Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important centre of Celtic Christianity under Saints Aidan, Cuthbert, Eadfrith, and Eadberht of Lindisfarne. The island was originally home to a monastery, which was destroyed during the Viking invasions but re-established as a priory following the Norman Conquest of England. Other notable sites built on the island are St Mary the Virgin parish church, Lindisfarne Castle, several lighthouses and other navigational markers, and a complex network of lime kilns. In the present day, the island is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a hotspot for historical tourism and bird watching. As of February 2020, the island had three pubs, a hotel and a post office as well as a museum with vast historical importance.
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, today in northern England and southern Scotland. Both during his life and after his death, he became a popular medieval saint of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at Durham Cathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria. His feast days are 20 March and 4 September.
Grace Horsley Darling was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked Forfarshire in 1838 brought her national fame. The paddlesteamer ran aground on the Farne Islands off the coast of Northumberland in northeast England; nine members of the crew were saved.
Seahouses is a large village on the North Northumberland coast in England. It is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Alnwick, within the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The common eider, also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters. It can fly at speeds up to 113 km/h (70 mph).
Coquet Island is a small island of about 6 hectares, situated 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi) off Amble on the Northumberland coast, northeast England. It is included in the civil parish of Hauxley.
The Copeland Islands is a group of three islands in the north Irish Sea, north of Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland, consisting of Lighthouse Island, Copeland Island and Mew Island. They lie within the civil parish of Bangor.
Bamburgh Castle, on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland, is a Grade I listed building.
Lady Isle is a small, uninhabited island, in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. It was once home to a chapel dedicated to Saint Mary. The island features a lighthouse and a freshwater spring.
This timeline summarises significant events in the history of Northumbria and Northumberland.
Forfarshire was a paddle steamer with brigantine rigging, built in Dundee in 1834, and which struck and later foundered on one of the Farne Islands on 7 September 1838, giving rise to the rescue for which Grace Darling is famed.
Staple Island is a small rocky island, or skerry, that is one of the Outer Group of the Farne Islands in Northumberland, England. The Farne Islands are a designated National Nature Reserve. Staple Island is an important wildlife habitat known for its prolific breeding colonies of Atlantic puffins, razorbills and kittiwakes. A notable colony of grey seals breeds on the island with pups born every year in September–November.
Longstone Lighthouse is an active 19th century lighthouse on Longstone Rock in the outer group of the Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast, England. Completed in 1826, it was originally called the Outer Farne Lighthouse, and complemented the earlier Inner Farne Lighthouse. The lighthouse is best known for the 1838 wreck of the Forfarshire and the role of Grace Darling, the lighthouse keeper's daughter, in rescuing survivors.
SS Abessinia was a cargo steamship of the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She was built in North East England in 1900, and wrecked in North East England in 1921. In her early years she sailed from Hamburg to and from China, Australia, and the East Coast of the United States. From 1907 to 1912 she sailed from Hamburg to and from the West Coast of the United States and the British Columbia Coast. In 1913 she survived a storm in the North Atlantic that swept away her rudder and disabled her propulsion. She spent the First World War in Chile. Her remains are now a wreck diving site in the Farne Islands.
Bamburgh Lighthouse was built by Trinity House in 1910 to guide shipping both passing along the Northumberland coast and in the waters around the Farne Islands. It was extensively modernised in 1975 and is now monitored from the Trinity House Operations and Planning Centre in Harwich. Routine maintenance is carried out by a local attendant. It is the most northerly land-based lighthouse in England.
Farne Lighthouse is a lighthouse on the southern tip of Inner Farne. Built in the early 19th century, it still functions as a lighthouse and is managed by Trinity House. In 1910 it was one of the first Trinity House lighthouses to be automated.
Penguin Island is an island in the Australian state of South Australia located in Rivoli Bay on the state's south east coast of approximately 1.5 kilometres south of Beachport. From 1878 to 1960, it was the site of an operating lighthouse. Since at least 1972, it has been part of the Penguin Island Conservation Park.
Grace Hickling was an English ornithologist and naturalist known for studying wildlife on the Farne Islands, in the North Sea off the Northumberland coast.
The Monument to Grace Darling, in the churchyard of St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh, Northumberland is a Victorian Gothic memorial. The monument was designed by Anthony Salvin, with later renovations by Frederick Wilson, C. R. Smith and W. S. Hicks. Grace Darling was born on 24 November 1815, the daughter of the lighthouseman at Longstone Lighthouse. In 1838, Darling became a national heroine when she and her father rescued nine people from the wreck of the SS Forfarshire, a ship that had run aground off Big Harcar, an island off the Northumbrian coast. Darling died of tuberculosis aged 26 in 1842, and the monument was raised some distance to the north of her grave to make it visible to passing sailors, at the west edge of the churchyard in the same year. It is a Grade II* listed structure.
Northumbria, in modern contexts, usually refers to the region of England between the Tees and Tweed, including the historic counties of Northumberland and Durham, but it may also be taken to be synonymous with North East England. The area corresponds to the rump lands of the historical Kingdom of Northumbria, which later developed into the late medieval county of Northumberland or Comitatus Northumbriae, whose original southern boundary was the River Tees. A provincial flag of Northumbria has been registered.
