Lindisfarne Castle Wall Art Prints
Lindisfarne Castle Gifts & Homewares
Early morning at Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island, Northumberland (commonly referred to as just 'Lindisfarne').
On a high outcrop of basalt and visible from miles around, it is not really a castle, but a 20th-century restoration of a Tudor fort created as a holiday home in 1902-3 for Edward Hudson, founder of Country Life magazine.
The first part of the fort to be built was an earthen bulwark, but it wasn't until the reign of Elizabeth I between 1565-1571 that proper defences were built in stone, using material from the ruins of nearby St Cuthbert's Priory. Lindisfarne Castle saw action only once, in 1715, when it was seized by supporters of James Stuart, the Old Pretender, although it was soon surrendered to government forces.
Holy Island itself is a tidal island joined to the mainland by a long causeway which is only accessible at low tide.