the priory in 793, the first of many Viking raids in the west. If you've watched the TV series Vikings, the first season portrays this raid in all its gory glory. 

Anglo-saxon game board

A happier Anglo-Saxon era stone was found during excavation: a board game! If you look closely, you can see the heart (bottom right), spade (bottom left), diamond (upper left), and club (upper right) that we still use today in cards. 

Lindisfarne Priory

The priory St. Aiden built in the 600s was built in wood and is long gone. The stone priory seen in these photos was built originally in the 12th century with several additions and upgrades through the 15th century, including battlements and turrets during the increasing boarder conflicts with the Scottish in the 14th & 15th centuries. 

Lindisfarne priory

As is the case with most abbeys, monasteries, and priories in England, this one was disbanded, demolished, and the Monks sent on their merry way (if they were so lucky) when Henry VIII and England separated from the Roman Catholic church.  

Lindisfarne priory

The priory would have housed and educated a lot of monks during its heyday. The monks in turn would have taken care of the sick and poor, as well as administer to the population's religious needs. Tending to the sick, poor, and needy was a key focus of religious centers such as this one back in the day. It's a far cry from today's mega-church millionaire preachers… but I'll stop before I get on a soap box :-) 

St. Cuthbert statue and priory in the distance

Changing topics, then! Since it was early Spring when we visited, the daffodils were out in all their glory!

Daffodils! 

Right next to the Priory is the island's main church, St. Mary's Church. It, too, was founded by St. Aiden, but the existing church was built in the 14th century.

This church is really, really old! 

Bits of the church were updated in the 16th century, but for the most part, this church is over 700 years old! It's fairly small, but really quite pretty.

Inside St. Mary's 

I still light a candle for my Mom in every new church I visit. Its a nice way to remember her and I'm sure her spirit enjoys 'seeing' all the placed I go. 

 I lit one of those candles for Mom