A-Z Challenge 2012 - L
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle stands on a whinstone hill, the
highest point of Holy Island.
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| Lindisfarne Castle - 2006 |
Holy Island – Lindisfarne
– is world famous as an important centre of early English Christianity. The
remote location led to St Aidan founding a monastery, Lindisfarne Priory, there
in AD 635. Later in 684 St Cuthbert became the Bishop of Lindisfarne. At low
tide each day a causeway links the island to the mainland.
The ghost of St Cuthbert is said to haunt the
island, being seen on the craggy rocks down by the shore, He has also been seen
on a stone slab inside the ruin of the old Priory. He is also allegedly
responsible for what are known as “Cuddy’s beads.” On dark and stormy nights
the sound of his hammering can be heard as he chips away at stone to make the
beads.
Lindisfarne is home to other ghosts; a
Cromwellian soldier seen at the castle, phantom monk who disappears through a
wall, other monks seen walking across the causeway and a monk believed to be St
Cuthbert himself.
Peter Underwood, in his book The Haunted Isle, says of the ghost of
St Cuthbert:
Perhaps the most famous appearance
of this ghost, if not the best authenticated, is the occasion when it was seen
by Alfred the Great, who was a fugitive at the time. The saintly ghost
indicated that all would be well and that Alfred would one day sit on the
throne of England,
and so it came to pass.
The castle is situated in what was once a
volatile border area between England
and Scotland.
The island was frequently attacked by the Vikings and was sacked by Danish
raiders in 873. The castle was built around 1550 with stones from the Priory
when this went out of use. The fort created on the whinstone hill, known as
Beblowe Crag, between 1570 and 1572 became the basis of the present castle.
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| Lindisfarne Castle - 2007 |
In 1901 the castle became the property of a
publishing and magazine owner. Sir Edwin Lutyens converted it into a
private house in 1903. The walled garden was designed by Gertrude Jekyll
between 1906 and 1912. The castle, garden and nearby lime kilns have been cared
for by the National Trust since 1944.
Hilary Melton-Butcher's castle yesterday K - Knepp Castle, West Sussex.
Attributions:
- Image 1 Lindisfarne Castle 2006; sitting on an igneous rock; author Nigel Chadwick; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 license.
- Image 2 Lindisfarne Castle 2007; author Matthew Hunt; Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
