A lifetime of Islands: 2018

Saturday 1 December 2018

Island 464 - Old Law, Northumberland

Old Law is an uninhabited tidal island located to the north of Ross Back Sands on the east coast of Northumberland. It is separated from Ross Back dunes by a gap of about 300 metres on the sea side at Ross Point but only about 50 metres on the landward western side.  The landward side is a salt marsh, while the seaward side of the gap is sandy. The gap is called Wide Open, which is an appropriate name for a gap! The island itself is really just a very large sand dune, which is now covered in marram and other grasses. The island is just under a mile long by about 400 metres wide at its widest points.

It seems that Old Law only became an island at some point between 1769 (Armstrong's map) and 1820 (Fryer's map).

Ross Back Sands are only accessible on foot. There is an informal parking area for a dozen or so cars at the end of the public road at Ross (grid reference). There are no road signs to the beach. When I arrived at about 8.45 on a weekday morning there were only a couple of cars there but by the time I left 2 hours later the parking area was full. It is a flat walk of just over a mile from the parking area north east along the only public footpath, which first passes some holiday cottages, then crosses a field (full of placid cows when I visited) before entering an area of rough grazing, which soon becomes sand dunes. Once you get to the beach, you then have to turn north west and walk up the beach for 2km in order to reach the crossing point to Old Law. The day I visited was a particularly low tide and I don't know how long the island is cut off for on an average tide. It was a bit of a trudge along the beach, as the sand is a bit soft in places.

A 25" to a mile scale Ordnance Survey map from 1898 shows a lifeboat house and well located in the middle of the island but towards the southern end.  These were marked as disused on a 1922 map and they are not shown at all on modern OS maps.

There are two prominent tall navigation beacons at Guile Point on the northern end of Old Law, one on the foreshore and one in the dunes.   They look a bit like industrial chimneys. I only explored the southern tip of the island, although I had seen the daymarks from Holy Island a couple of days previously.

Map showing the location of Old Law

Looking north towards Old Law

Looking south east over Ross Back Sands towards the Farne Islands

Ross Point from Old Law

Old lobster pot on the south coast of Old Law

Looking south from Old Law across Wide Open towards Ross Back Sands

Pirri-pirri bur

This is an invasive non-native species from New Zealand

Salt marsh separating Old Law from Ross Point

No public access beyond this point

Looking south east from Old Law towards the Farne Islands

Marram grass on Old Law

Looking north up the east coast

Looking south east over Ross Back Sands towards the Farne Islands

Improvised seat on the east coast of Old Law

Lindisfarne Castle from Old Law

Looking north up the east coast of Old Law towards Lindisfarne Castle

Navigation beacons at Guile Point from Holy Island

Sunday 25 November 2018

Island 463 - St Cuthbert's Isle, Lindisfarne, Northumberland

St Cuthbert's Isle is a small uninhabited tidal island located 200 metres off the south west coast of Lindisfarne or Holy Island in Northumberland. The remains of a small stone rectangular medieval chapel can clearly be seen on the island. The present chapel dates from the 13th century. The site was partially excavated by Sir William Crossman in 1888.

A large wooden cross has been erected at the eastern end of the chapel.

A chapel dedicated to St Cuthbert (c635-687) is mentioned by Bede (AD 673-735) and is thought to refer to this island. The island was used by Cuthbert and his successor Eadberht as a retreat.

Cuthbert became a monk in 651 after seeing a vision on the night that St Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne died. He initially joined the monastery at Melrose and moved to Lindisfarne sometime in the early 670s where he became prior. He moved to Inner Farne in 676 where he lived until he agreed to become Bishop of Lindisfarne in 685. He died on Inner Farne in 687 and was buried in St Peter's Church on Lindisfarne. Eleven years later his grave was open and his body was found to be undecayed. His body was placed in a wooden coffin in the sanctuary of the church. Numerous miracles were subsequently attributed to him. Following a Viking raid in 793 the monks left Lindisfarne, taking Cuthbert's body with them. His remains were first taken to Norham on the River Tweed and then various other locations over the next couple of centuries before they were finally buried in what eventually became Durham Cathedral in 995.

I visited St Cuthbert's Isle at low tide on one of the lowest spring tides of the year in September 2018. I tried to cross to it on a low neap tide several years ago but the rocky causeway did not clear on that occasion. Thrift, sea mayweed, ragwort and bird's foot trefoil
were all growing on the island.

Cross and chapel ruins looking west

Looking east over the chapel ruins towards Holy Island

St Cuthbert's Isle

Looking south east from St Cuthbert's Isle towards Guile Point

Cross looking towards The Heugh

St Cuthbert's Isle from Holy Island

St Cuthbert's Isle from The Heugh

St Cuthbert's Isle from Holy Island

Thursday 1 November 2018

Island 462 - Pace Hill, Seahouses, Northumberland

Pace Hill is a tiny tidal island located immediately to the east of Seahouses Harbour. It is accessible at low tide by a short walk across the rocks. The island has a very small amount of grass growing on it and also a small building, which is an old powder house. This was built to store gunpowder, used in blasting, when the Long Pier and New Harbour were being constructed at Seahouses in 1886. Pace Hill was chosen for safety purposes as the location for the powder house, as it is well away from any other buildings.

The powder house is built of sandstone. It has a rectangular base, straight walls and a barrel vaulted roof. It is a grade 2 listed building and it was repaired in 2012. The repairs were carried out by Beadnell based Len Smith Builders for the North Sunderland Harbour Commissioners and half the costs were paid by Northumberland County Council. The entrance is secured by a locked gate, which was donated in memory of Thelma Archbold (Seahouses born and bred), who died in 2014.

Pace Hill cut off an hour after high tide

Map showing the location of Pace Hill

Pace Hill at low tide

Approaching the Powder House

Powder House

Plaque on the Powder House gate

Looking west from Pace Hill towards Seahouses

Looking towards the Farne Islands from Pace Hill

Back of the Powder House

Powder House

Graffiti on the rocks

Looking south east down the breakwater towards Pace Hill

Saturday 20 October 2018

Island 461 - Longstone, Farne Islands

Longstone is the most easterly of the main islands that make up the Farne Islands. The archipelago is located 6 miles to the north east of the town of Seahouses in Northumberland. Longstone has no vegetation on it but it does have a very smart red and white stripy lighthouse. Its main claim to fame is that it was once home to the Darling family.

Grace Horsley Darling was born in her grandfather's cottage in Bamburgh on 24th November 1815. She was the 7th of the nine children of William and Thomasin Darling. When Grace was three weeks old she was taken to live in the cottage next to the lighthouse on Brownsman, which is another of the Farne Islands. William had worked as assistant to his father Robert, who was the lighthouse keeper on Brownsman but Robert died shortly before Grace was born and William succeeded him as the official Trinity House lighthouse keeper.

In 1825-6 a lighthouse was built on Longstone and the family moved to live in it. They kept their garden on Brownsman to grow fresh fruit and vegetables, as there is no soil on Longstone.

Longstone lighthouse, which was originally called Outer Farne, was designed and built by Joseph Nelson. It has a 26 metre high a red and white circular tower built of rough stone with iron railings around the lantern gallery. The light was originally powered by Argand lamps with 12 burners. It was electrified in 1952 and automated in September 1990. It has a range of 18 nautical miles. In 1942 the fog signal house on Longstone was destroyed by bombing. In 1951 an accommodation block was built on the site of the fog signal house. This now houses a small museum.

In the early hours of the morning of 7th September 1838 the steamer Forfarshire, which had been on its way from Hull to Dundee, was wrecked on Big Harcar (also known as Hawkers) Rocks during a gale. 43 of the 63 people on the boat were killed but when dawn broke at 4.45am Grace spotted the wreck. At 7am the Darlings spotted some survivors clinging to the rock. Grace and her father then set out in an open rowing boat known as a coble to see if they could rescue the survivors. After rowing nearly a mile Grace and William reached Big Harcar. William climbed on to the rock to assess the survivors, while Grace kept the coble steady. Initially four men and a woman were successfully taken off the rock. Some of the men helped row the boat back to Longstone. William then returned with two of the survivors and rescued the remaining four men. The survivors had to shelter at Longstone Lighthouse for another 3 days until the winds died down. They were joined by 7 lifeboatmen from Seahouses who had rowed the 5 miles to Big Harcar, only to find that the only survivors had already been rescued by William and Grace. They were unable to return home and sought refuge at Longstone.

Nine other men from the Forfarshire survived by getting into the ship's lifeboat. They were picked up by a passing boat during the night.

Grace became renowned as a heroine. She received several awards, including the Gold Medal of Bravery from the Royal Humane Society and a Silver Medal for Gallantry from the RNLI. People flocked to meet her, she had her portrait painted by several artists and she was invited to attend functions. Plays, songs and poems were written about her. However in 1842 her health began to decline. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and she died in Bamburgh on 20th October 1842.

Grace was buried in the churchyard of St Aidan's Church in Bamburgh. A large canopied stone memorial in her honour was erected a few metres from her grave in 1844. A life size figure of Grace with an oar at her side lies below the canopy. The original sculpture was made of Portland Stone, which did not weather well and it had to be moved inside the church a few years later. The replacement effigy was made of Northumberland stone, which is more durable. Grace shares a grave with her mother (died 1848), father (died 1865) and her siblings Job and Thomasin.

Golden Gate Boat Trips, owned by George Shiel, is the only company licenced to land on Longstone and to offer tours inside the lighthouse. There is an additional charge of £2 for a tour of the lighthouse. It is the only island where dogs may land. The main sailing months are April to October. However the times and frequency of trips varies each day, due to tides and weather conditions. The day I visited in September 2018 we only had about 35 minutes ashore on Longstone. This was just about enough time for a quick look round the lighthouse and a quick walk around the island, which was very small, as it was almost high tide, so there wasn't much of the island above the water. In 2018 the adult boat fare was £15. The whole boat trip lasts about 2 hours, as it also includes a tour of the other Farne Islands. By September most of the nesting seabirds had departed but we saw cormorants and lots of grey seals.