"In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of Northumbria. There were excessive whirlwinds, lightning storms, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and on January 8th of the same year, the ravaging of heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindesfarne."

Of course, this is not a scale model of Lindisfarne as such a thing would be wildly impractical and arguably, not that interesting as it would mostly consist of sand dunes and tidal mudflats, but efforts were made to take certain key features and place them in the model. Perhaps the most obvious of these is the tidal causeway that connects the island to the mainland. This feature was picked up instantly by many of the visitors to our shows and essentially provided the model with all the context it needed.

The second feature is the small island on the eastern side of the model, complete with hermit in residence. This is based on St. Cuthbert’s Island, which was occupied by the eponymous patron saint of Northumbria in the early 8th century. Of course St. Cuthbert was long dead by the time the Vikings turned up, but since he occupies such an important place in the area’s history, it felt important to include a reference.

Because the later Norman priory obliterated any obvious evidence of earlier occupation the buildings on the main island are based on what we know of Anglo-Saxon building techniques from other sites. The priory, which is now owned and run by English Heritage, has an excellent museum describing what the Anglo-Saxon monastery probably looked like in the late 8th century and so this is what has been drawn upon.

If you are interested in renting this model then we can be contacted by emailing us at:

bricktothepast@outlook.com

Alternatively, we may be contacted via our website's contact form.

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