Description

NORTHUMBERLAND
BERWICK ON TWEED
5331 HOLY ISLAND

NU1241 HOLY ISLAND

12/17 Lindisfarne Priory
22/12/69

GV I

Ruined priory. Started c.1093. Church is dressed red sandstone, monastic
buildings grey sandstone.

Church: Late C11 and early C12. West portal with 3 orders of columns, block
capitals and round arches with chevron moulding. 2 bays on left, and 2 on right,
of similar blank arcading. Round-arched windows above door, formerly shafted on
upper level. 3-storey turret in south-west corner has slit windows. North-west
turret has gone. 6-bay nave. North wall has blocked doorway with cable moulding
in 4th bay. Left bay has remains of large C14 window. Other windows are narrow
and round-headed with continuous sill band and hoodmould. Flat buttresses between.

North transept north-west corner stands to full height. Similar flat buttresses.
Transept apse stands to c.10 ft with 4 shafts.

Chancel has one original window and one large C14 window on north side. C14
east window, the tracery gone. South side has 3 original windows and one C14
window.

South transept apse largely complete.

Interior has multi-moulded west portal and 5-bay gallery above with narrow arches
and block capitals.

3 piers and 2 arches of north arcade stand. They are of Durham type with
alternating incised round and composite piers. Similar responds in aisles.

2 composite crossing piers support famous' rainbow arch', a chevron moulded rib
vault. The church was vaulted throughout, the springers rising from corbels like
block capitals. Position of original apse revealed by excavation. Church
lengthened and given straight east end 1140-50.

South of church extensive remains of monastic buildings, C13 and C14 including
a barbican and gatehouse between inner and outer courts.

See LINDISFARNE PRIORY. HMSO. 1949. Guardianship Monument.

Listing NGR: NU1263141764

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Lindisfarne Priory official website
• Wikidata Q354305

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas