MYSTICAL BRITAIN
ENGLISH HERITAGE PHOTO LIBRARYLindisfarne
While many sacred sites aren’t always what
they initially appear, Lindisfarne truly is a
paradox: a castle that isn’t a castle on an
island that isn’t an island. This ancient holy
island is connected to England’s northeast
coast by a tidal causeway that is swept
away by the North Sea twice a day, while
the 16th-century castle was extensively
renovated in 1903 by architect Sir Edwin
Lutyens [see p38] into a romantic home
now in National Trust care.
Lindisfarne first gained its mystical
reputation when the exiled Saint Aiden
established a monastery here in AD 634;
Saint Cuthbert soon followed, a holy man
with a reputation for healing and miracles.
The local monks later created the
Lindisfarne Gospels – a copy of the four
biblical books (perhaps the most spectacular
surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscript) is held
at London’s British Library. By 793, they
fled a Viking raid, but not before several
monks died as Christian martyrs.
Explore the three-mile-wide tidal island
today and you can also find a 12th-century
ruined priory and its “rainbow” arch, the
disused Castle Point Lime Kilns and the
home of Lindisfarne Mead – a medieval
alcoholic drink made from honey,
fermented grape juice and island waters.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
lindisfarne-castleAvebury
The second most famous Neolithic stone circle in Britain also
happens to be the largest. There are in fact three circles here, two
smaller ones and a larger outer ring that may have once contained
more than 100 stones when it was first built, possibly between 2800
and 2200 BC. And we have marmalade heir Alexander Keiller to
thank for the current henge after he cleared buildings from the site
and returned many stones to their rightful positions in the 1930s;
a museum displaying treasures from the site bears his name today.
The stones are at the heart of a vast henge that includes a circular
bank and ditch, which encompasses an area of around 28 acres,
including part of Avebury village in the process. It is believed that
the henge was linked by two avenues of stones to other ceremonial
stone sites at Beckhampton and Overton Hill, while the man-made
Silbury Hill nearby is also relatively contemporary and possibly part
of the whole development. It is thought that ritualistic ceremonies to
the gods were enacted here prior to their abandonment in 1800 BC.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/avebury
This image: Lindisfarne
Castle, Nortumberland
Top right: Three large
standing stones
at Avebury
© MARK SYKES/AWLIMAGES/© NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/DAVID NOTON