Shore of the Saints
Statue of Saint Aidan on Lindisfarne, the Holy Island photographed by David Simpson
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Above Bamburgh Castle
"But fain St Hilda's nuns would learn
If on a rock by Lindisfarne
St Cuthbert sits and toils to frame
The sea borne beads that bear his name.
Such tales had Whitby's fishers told,
And said they might his shape behold,
And here his anvil sound:
A deadened clang - a huge dim form
Seen but and heard when gathering storm
And night were closing round.
But this, a tale of idle fame,
The nuns of Lindisfarne disclaim." -
Sir Walter Scott,From `Marmion'
In the fifth and sixth centuries A.D, following the departure of the Romans from Britain a Germanic speaking Pagan race called the Anglo-Saxons began their invasion and settlement of our island's shores. The Angles, originating from what is now southern Denmark were ultimately to give their name to England (The Angle Land), while the Saxons of northern Germany are still remembered in parts of the country like Sussex (the old Kingdom of the South Saxons).
Many of the early Anglo-Saxons in Britain were mercenaries invited by the Celtic speaking natives, but later they became enemies of the island, making piratical raids on its eastern shores until eventually they became settlers. Some of the earliest Anglo-Saxon settlements in Britain were undoubtedly on the North Eastern coast and these settlements gradually developed into the great northern kingdom of Bernicia and later still, Christian Northumbria - a Kingdom noted for its many great saints.
The man largely responsible for the conversion of the northern Anglo-Saxons to Christianity was Saint Oswald, King of Northumbria (634-641 A.D), who had learned Christian teachings while a young man in exile on the Scottish island of Iona. In only the second year of his reign King Oswald was engaged in a battle with the Welsh, in which the Northumbrians were victorious. The king attributed the victory to divine providence and decided that the whole of his kingdom should be converted to Christianity.
Oswald sent to the island of Iona for a missionary to convert his people. A Scots-Celtic monk called Aidan was employed to the task. Saint Aidan became the first Bishop of Northumbria and chose the coastal island of Lindisfarne as the site of his monastery and the centre for his see. Other great Anglo-Saxon monasteries were built in Northumbria in addition to that at Lindisfarne, including those on the coast at Whitby, Hartlepool, Tynemouth and Coldingham (near St Abb's Head). These monasteries were important centres of art, learning and religion, and were indeed a focal point of early English civilisation.
Two of the greatest Northumbrian monasteries other than Lindisfarne, were that on the coast at Monkwearmouth and that at Jarrow on the River Tyne. These two great monasteries were both built by a Northumbrian noble called Benedict Biscop, but are more famously associated with Saint Bede (673-735). Bede is arguably the father of all English learning.
Each of the great coastal monasteries of Northumbria, were at some time associated with a particular saint, such as St Ebbe at Coldingham and St Hilda at Whitby and Hartlepool, . Many legends and stories surround these saints, but none more so than St Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne who could be described as the `Patron Saint' of Northumbria. Cuthbert, Aidan, Oswald, Hild and Bede have today left an early Christian heritage in the North East unrivalled by any other part of England.
To St Aidan we owe the founding of the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, to St Bede, we are indebted for many great works, like the first English History. St Cuthbert, on the other hand, may seem a little more elusive to us today, but he also leaves a great heritage. It was to the life of St Cuthbert that the beautiful 7th Century Lindisfarne Gospels were dedicated. These are a fine example of Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon art which can now be seen in the British Museum, London. Indirectly it is also to Cuthbert, that we owe the existence of the magnificent Cathedral at Durham, the finest example of Norman architecture in Europe, which was built to house the great saint's tomb.
Sadly, with the exception of the church at Monkwearmouth, little remains of the early Anglo-Saxon coastal monasteries today. At Whitby and Lindisfarne, we may only see the ruins of later Norman structures. The loss of these great Christan centres is usually attributed to the Vikings, who began raiding Northumbria's coast in the late 8th century. Like the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings were later to become peaceful settlers on Northumbria's coast, though mainly to the south of the River Tees. When we look at the Norman priory ruins at Lindisfarne it is hard not to forget the destructive Viking raids that once besieged the `Shore of the Saints'.
On the deep walls the heathen Dane
Had poured his impious rage in vain;
And needful was such strength to these,
Exposed to the tempestuous seas.
Scourged by the wind's eternal sway,
Open to rovers fierce as they,
Which could twelve hundred years withstand,
Winds, waves and Northern Pirates' hand.
Not but that portions of the pile,
Rebuilded in a later stile,
Shewed where the spoilers hand had been;
Not but the easting sea-breeze keen,
Had worn the pillar's carving quaint,
And mould'd in his niche the saint,
And rounded with, consuming power,
The pointed angles of each tower:
Yet still entire the abbey stood,
Like veteran, worn, but unsubdued
Sir Walter Scott
In later centuries it was not the Vikings, but the Scots, who became the great enemy of Northumbria. Of course their attacks came from the north, rather than from the coast, but the coastal lowlands were vulnerable to their raids and had to be protected. Many of Northumberland's castles therefore stand on the coast. Northumbria's coastal castles are among the best sights of the region, and include Harry Hotspur's keep at Warkworth, the lofty ruins of Tynemouth and Dunstanburgh, and of course the famous wave swept embankments of the majestic Bamburgh and Lindisfarne castles.
Since the days of the Anglo-Saxons when King Ida the Flamebearer, first king of Bernicia, established his Royal city at Bamburgh, the coast of North East England has been at the forefront of the region's history. Angles and Vikings, Normans and Romans, Heathens and Saints have all left their mark, and today from Cleveland to Berwick, the cliffs, bays, castles and islands of the North East coast, still seem to evoke memories of Northumbria's turbulent past. The violent days of Northumbria's Border history have now long since gone, but the sea is never at peace with Northumbria's coast. It lashes the cliffs of Cleveland, where Captain Cook first saw the sea, it disintegrates the limestone caves of Marsden Bay, which were once the haunt of smugglers, it thrashes the Harcar Rocks where Grace Darling made her famous sea rescue, and twice each day it detaches Lindisfarne from the mainland to form the `Holy Island'
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