Lindisfarne Castle
Encyclopedia
Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-century castle
located on Holy Island
, near Berwick-upon-Tweed
, Northumberland
, England, much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens
in 1901. The island is accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway.
hill called Beblowe.
Lindisfarne's position in the North Sea made it vulnerable to attack from Scots and Norsemen, and by Tudor times it was clear there was a need for a stronger fortification. This resulted in the creation of the fort on Beblowe Crag between 1570 and 1572 which forms the basis of the present castle.
After Henry VIII
suppressed the priory, his troops used the remains as a naval store. In 1542 Henry VIII ordered the Earl of Rutland
to fortify the site against possible Scottish invasion. By December 1547, Ralph Cleisbye, Captain of the fort, had guns including; a wheel mounted demi-culverin
; 2 brass sakers
; a falcon; and another fixed demi-culverin. However, Beblowe Crag itself was not fortified until 1549 and Sir Richard Lee
saw only a decayed platform and turf rampart there in 1565. Elizabeth I
then had work carried out on the fort, strengthening it and providing gun platforms for the new developments in artillery technology. These works in 1570 and 1571 cost £1191. When James I
came to power in England, he combined the Scottish and English thrones, and the need for the castle declined. At this time the castle was still garrisoned from Berwick
and protected the small Lindisfarne Harbour.
In the eighteenth century the castle was occupied briefly by Jacobite
rebels, but was quickly recaptured by soldiers from Berwick who imprisoned the rebels; they dug their way out and hid for nine days close to nearby Bamburgh Castle
before making good their escape.
In later years the castle was used as a coastguard look-out and became something of a tourist attraction. Charles Rennie Mackintosh
made a sketch of the old fort in 1901.
In 1901, it became the property of Edward Hudson
, a publishing magnate and the owner of Country Life
magazine. He had it refurbished in the Arts and Crafts
style by Sir Edwin Lutyens
. It is said that Hudson and the architect came across the building while touring Northumberland and climbed over the wall to explore inside.
The walled garden, which had originally been the garrison's vegetable plot, was designed by Lutyens' long-time friend and collaborator, Gertrude Jekyll
between 1906 and 1912. It is some distance away from the castle itself. Between 2002 and 2006 it was restored to Jekyll's original planting plan which is now held in the Reef Collection at the University of California, Berkeley
. The castle, garden and nearby lime kilns have been in the care of the National Trust
since 1944 and are open to visitors.
Lutyens used upturned disused boats (herring busses) as sheds. In 2005, two of the boats were destroyed by arson. They were replaced in 2006 and the third boat has now been renovated by the National Trust. The replacement of the two burned boats by two new boat sheds features on a new DVD Diary of an Island. This shows a fishing boat from Leith being cut in half in a boatyard in Eyemouth and the two "sheds" being transported to the island and lifted into place by crane.
The Spanish architect Enric Miralles
used Lutyens' upturned herring busses as an inspiration for his design of the Scottish Parliament Building
in Edinburgh
.
and Queen Mary
visited in 1908, it is said they were alarmed by the slope and the cobbled surface.
Once inside the castle, the entrance hall is sectioned off by large stone pillars, somewhat reminiscent of a church nave with the dark reddish-brown of the stone contrasting with the whitewashed plasterwork. The space is completed by a bare stone floor.
The kitchen is almost as bare, and is dominated by a large stone fireplace. Here, as at Castle Drogo
, Lutyens uses the space in interesting ways. Throughout the castle, he has used stone, brick, slate and wood to create simple forms, and uses textures to demonstrate a rustic, spartan life-style. Despite being a castle it remains a homely space where the human scale is room size, but with incongruous architectural elements. In the scullery there is a tiny window over a stone sink surrounded by the mechanism used to operate the portcullis
.
After descending to the dining room one is inside the remnants of the Tudor fort. The vaults here and in the adjacent ship room are entirely functional as they support the gun battery above. The wide chimney-piece contains an old bread-oven; here Lutyens has emphasised the age of the room with Neo-Gothic
traceried windows framed by curtains which swing out to lie flat along the wall. One of the end walls is painted a rich Prussian blue
, which contrasts with the herring-bone patterned red-brick floor.
Next door is the ship room where a green wall fulfils a similar role. The furniture is in keeping, with much dark wood in the tables and cabinets. The few upholstered chairs and sofas have now faded to gentle tones.
The largest bedroom, the east, is bright and airy and again has curtains on pull-out poles. The long gallery was a new space created by Lutyens, intended to echo the grand galleries of Elizabethan
and Jacobean
houses. The scale is much smaller, but again the use of exposed stone arches and oak beams provides a grand yet rustic feel.
Further on, an upper gallery has a raised platform at one end. From here an oak door leads onto the upper battery with its spectacular views along the coastline. The music room at the castle was used by Guilhermina Suggia
, a frequent visitor, and a cello
is left in the room today to mark this.
's 1966 classic Cul-de-sac, a psychological comedic drama starring Donald Pleasance, Lionel Stander
and Françoise Dorléac
, was shot entirely in and around the castle. It serves as the residence for Pleasance and Dorléac's characters. Polanski later returned to the castle to shoot a few scenes for his 1971 film Macbeth
, in which it stands in for Glamis Castle
.
The castle's use in Macbeth inspired the producers of Cold Feet
to use it as an exterior filming location in one episode, though interior scenes were shot at Hoghton Tower
.
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
located on Holy Island
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England. It is also known as Holy Island and constitutes a civil parish in Northumberland...
, near Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
, England, much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
in 1901. The island is accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a causeway.
History
The castle is located in what was once the very volatile border area between England and Scotland. Not only did the English and Scots fight, but the area was frequently attacked by Vikings. The castle was built in 1550, around the time that Lindisfarne Priory went out of use, and stones from the priory were used as building material. It is very small by the usual standards, and was more of a fort. The castle sits on the highest point of the island, a whinstoneWhinstone
Whinstone is a term used in the quarrying industry to describe any hard dark-coloured rock. Examples include the igneous rocks basalt and dolerite as well as the sedimentary rock chert....
hill called Beblowe.
Lindisfarne's position in the North Sea made it vulnerable to attack from Scots and Norsemen, and by Tudor times it was clear there was a need for a stronger fortification. This resulted in the creation of the fort on Beblowe Crag between 1570 and 1572 which forms the basis of the present castle.
After Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
suppressed the priory, his troops used the remains as a naval store. In 1542 Henry VIII ordered the Earl of Rutland
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, 13th Baron de Ros of Helmsley was created an earl by King Henry VIII of England in 1525.-Family background:...
to fortify the site against possible Scottish invasion. By December 1547, Ralph Cleisbye, Captain of the fort, had guns including; a wheel mounted demi-culverin
Culverin
A culverin was a relatively simple ancestor of the musket, and later a medieval cannon, adapted for use by the French in the 15th century, and later adapted for naval use by the English in the late 16th century. The culverin was used to bombard targets from a distance. The weapon had a...
; 2 brass sakers
Saker (cannon)
The saker was a medium cannon slightly smaller than a culverin developed during the early 16th century and often used by the English. It was named after the Saker Falcon, a large falconry bird native to the Middle East....
; a falcon; and another fixed demi-culverin. However, Beblowe Crag itself was not fortified until 1549 and Sir Richard Lee
Richard Lee (engineer)
Sir Richard Lee was a military engineer in the service of Henry VIII of England, Edward VI and Elizabeth I. He was a commander of Henry VIII of England| and appointed surveyor of the King's works.-Surveyor of Calais:...
saw only a decayed platform and turf rampart there in 1565. Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
then had work carried out on the fort, strengthening it and providing gun platforms for the new developments in artillery technology. These works in 1570 and 1571 cost £1191. When James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
came to power in England, he combined the Scottish and English thrones, and the need for the castle declined. At this time the castle was still garrisoned from Berwick
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
and protected the small Lindisfarne Harbour.
In the eighteenth century the castle was occupied briefly by Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
rebels, but was quickly recaptured by soldiers from Berwick who imprisoned the rebels; they dug their way out and hid for nine days close to nearby Bamburgh Castle
Bamburgh Castle
Bamburgh Castle is an imposing castle located on the coast at Bamburgh in Northumberland, England. It is a Grade I listed building.-History:...
before making good their escape.
In later years the castle was used as a coastguard look-out and became something of a tourist attraction. Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect, designer, watercolourist and artist. He was a designer in the Arts and Crafts movement and also the main representative of Art Nouveau in the United Kingdom. He had a considerable influence on European design...
made a sketch of the old fort in 1901.
In 1901, it became the property of Edward Hudson
Edward Hudson (magazine owner)
Edward Burgess Hudson was the founder of Country Life magazine in 1897.-Career:Country Life was an early lifestyle magazine. Edward Hudson was the owner of Lindisfarne Castle and two other Lutyens-designed houses, Deanery Gardens in Sonning , designed and built 1899–1901, and Plumpton Place,...
, a publishing magnate and the owner of Country Life
Country Life (magazine)
Country Life is a British weekly magazine, based in London at 110 Southwark Street, and owned by IPC Media, a Time Warner subsidiary.- Topics :The magazine covers the pleasures and joys of rural life, as well as the concerns of rural people...
magazine. He had it refurbished in the Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
style by Sir Edwin Lutyens
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
. It is said that Hudson and the architect came across the building while touring Northumberland and climbed over the wall to explore inside.
The walled garden, which had originally been the garrison's vegetable plot, was designed by Lutyens' long-time friend and collaborator, Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...
between 1906 and 1912. It is some distance away from the castle itself. Between 2002 and 2006 it was restored to Jekyll's original planting plan which is now held in the Reef Collection at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. The castle, garden and nearby lime kilns have been in the care of the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
since 1944 and are open to visitors.
Lutyens used upturned disused boats (herring busses) as sheds. In 2005, two of the boats were destroyed by arson. They were replaced in 2006 and the third boat has now been renovated by the National Trust. The replacement of the two burned boats by two new boat sheds features on a new DVD Diary of an Island. This shows a fishing boat from Leith being cut in half in a boatyard in Eyemouth and the two "sheds" being transported to the island and lifted into place by crane.
The Spanish architect Enric Miralles
Enric Miralles
Enric Miralles Moya was a Spanish Catalan architect. He graduated from the School of Architecture of Barcelona at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in 1978. After establishing his reputation with a number of collaborations with his first wife Carme Pinós, the couple separated in 1991...
used Lutyens' upturned herring busses as an inspiration for his design of the Scottish Parliament Building
Scottish Parliament Building
The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
.
Lutyens' renovation
The entrance to the castle is quite dramatic and involves a steep climb around the rocky base. Lutyens' original slope was unprotected by either rails or fences in an attempt to emphasise the exposed nature of the site. When the future George VGeorge V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
visited in 1908, it is said they were alarmed by the slope and the cobbled surface.
Once inside the castle, the entrance hall is sectioned off by large stone pillars, somewhat reminiscent of a church nave with the dark reddish-brown of the stone contrasting with the whitewashed plasterwork. The space is completed by a bare stone floor.
The kitchen is almost as bare, and is dominated by a large stone fireplace. Here, as at Castle Drogo
Castle Drogo
Castle Drogo is a country house near Drewsteignton, Devon, England. It was built in the 1910s and 1920s for Julius Drewe to designs by architect Edwin Lutyens, and is a Grade I listed building...
, Lutyens uses the space in interesting ways. Throughout the castle, he has used stone, brick, slate and wood to create simple forms, and uses textures to demonstrate a rustic, spartan life-style. Despite being a castle it remains a homely space where the human scale is room size, but with incongruous architectural elements. In the scullery there is a tiny window over a stone sink surrounded by the mechanism used to operate the portcullis
Portcullis
A portcullis is a latticed grille made of wood, metal, fibreglass or a combination of the three. Portcullises fortified the entrances to many medieval castles, acting as a last line of defence during time of attack or siege...
.
After descending to the dining room one is inside the remnants of the Tudor fort. The vaults here and in the adjacent ship room are entirely functional as they support the gun battery above. The wide chimney-piece contains an old bread-oven; here Lutyens has emphasised the age of the room with Neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
traceried windows framed by curtains which swing out to lie flat along the wall. One of the end walls is painted a rich Prussian blue
Prussian blue
Prussian blue is a dark blue pigment with the idealized formula Fe718. Another name for the color Prussian blue is Berlin blue or, in painting, Parisian blue. Turnbull's blue is the same substance but is made from different reagents....
, which contrasts with the herring-bone patterned red-brick floor.
Next door is the ship room where a green wall fulfils a similar role. The furniture is in keeping, with much dark wood in the tables and cabinets. The few upholstered chairs and sofas have now faded to gentle tones.
The largest bedroom, the east, is bright and airy and again has curtains on pull-out poles. The long gallery was a new space created by Lutyens, intended to echo the grand galleries of Elizabethan
Elizabethan era
The Elizabethan era was the epoch in English history of Queen Elizabeth I's reign . Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history...
and Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
houses. The scale is much smaller, but again the use of exposed stone arches and oak beams provides a grand yet rustic feel.
Further on, an upper gallery has a raised platform at one end. From here an oak door leads onto the upper battery with its spectacular views along the coastline. The music room at the castle was used by Guilhermina Suggia
Guilhermina Suggia
Guilhermina Augusta Xavier de Medim Suggia Carteado Mena, known as Guilhermina Suggia, was a Portuguese cellist. She studied in Germany with Pablo Casals, and built an international reputation. She spent many years living in England, where she was particularly celebrated...
, a frequent visitor, and a cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
is left in the room today to mark this.
In media
Roman PolanskiRoman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
's 1966 classic Cul-de-sac, a psychological comedic drama starring Donald Pleasance, Lionel Stander
Lionel Stander
Lionel Jay Stander was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television.-Early life and career:Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children...
and Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Dorléac was a French actress. Born in Paris, she was the daughter of screen actor Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve, and was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve. The two sisters starred together in the 1967 musical, The Young Girls of Rochefort...
, was shot entirely in and around the castle. It serves as the residence for Pleasance and Dorléac's characters. Polanski later returned to the castle to shoot a few scenes for his 1971 film Macbeth
Macbeth (1971 film)
Macbeth is a 1971 British-American drama film directed by Roman Polanski, based on William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Macbeth, about the Highland lord who becomes King of Scotland through treachery and murder. It features Jon Finch as Macbeth and Francesca Annis as Lady Macbeth...
, in which it stands in for Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public....
.
The castle's use in Macbeth inspired the producers of Cold Feet
Cold Feet
Cold Feet is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his award-winning 1997 Comedy Premiere of the same name. The storyline follows three couples experiencing the...
to use it as an exterior filming location in one episode, though interior scenes were shot at Hoghton Tower
Hoghton Tower
Hoghton Tower is fortified manor house near the village of Hoghton in the Borough of Chorley to the east of Preston in Lancashire, England. It has been the ancestral home of the De Hoghton family since the time of William the Conqueror. It features a mile long driveway to the main gates...
.