The ruins of Lindisfarne Priory are in Lindisfarne village on the low lying part of Holy Island (Lindisfarne.)

Just outside the ruins themselves there is a statue of St Aidan:-

Lindisfarne Priory:-

Part of grounds, St Mary’s Church in background:-

More ruins in the grounds:-

St Cuthbert‘s statue:-

Dedication Plaque (to Cuthbert of Farne):-

In St Mary’s Church (see above) is this life-size wooden statue of Lindisfarne monks carrying St Cuthbert’s body round Northumbria in an attempt to find a safe place to bury him away from Viking pillagers. (Eventually he was interred in Durham Cathedral.)

After Newcastle we scooted down to Durham (passing Antony Gormley‘s Angel of the North on the way.) The main attraction there is, of course, the Cathedral. I’d seen it before from the train, dominating Durham’s skyline.

This is a side view I took from the south.

This one is from the north: a stitch of two photos as I couldn’t get back far enough to get the whole thing in.

Just to the right of the cathedral entrance in a grassy area there was a large stone cross.

We crossed the grass to investigate and it was another memorial to the South African War, if not quite as ornate as the one in Newcastle (see two posts ago.)

The cathedral itself is impressive while more intimate than York or Canterbury. It apparently costs over £60,000 a week to maintain it.

The stone columns supporting the structure are carved with different patterns. The chevrons were the most attractive. The shrine to St Cuthbert is a bit over the top though. Its canopy has iconography you would more expect to see in an Orthodox context rather than C of E. (But it would have been constructed in the RC era I suppose.)

On one wall there were lists of previous abbots, deans and bishops. I noticed one Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal, in the latter. He seems to have been the only Bishop of Durham who was also a Cardinal. The early names were all single. When did the practice of adopting surnames come into being?

The part of the cathedral I found most moving was the side chapel devoted to the Durham Light Infantry (DLI.) There were lists of battle honours dating back to beyond the Napoleonic wars. Books of remembrance of both World Wars were open at the relevant week’s dates showing the names of those DLI who died on the corresponding days in the war years, and where they fell. I saw no blank days for either war. So it goes. Several small crosses with poppies were laid in a niche. There was one for a former DLI soldier with the dates 1910-2010 and annotated “Veteran of Kohima.” Kohima was a particularly vicious battle on India’s border in World War 2. He did well to survive it, and to reach such an age.

There was also a memorial to miners who had died in pit disasters and such, not the sort of thing usually found in cathedrals I think. And a modern piece of stained glass showing the cathedral’s and Durham area’s history.

There’s a lot to see.