WARNING
Before you even set out, you'll need to consult the safe crossing tables for the Holy Island Causeway - if you arrive
outside the safe crossing time and even it looks
ok then don't even think about it - several people (always tourists) get caught every year by the tide rushing in over Holy Island Sands and end up with a rather damp
vehicle that no longer works. BE WARNED. If you forget to look at the safe crossing times here before you go, they are also aired reasonably frequently on BBC Radio Newcastle (95.4FM/1458AM) - typically either just before or just after the news (on the hour) & they are also posted on boards at either end of the causeway. If you get caught on the causeway it's not my fault... I've told you where to find the information - it's up to you to look at it and be able to tell the time.
The island's history
Lindisfarne's priory stands on the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery founded by St Aidan in A.D 635, on land granted by Oswald, King and Saint of Northumbria. Aidan is believed to have chosen the island site because of its isolation and proximity to the Northumbrian capital at Bamburgh. Aidan the first Bishop of Lindisfarne, a Scots-Celtic monk from the isle of Iona, travelled widely throughout Northumbria and with the help of King Oswald as interpreter, began the conversion of the pagan Northumbrians to Christianity. This cannot have been an easy task.
In 793 A.D Lindisfarne was to witness the first Viking raid on the coast of Britain, which was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle....
"793. In this year terrible portents appeared over Northumbria, which sorely affrighted the inhabitants: there were exceptional flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying through the air. A great famine followed hard upon these signs; and a little later in that same year, on the 8th June, the harrying of the heathen miserably destroyed God's church by rapine and slaughter."
The Anglo-Saxon chroniclers were largely responsible for giving the Vikings the `bad press' they still have today. The chroniclers fail to mention that the Anglo-Saxons had
invaded Britain in much the same way, two and a half centuries earlier. Nevertheless Viking raids on Lindisfarne's wealthy coastal monastery did continue throughout the following century and in 875 A.D the monks of
Lindisfarne fled their Holy Island with the body of Cuthbert, remembering the dying wishes of their saint;- "....if necessity compels you to chose between one of two evils, I would much rather you take my bones from their tomb and carry them away with you to whatever place of rest God may decree, rather than consent to iniquity and put your necks under the yokes of schismatics"
For many years the monks wandered the north of England, with the coffin of St Cuthbert, until they eventually settled at Durham in 995 A.D where St Cuthbert's
body lies to this day.
The island's wildlife
Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve (NNR) is a complex of mudflats, saltmarsh and dune on the north Northumberland coast. In winter the reserve may host up to 50,000 waterfowl, including five
internationally, and 12 nationally important species, while in summer four species of tern and other shore birds may breed, alongside a small colony of common seals. Lindisfarne is the main wintering site in Britain of the Svalbard race of pale-bellied Brent goose, with over 50% of the population feeding on the beds of eel grass Zostera. Pink-footed and greylag geese, bar-tailed godwits and grey plover also occur in internationally important numbers.
On the dunes grayling and dark green fritillary butterflies breed among the specialised plants, which include up to 10 species of orchid and several species of bryophyte which are nationally rare. The reserve is also a vital link in the flyways used by migratory birds.