Lindisfarne Priory (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Holy Island; holy Iland

In the civil parish of Holy Island.
In the historic county of Northumberland.
Modern Authority of Northumberland.
1974 county of Northumberland.
Medieval County of County Palatinate of Durham.

OS Map Grid Reference: NU12614172
Latitude 55.66912° Longitude -1.80096°

Lindisfarne Priory has been described as a certain Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

C11-C12 Church and later buildings of Priory originally founded in C7. Cloister turned into fortified ward, probably in C13, large tower-like projections and an outer ward added in C14. Church modified in C14 with loops inserted in west wall and possibly crenellated all around.

Lindisfarne Priory is an important example of a small Benedictine house refounded to be a cell of Durham Cathedral. Its standing remains are well-preserved and provide a good illustration of a wide variety of monastic buildings. ... In the 14th century, a new prior's lodging was created at the junction of the south and east ranges and comprised a two-storey building with a warming house below and a private apartment above, which was partitioned to create a bedroom, study and oratory or private chapel. To the east, the former infirmary was enclosed by a fortified wall with a semi-octagonal tower at the north-east corner. ... Raids during the Scottish wars of the 14th century caused some devastation of the district dependent on the priory, but the monastery itself was partially fortified and protected by the basalt ridge to the south known as the Heugh. (Scheduling Report)

"in the summer of 1385, the prior and convent of Holy Island petitioned Richard II, asking his permission to remove crenellations from their priory, as they lacked the means 'to guard and defend the church and priory with men against (the king's) enemies', and that it would be 'a great loss' (magnum dampnum) to the king and his lieges in the area if the place was captured and held by the enemy." (King, 2007, p. 381)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1011650, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 23235
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1042304
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 7835; 1084963.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) N5346.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- English Heritage official site
  Matthew Emmott's Castle Blog
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 247, 421
  Harrison, Peter, 2004, Castles of God (Woodbridge; Boydell Press) p. 67, 73-4, 77
  Brooke, C.J., 2000, Safe Sanctuaries (Edinburgh; John Donald) p. 59, 72-76, 80, 134, 361-4, 366
  Dodds, John F., 1999, Bastions and Belligerents (Newcastle upon Tyne: Keepdate Publishing) p. 55-7
  Emery, Anthony, 1996, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales Vol. 1 Northern England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) p. 115-7
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 189
  Dobson, B., 1992, 'The Church of Durham and the Scottish Borders 1378-88' in Goodman, A. and Tuck, A. (eds), War and Border Societies in the Middle Ages (London; Routledge)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 363
  Butler, L. and Given-Wilson, C., 1979, Medieval Monasteries of Great Britain (London; Michael Joseph)
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p. 69, 476
  Long, B., 1967, Castles of Northumberland (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) p. 123
  Raine, J., 1852, History and Antiquities of North Durham (London) p. 146-9
  Grose, Francis, 1785 (new edn orig 1756), Antiquities of England and Wales (London) Vol. 4 p. 109-22
  Hutchinson, Wm, 1776, A View of Northumberland (Newcastle) Vol. 2 p. 105- online copy
Periodical Articles
- King, Andy, 2007, 'Fortress and fashion statements: gentry castles in fourteenth-century Northumberland' Journal of Medieval History Vol. 33 p. 381
  Crossman, W., 1890-1, 'The Recent Excavations at Holy Island Priory' History of the Berwickshire Naturalists Club Vol. 13 p. 225-40
Guidebooks
- Story, Joanna, 2005, Lindisfarne Priory (London: English Heritage)
  Cambridge, Eric, 1995, Lindisfarne Priory and Holy Island (London: English Heritage)
  O'Sullivan, Deirdre and Young, Robert, 1995, English Heritage book of Lindisfarne, Holy Island (London: English Heritage)
  Halpin, Joanna, 1976, Lindisfarne Castle
  Addleshaw, G.W.O., 1957, Holy Island or Lindisfarne (Sunderland: Vaux and Associated Breweries)
  Thompson, A.H., 1949, Lindisfarne Priory (London; HMSO)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Durham Cathedral Muniments, 2.4. Reg. no. 1; printed in Raine (1852), appendix 121-2
  Sir Robert Bowes, 1550, A Book of the State of the Frontiers and Marches betwixt England and Scotland taken from Brit. Mus. Cotton. MS. Titus, F.13, a copy of the original (see Bates, 51, n185). Printed in Hodgson, pt.3, ii, 187, 205
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Northumberland County Council, 2009, 'Holy Island' Northumberland Extensive Urban Survey doi:10.5284/1000177 download copy
  Kelland, C.H., 1982, Ecclesiae Incastellatae: A Documentary and Architectural Study of the Concept of 'Fortified Churches' in England and Wales (M.Phil. Thesis, 2 vols, University College, University of London) p. 209

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling	Listing	I. O. E.
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio