of Lindisfarne
LINDISFARNE PRIORY
The first monastery established by Aidan was a very simple structure, consisting off a series of simple cells for the monks to live in and arranged around a simple wooden-built church. Nothing remains of this (save a carved Saxon stone), being destroyed by the Vikings.
However, in 1082 William Careph, Bishop of Durham converted the cathedral status of Lindisfarne to a Benedictine monastery, as a branch from Durham. The Priory Church, whose ruins we see today, date from the 11th Century. The church was built of sandstone and its design was (probably consciously) modelled on what is now Durham Cathedral.
In the following centuries, five or six monks lived here right up to 1537 and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The monks lives were, in theory, dominated by the monastic daily round; the seven 'hours' and each monk would have celebrated Mass at one of the side altar, although their religious life was impoverished for lack of books, even of the Bible itself.
Apart from that their time was taken in administration, with little opportunity for any creative of educational work. We know from extant accounts that had to be rendered to the mother church in Durham every year that apart from estate management, they engaged in quarrying limestone from the north of the island from 1344 and by the end of the century also carried out fishing in the surrounding waters. They probably also mined coal from a vein on the Snook. The question has been posed as to how much the priory was more a commercially-based venture.
THE PRIORY TODAY
After the Dissolution, the Priory was sold of and used for military stores Eventually it was ransacked in 1613 by the Earl of Dunbar, who removed the lead from the roof; it fell into disrepair and the fabric decayed..Fairly extensive remains of the church are to be seen, although over 7 1/2 centuries of decay have wreaked their havoc. It was only in the 19th century that the central tower collapsed. A large part of the north aisle remains and, miraculously, the 'Rainbow arch' at the crossing Relatively little of the cloisters, the adjacent domestic buildings or the outer (visitors' court) remain apart from some of the lower parts of the walls, which at least allow us to see their extent. It is possible, for example to see where the Cloisters would have been
 Priory remains from the south |
 Remains of the nave and arch |
 Outer priory buildings |
