Together these four " foundation collections " included many of the most treasured books now in the British Library including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the sole surviving copy of Beowulf.

At some point in the early 700s the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated Latin copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne and the artist was possibly Eadfrith, who later became Bishop of Lindisfarne.

The Lindisfarne Gospels now reside in the British Library in London, somewhat to the annoyance of some Northumbrians.

The Lindisfarne Gospels have also featured on television among the top few Treasures of Britain.

* Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne ( 698 – 721 ) and presumed author of the Lindisfarne Gospels

Page from the Lindisfarne Gospels, c 700.

Northumbria played an important role in the formation of Insular art, a unique style combining Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Pictish, Byzantine and other elements, producing works such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, St Cuthbert Gospel, the Ruthwell Cross and Bewcastle Cross, and later the Book of Kells, which was probably created at Iona.

After the Synod of Whitby in 664 Roman church practices officially replaced the Celtic ones but the influence of the Celtic style continued, the most famous examples of this being the Lindisfarne Gospels.

* Brown ( 2003 ), Brown, Michelle P., The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society, Spirituality and the Scribe, 2003, British Library, ISBN 978-0-7123-4807-2

The area has a strong religious past, as can be seen in works such as the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Carpet page from Lindisfarne Gospels, showing knotwork detail.

These knots are most known for their adaptation for use in the ornamentation of Christian monuments and manuscripts, such as the 8th-century St. Teilo Gospels, the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Folio 27r from the Lindisfarne Gospels contains the incipit from the Gospel of Matthew.

The Lindisfarne Gospels ( London, British Library Cotton MS Nero D. IV ) is an Illuminated manuscript gospel book produced around the year 700 AD in a monastery off the coast of Northumberland at Lindisfarne, which is now on display in the British Library in London.

The Lindisfarne Gospels are presumed to be the work of a monk named Eadfrith, who became Bishop of Lindisfarne in 698 and died in 721.

" Some attribute the city's name to the legend of the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who in legend guided the monks of Lindisfarne carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert to the site of the present city in 995 AD .< ref name =" Liddy ">

In around 635 AD, the Irish missionary Aidan founded the Lindisfarne monastery on “ a small outcrop of land ” on Lindisfarne.

The Lindisfarne Gospels is called Insular or Hiberno-Saxon art, a general term that refers to manuscripts produced in the British Isles between 500-900 AD ( Backhouse 2004 ).

At the other end of the country, in the Kingdom of Northumbria, during AD 793 the Holy Island of Lindisfarne was raided.

* The legend of the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who guided the monks of Lindisfarne carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert to the site of the present city of Durham in 995 AD.

Modern English bright itself has the same etymology, but it has suffered metathesis at an early date, already in the Old English period, attested as early as AD 700 in the Lindisfarne Gospels.

After the Synod of Whitby in 664 AD, Roman church practices officially replaced the Celtic ones but the influence of the Anglo-Celtic style continued, the most famous examples of this being the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Then Aidan was sent from Iona to set up his see in Northumbria, at Lindisfarne, between AD 635 – 651.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that the holy island of Lindisfarne was sacked in AD 793.

The lime kilns on Lindisfarne are among the few being actively preserved in Northumberland.

Lindisfarne had a large lime burning industry, and the kilns are among the most complex in Northumberland.

Large parts of the island, and all of the adjacent intertidal area, are protected as Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve to help safeguard the internationally important wintering bird populations.

St Cuthbert, Lindisfarne, and the Viking raid, are also focal points of Westall's " The Wind Eye ".

* The monastery and monks of Lindisfarne are an important part of British author / broadcastor Melvyn Bragg's epic, historically based novel " Credo " published in 1996.

Oswald's head was interred in Durham Cathedral together with the remains of Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( a saint with whom Oswald became posthumously associated, although the two were not associated in life ; Cuthbert became bishop of Lindisfarne more than forty years after Oswald's death ) and other valuables in a quickly made coffin, where it is generally believed to remain, although there are at least four other claimed heads of Oswald in continental Europe.

While there are few records, the Vikings are thought to have led their first raids in Scotland on the holy island of Iona in 794, the year following the raid on the other holy island of Lindisfarne, Northumbria.

The school's houses are named after important locations in the life of the Saint: Dunblane ( Yellow ), Elgin ( Green ), Iona ( Purple ), Kelso ( Blue ), Lindisfarne ( White ) and Melrose ( Red ).

As Alan Thacker notes, the Lindisfarne Gospels are " undoubtedly the work of a single hand ," and Eadfrith remains regarded as " the scribe and painter of the Lindisfarne Gospels ".

The pages of the Lindisfarne gospels are vellum, made from the skins of sheep or calves and evidence from the manuscript reveals that the vellum used for the Gospels was made from calfskin.

The Lindisfarne Gospels are impeccably designed, and as Backhouse points out vellum would have been too expensive for ‘ practice runs ’ for the pages, and so “ preliminary designs ” may have been done on a wax tablet ( a device that is hollowed out wood or bone with a layer of wax ).

The Lindisfarne Gospels are in remarkable condition and the text is complete and undamaged ( Backhouse 1981, 66 ).

The Lindisfarne Gospels are not an example of “ isolated genius ... in an otherwise dark age ” ( Backhouse 1981, 62 ).

The Durham Gospels ( Durham Cathedral Library ) are suspected as being created slightly earlier than the Lindisfarne Gospels, and while they have the bird interlace, the birds lack the naturalness and realness of Eadfrith ’ s birds in the Lindisfarne Gospels ( Backhouse 1981, 67 ).

The Book of Kells ( Trinity College, Dublin, MS A. I. 6 ( 58 )) employs decorative patterns that are similar to other insular art pieces of the period, but is thought to be produced much later than the Lindisfarne Gospels ( Backhouse 1981, 41 ).

The Reserves are scattered through England, from Lindisfarne in Northumberland to The Lizard in Cornwall.

In the context of the cult of Cuthbert, the lavishly illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels were made at Lindisfarne, probably shortly after the St Cuthbert Gospel, with covers involving metalwork, perhaps entirely made in it, which are also now lost.