The Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin on Holy Island is thought to stand on the spot where St Aidan founded the first small church around 634AD. Bede wrote of the old church that it was a thatched affair, built with old oak and unsuitable for Abbot or Bishop. A later stone church was built, and eventually the Priory that now stands in skeletal splendour against the sky.
There has been a place of Christian worship on this spot for some fourteen hundred years. Within the fabric of the chancel parts of the original seventh-century stone building remain, making it the oldest structure on the island to still bear a roof. St Cuthbert would have prayed here.
The little church served the community of monastery and islanders during the height of the golden age of Northumbria, when the Lindisfarne Gospels were created… the fabulously and meticulously illuminated manuscripts that still survive today, the cover in almost pristine condition, each page a masterpiece of art and detail… a work of dedication and faith.
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Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Beautiful blog
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🙂
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Love the British Isles just for this living history! In the US, they tend to “pave paradise to put up a parking lot.”
I just love walking through and marveling at how, during these the various times in history, various people have inhabited the structures. I love all of the handwork. My husband and I are both building artisans as well as appreciators of architecture. Last time I was in Ireland about three years ago, I remember seeing people in these tiny towns, brush and can in hand, painting sills and doors and such. Polishing brass. Sweeping the streets. Kinsale. Enniskillen. Kilkenny. Ballynahinch.
(Perhaps the Irish take these things for granted, but you would be hard-pressed to see them in the US.)
Thatched roofs. Crumbling stone structures. Heaven.
Thanks for bringing it all back, for me. ❤️
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It is the same here…we tend to care for our homes ourselves, where possible. But then, they are usually much smaller than their American counterparts. 🙂 I think that is why the very fabric of our history id so closely tied to our homes and structures.
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Well good on you! It’s a wonderful trait. 💕
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❤
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