Cut off from the mainland at twice-daily high tides, Lindisfarne’s semi-detached character made the island an ideal base for Irish missionaries, led by St Aidan, who founded a monastery here in AD 635. From the 670s it was home to Cuthbert, the most famous of its monk-bishops. After 698, when his body was enshrined before the high altar of the church, Lindisfarne became the leading pilgrimage centre in the north.
Its fame also attracted hostile attention, and in 793 Viking raiders attacked. The monks eventually fled, taking St Cuthbert’s relics with them, and settled in Durham. In the 12th century monks from Durham returned to Lindisfarne and built a new church over the spot where they believed St Cuthbert had once been buried. Badly affected by border warfare in the 14th century, a small community of monks survived here until the priory was dissolved under Henry VIII in 1537.
Now in the care of English Heritage, the extensive ruins reflect the former grandeur of the 12th-century priory. This new edition of the Red Guide to Lindisfarne Priory includes new photography and a new series of reconstruction drawings to accompany Joanna Story’s comprehensive text, which explores the ruins and what life may have been like for the monks who were guardians of this remote outpost.
- Published: January 2025
- ISBN: 978 1 910907 73 3
- Paperback
- 19 x 22 cm
- 52 pages
| MPN | 9781910907733 |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 978 1 910907 73 3 |
| GTIN | 9781910907733 |
| Size | 19 x 22 cm |
| Return period | 30 days |
