Lindisfarne is a small island, just up the coast from the Farne Islands, and was a major religious centre for hundreds of years. There are still pilgrimage groups that come here.

In the 6th century a group of monks went to the island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland, from Ireland, and set up a monastery. At the time there was very little Christianity in most of Europe and Ireland was one of the centres keeping it alive.

In the 7th century another group of monks, led by St Aidan, went from Iona to Lindisfarne to convert the residents of the Kingdom of Northumbria. They built a monastery and a school and were very successful, particularly when St Cuthbert was a member of the community, until a series of Viking raids from the 8th century. The monks left in 875, carrying St Cuthbert’s body with them.

The abbey was reestablished after the Norman conquest in the 11th century and thrived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. The ruins of this second monastery can be seen today. The first one, probably built entirely of wood, is thought to be under the parish church.

At one end of the island, there is a prominent building on a small hill. This is Lindisfarne Castle, built originally as a defensive fort during Tudor times and converted by Edwin Lutyens to a luxurious holiday home in the early years of the 20th century. (https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lindisfarne-castle).