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December 2001 Update

Lindisfarne

The Ayr Gold Cup weekend in September 2000 saw a quick trip to Northumberland.

One place we visited was Lindisfarne, on Holy Island. Here's the picture we took from the top of the castle, looking back to the ruins of the Priory, and the village.

It's a beautiful place. One strange thing is that you can drive there by car, but only when the tide is out.

If you stay too long, the sea covers the roadway behind the village, and you have to wait for about 6 hours before you can go across. Again, we got out in time.

Lindisfarne is very important in history, as the place where the Christian Saint Aidan lived when he went from Iona to preach Christianity in north-east England. At that time, there was a separate kingdom there, called Northumbria.

Aidan founded a monastery on Holy Island.

Many years later, the monastery was destroyed by the Vikings, and all the monks were killed.

The Priory was built later, but it's now in ruins as well.

Above and to the right, you can see a spectacular stone arch, the Rainbow Arch, which went across the roof of the old priory.

The Rainbow Arch was originally painted to look like the Rainbow which God made for Noah after the Flood, as a sign that life would not die out from the Earth.

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