Holy Island and Berwick

The worst of the weather was forecast to be around Newcastle today, so we decided to head north where hopefully the better weather would be. First on our agenda was Holy Island, which is only accessible via a narrow causeway which floods for several hours at a time at high tide. Fortunately the tide tables were on our side as the causeway was open from 10am until around 5pm - well after we'd planned to leave.

Surprisingly perhaps, there's a village permanently on the island so it's not as bleak as we thought. Having parked up on the main car park, we set off on the walk to Lindisfarne castle, about a mile or so from the car on the south east tip of the island. The weather was overcast and cool but at least it was dry.

The castle was built in the 1500's, soon after the dissollusion of the monastries, and much of the stone from Lindisfarne Priory was used in its construction. The castle was needed to defend the island from the Scots, but after the union between England and Scotland its use as a fort declined. In 1901 it was converted into a country house before being bought by the National Trust in 1944.

Having read all this stuff before setting out, naturally we were keen to see inside, however upon reaching the castle and climbing the path to the entrance, we were greeted with a notice stating the castle was closed due to a wedding! Why couldn't they have made this clear at the other end of the path?? At least it saved us £6 apiece!

From the castle, we walked back towards the main village and the priory, founded in 635AD by St Aiden. By now the clouds had vanished and the sun was out. Although we didn't have time to look inside the priory, we were able to look around the grounds of the priory and the parish church, which is also on the site. After some lunch, we headed back across the causeway in order to continue our journey north towards Berwick.

Berwick's history has been turbulent - an oft-quoted fact being that it has changed hands between England and Scotland more than 13 times. Although finally captured by Richard III of England in 1482, it was never officially merged into England and was treated as a separate entity until the union of England and Scotland in 1707.


This panorama was taken from the city walls, looking south over the Tweed, showing the new road bridge (1928) and the Robert Stevenson-built railway bridge (1847). The old bridge (1624) can be just made out behind the new road bridge.

Another curious story about Berwick is the question of whether the town is still technically at war with Russia! - this is because Queen Victoria signed the Crimean War declaration in 1835 on behalf of "Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and all British Dominions", but the in the treaty bringing about peace, Berwick was left out.


Our tour of Berwick took us around the city walls, where we were treated to some fine views over the river, then later out to sea - with thankfully no raiders from England or Scotland, or the Russian navy in sight! The walk probably amounted to a further couple of miles, so we were ready for a rest by the time we got back to the cottage!