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HOLY ISLAND, or LINDISFARNE

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 622 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HOLY See also:ISLAND, or LINDISFARNE , an irregularly shaped island in the See also:North See also:Sea, 2 M. from the See also:coast of See also:Northumberland, in which See also:county it is included. Pop. (19or) 405. It is joined to the mainland at See also:low See also:water by See also:flat sands, over which a track, marked by wooden posts and practicable for vehicles, leads to the island. There is a station on the North-Eastern railway at Beal, 9 m. S.E. of See also:Berwick, opposite the island, but 14 m. inland. The island See also:measures 3 M. from E. to W. and 12 N. to S., extreme distances. Its See also:total See also:area is 1051 acres. On the N. it is sandy and barren, but on the S. very fertile and under cultivation. Large See also:numbers of rabbits have their warrens among the sands, and, with See also:fish, oysters and agricultural produce, are exported. There are several fresh springs on the island, and in the north-See also:east is a See also:lake of 6 acres. At the See also:south-See also:west See also:angle is the little fishing See also:village (formerly much larger) which is now a favourite summer watering-See also:place.

Here is the See also:

harbour, offering See also:good shelter to small vessels. Holy Island derives its name from a monastery founded on it by St See also:Aidan, and restored in 2082 as a See also:cell of the See also:Benedictine monastery at See also:Durham. Its ruins, still extensive and carefully preserved, justify See also:Scott's description of it as a " See also:solemn, huge and dark-red See also:pile." An islet, lying off the S.W. angle, has traces of a See also:chapel upon it, and is believed to have offered a See also:retreat to St See also:Cuthbert and his successors. The See also:castle, situated east of the village, on a basaltic See also:rock about 90 ft. high, See also:dates from c. 1500. When St Aidan came at the See also:request of See also:King See also:Oswald to preach to the Northumbrians he See also:chose the island of Lindisfarne as the site of his See also:church and monastery, and made it the See also:head of the See also:diocese which he founded in 635. For some years the see continued in See also:peace, numbering among its bishops St Cuthbert, but in 793 the Danes landed on the island and burnt the See also:settlement, killing many of the monks. The survivors, however, rebuilt the church and continued to live there until 883, when, through fear of a second invasion of the Danes, they fled inland, taking with them the See also:body of St Cuthbert and other holy See also:relics. The church and monastery were again destroyed and the See also:bishop and monks, on See also:account of the exposed situation of the island, determined not to return to it, and settled first at See also:Chester-le-See also:Street and finally at Durham. With the fall of the monastery the island appears to have become again untenanted, and probably continued so until the See also:prior and See also:convent of Durham .stablished there a cell of monks from their own See also:house. The inhabitants of Holy Island were governed by two bailiffs at least as See also:early as the 14th See also:century, and, according to J. Raine in his See also:History of North Durham (1852), are called " burgesses or freemen " in a private See also:paper dated 1728.

In 1323 the bailiffs and community of Holy Island were commanded to cause all See also:

ships of the burthen of See also:thirty tons or over to go to Ereswell with their ships provisioned for a See also:month at least and underdouble See also:manning to be ready to set out on the king's service. Towards the end of the 16th century the fort on Holy Island was garrisoned for fear of See also:foreign invasion by See also:Sir See also:William Read, who found it very much in need of repair, the guns being so decayed that the gunners " dare not give See also:fire but by trayne," and the See also:master See also:gunner had been." miserably slain " in discharging one of them. During the See also:Civil See also:Wars the castle was held for the king until 1646, when it was taken and garrisoned by the parliamentarians. The only other See also:historical event connected with the island is the See also:attempt made by two See also:Jacobites in 1715 to hold it for the Pretender.

End of Article: HOLY ISLAND, or LINDISFARNE

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