The Farne Islands

The Farne Islands (also referred to less formally as the Farnes) are a group of islands between two and five miles off the Northumberland Coast.There are 28 islands in total, 15 of which can be seen at high tide. They are scattered about 1 1/2–4 3/4 miles distant from the mainland, divided into two groups, the Inner Group and the Outer Group. The main islands in the Inner Group are Inner Farne, Knoxes Reef and the East and West Wideopens (all joined together on very low tides) and (somewhat separated) the Megstone; the main islands in the Outer Group are Staple Island, the Brownsman, North and South Wamses, Big Harcar and the Longstone. The two groups are separated by Staple Sound. The highest point, on Inner Farne, is 62 feet above mean sea level.

Farne Islands



Farne Islands -detailed map

Farne Island Boat Trips
In the warmer months the Farne Islands are an important wildlife habitat, and are much visited by boat trips from Seahouses. A 30 minute boat trip, departing from Seahouses brings in excess of 45,000 visitors to the islands throughout the year.Local boats are licensed to land passengers on Inner Farne, Staple Island and the. Landing on other islands is prohibited to protect the wildlife. The most famous of the boat trip companies is Billy Sheils. He is mentioned in a Beatles song, has taken the queen out to the Farnes, and was made an MBE. He owns eight boats all named Glad Tidings and numbered 1 – 8.

Billy Sheil Farne Islands Boat Trips Skipper

Glad Tidings III

Glad Tidings VI

The most rewarding months being May, June and July when tens of thousands of birds are roosting.
The islands are the summer home of four of the five species of British tern, as well as twelve other species of seabird, including puffins (also known as the 'Sea Parrot' and locally known as the 'Tommy Noddy'), guillemots and kittiwakes.
At the right time of year many Puffins can be seen and these are very popular with visitors; on the Inner Farne, the Arctic Terns nest close to the path and will attack visitors who come too close (visitors are strongly advised to wear hats). Some of the islands also support a population of Rabbits, which were introduced as a source of meat and have since gone wild. The Rabbit and Puffin populations use the same burrows at different times, the Puffins being strong enough (with a vicious bite) to evict the Rabbits from the burrows during the nesting season.

Arctic Terns

Arctic Tern in Flight

Arctic Tern Attack!

Puffin with sandeels

Puffins in flight

Puffins, Sea Parrots or the local term for them - a Tommy Noddy!

Guillemot with chick

Kittiwake

The islands also hold a notable colony of about 6,000 Grey Seals, (also known as the Atlantic grey seal), with the 1000 or so pups being born each year in September-November. The colonies here are one of the most important in Europe, and this species of seal is the largest surviving carnivore in the British Isles and resides throughout the year.

Young Seal

Inquisitive Creatures

Seals on Wamses

Young Grey Seal

In the late autumn of 2007, two basking sharks measuring in the region of 20 feet in length were spotted offshore around The Farne Islands. This is the first time these gentle giants have been seen in this area, and only the 17th time they have been seen off the north east coast. The two sharks fed on plankton for six days before swimming off, perhaps migrating to warmer waters.

Occasionally the Farne Islands are visited by pods of Dolphins.These playful animals approach the tour boats very closely, allowing visitors a birds-eye view of their amusing antics.

Dolphins - adult and juvenile

Dolphins

Visit Inner Farne in summer for a close encounter with 1000s of nesting seabirds, including puffin, shag, and four types of tern. Discover a more serene, historic island in early spring or autumn, with St Cuthbert's Chapel, the medieval pele tower and Victorian lighthouse to see. It's a great place for all the family, with a visitor centre and easy access boardwalk.

Inner Farne - The Lighthouse

Prior Castell's Tower

(now the Wardens house)

Inner Farne - View of St Cuthbert's Chapel and Landing Stage

(above chapel roof)

Inner Farne - St Cuthbert's Chapel

Inner Farne - St Cuthbert's Chapel

Grace Horsley Darling Memorial Stone

Inner Farne - St Cuthbert's Chapel

Inner Farne - St Cuthbert's Chapel

East Window

Inner Farne - St Cuthberts Chapel
East Window - Grace Horsley Darling detail

One of the Farnes' outer group of islands, Staple is an exposed, rugged rocky outcrop, best suited to the more adventurous visitor! Its gullies, cliffs and nearby sea stacks, known as the 'Pinnacles', are a perfect habitat for breeding guillemot, razorbill and kittiwake.

Staple Island - The Pinnacles

Staple Island - The Pinnacles

National Trust wardens live on both Inner Farne and Brownsman. On Brownsman their home is the old lighthouse keepers' cottage. This island is not open to the public, but you can see the ruins of two lighthouse beacons here when you pass on a boat. Its beaches are a popular pupping ground for grey seals each autumn.

Brownsman Island

Longstone Lighthouse was built in 1825 and lived in until 1990 when it became automated. Four miles off the Northumberland coast, it was from here that Grace Darling and her father set out to rescue the survivors of a wrecked paddle-steamer, the Forfarshire, when it ran aground on a nearby islet in 1838. Longstone is owned by the National Trust, but managed by Trinity House.

Reflections of Longstone


Longstone Lighthouse

Bamburgh

Cove Cottage in Smugglers Court

We usually stay at a super self catering establishment in a little village of Waren Mill, which is two miles north of the Northumbrian Village of Bamburgh.
Bamburgh is not very big, but it is a picturesque village, dominated by the magnificent Castle. It has a triangular village green, bounded on one side by houses and on the opposite side by hotels and shops, as well as some delightful Northumbrian cottages

Bamburgh Aerial View - note the castle at the top

Bamburgh village - view from the castle



Bamburgh Village



Bamburgh Village





Bamburgh Village from the village green




Bamburgh - lower end of the village

Bamburgh Village - upper end

It does have one or two claims to fame. The first of these has to be the fact that it was the home of Grace Darling

Grace was born in the village of Bamburgh on the 24th November 1815, and spent her early years living on two of the nearby lighthouses (Brownsman [from Dec 1815]

Brownsman Island

Brownsman Island - lots of seabirds



and Longstone [from 15th February 1826])
where her father, William, was keeper of the lighthouses

Longstone Lighthouse



Longstone Lighthouse at night




Longstone Lighthouse - now with an automatic light






The house Grace was born in



Grace Horsley Darling




Grace Horsley Darling

William Darling - Graces father

Thomasin Darling - Graces mother



The Forfarshire set out from Hull, sailing north, on the 5 September 1838, with some sixty people and cargo on board.




The Paddle Streamer "Forfarshire"




Cabin Plans of the "Forfarshire"

Advert for the "Forfarshire"



A Print of the Steam Packet Paddle Steamer "The Forfarshire"

She had in very recent times had maintenance work undertaken on her boilers. Passing Flamborough Head a failure of pumps supplying water to the boilers reduced her steaming capacity. Her situation deteriorated through the next day as leaks from her boilers flooded the bilges, and at 10pm that night, off St Abb's Head, her engines failed. Despite near gale force North North Easterly winds, her captain put her under sail and continued on his way; but the weather worsened to a full gale, with thick fog, and a change in wind direction to Northerly. At this the ship was turned around to run before the wind and seek shelter behind the Farne Islands.

At 3am on the 7 September, she struck aground with considerable force, on Big Harcar, one of the Farne Islands

Map of the area showing Big Harcar & Longstone (top right)

A group of eight sailors and one passenger managed to lower and escape in a lifeboat, to be picked up the following morning by a passing schooner. The remaining passengers and crew were left to the mercy of the sea, which swung the Forfarshire around and tore off the stern quarterdeck and cabins, leaving only the bow and fore sections of the ship anchored to the rock.
A few passengers managed to hold on to railings, and make it through the night, later transferring to Big Harcar; including a Mrs. Dawson, who was distraught, holding the bodies of her two dead children.
Their predicament was spotted at first light on the 7 September 1838, by Grace Darling, daughter of William, the keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse, which was situated about 600 yards (550m) from the wreck site. She was looking from an upstairs window of the Longstone Lighthouse and, spotted the wreck and survivors of the ship, the SS Forfarshire on Big Harcar, a nearby low rocky island. The Forfarshire had foundered on the rocks, broken in half and half had sunk during the night.
She and her father, William Darling, determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat to put out from Seahouses (then called North Sunderland), so they launched their 21 foot (6.4m) coble (rowing boat), and rowed some 1,700 yards (1,554m) to Big Harcar through heavy seas, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands.

Grace, rowing to the rescue

Rescuing the shipwrecked from the Forfarshire




Grace and her father - nearly there

Another painting of the rescue

Grace kept the coble steady in the water while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Mrs. Dawson, into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs Dawson had lost her two young children during the night. Grace’s father with three of the rescued men then rowed back to the lighthouse, while Grace and the fourth man comforted Mrs. Dawson. Grace then remained at the lighthouse while William Darling and three of the rescued crew members rowed back and recovered the remaining survivors. The Forfarshire had been carrying 63 people. Nine other passengers and crew had managed to float off a lifeboat from the stern section before it too sank and they were picked up in the night by a passing Montrose sloop and brought into Shields that same night. Meanwhile, the lifeboat had set out from Seahouses, but arrived at Big Harcar rock after Grace and her father. All they found were the dead bodies of Mrs Dawson's children and the body of a dead vicar. It was too dangerous to return to North Sunderland so they rowed to the lighthouse to take shelter. Grace's brother William Brooks Darling was one of the seven fishermen in the lifeboat.

The weather deteriorated to the extent that everyone was obliged to remain at the lighthouse for three days before returning to shore.

Grace had continued to live with her parents at Longstone Lighthouse but by 1841 her health had become a problem. At the end of the year she moved to stay with a family friend, George Shield, in Wooler where it was thought the air would be beneficial. As there was no improvement she moved to Alnwick where she was attended by the Duchess of Northumberland's own physician. She then moved back to Bamburgh to stay at the house of her sister Thomasin who cared for her lovingly right up until her death.
Grace Darling died of tuberculosis on the 20th October 1842, aged 26

This shop in Bamburgh used to be a house and it was where Grace died.


She is buried with her father and mother in a modest grave in St. Aidan’s churchyard, Bamburgh,

where a nearby elaborate canopied memorial commemorates her life. In 1893 the canopy was rebuilt after it collapsed in a gale.

A plain stone monument to her was erected in St. Cuthbert’s Chapel on Great Farne Island in 1848.

During her lifetime Grace was presented with both a gold and a silver medal.

Gold medal presented to Grace Darling to honour her bravery.

and after her death she was commemorated in song,

Words to the "Grace Darling Song" --

'Twas on the Longstone Lighthouse, there dwelt and English maid;

Pure as the air around her, of danger ne'er afraid;

One morning just at daybreak, a storm-tossed wreck she spied;

And tho' to try seemed madness, "I'll save the crew!' she cried.

And she pull'd away, o'er the rolling sea,

Over the waters blue --

'Help! Help!' she could hear the cry of the shipwreck'd crew --

But Grace had an English heart,

And the raging storm she brav'd --

She pull'd away, mid the dashing spray,

And the crew she saved!

and many years later on a postage stamp.

The recently renovated RNLI Grace Darling Museum re-opened in December 2007 in Bamburgh, Northumberland. You will find this on your right hand side as you enter Bamburgh from the north. It contain a lock of Graces hair, a cutting from one of her dresses, plates and cutlery from the Forfarshire, and the actual rowing boat she used in the rescue. It tells the story of wrecks around the Farne islands and also about the light house keepers as well as the work of the RNLI.

The Grace Darling Museum at Bamburgh run by the RNLI

St Aidan's Church Bamburgh - across the road from the museum

If you go upstairs and look across the road you will see the rather splendid Victorian memorial, complete with a canopy, to Grace Darling, in graveyard of St Aidan’s Church. It is singularly and appropriately sited, and overlooks the Farne Islands where she and her father carried out the rescue of the shipwrecked sailors.





St Aidan’s Church in Bamburgh is (obviously) closely associated with Grace Darling.
In the church you will see the original effigy of Grace (which used to be on her memorial in the churchyard),




a delightful stained glass window in the north side of the church dedicated to Grace Darling,




and a perpetual light in honour of St Aidan, who founded the monastery on Lindisfarne, and the church in Bamburgh in 635 AD, and with the help of King Oswald went about converting the heathen Northumbrians to Christianity. He died leaning against the outside wall of the church, and so a perpetual light shines to mark the place of his death.




A feud existed between the Foster and Fenwick families which had started over a will. In 1701 Ferdinando Foster while drinking a in a Newcastle tavern, quarreled with John Fenwick of Rock. The two men went outside to fight a duel. Ferdinand slipped and fell before he could drawn his sword, John Fenwick ran him through and killed him where he lay. A month later John Fenwick was hanged for his crime. Ferdinando's gauntlets, breastplate and helmet can be seen hanging near the altar in St Aidan's Church

The brother and sister, Tom and Dorothy Foster, lived for a time with their aunt in Bamburgh Hall. Tom became a general in the Jacobite army and fought in the 1715 rebellion. He was captured at the battle of Preston and imprisoned in Newgate jail in London. His sister Dorothy set about saving him and apparently rode to London riding pillion behind the Adderstone blacksmith. Somehow she smuggled him out of jail, and he escaped to France. It is believed Dorothy arranged a mock funeral for her brother in St Aidan's Church using a coffin filled with sawdust. He died in France in 1738 and his body was brought to Bamburgh for burial in the church crypt.

There is a magnificent reredos on the altar depicting Northumbrian Kings & Saints.

The jewel in Bamburgh’s crown has got to be its magnificent castle, superbly sited on a basalt outcrop at the southern end of the village. It is within a stones throw of the beach, and from its battlements Holy Island castle can be seen to the north, and Dunstanburgh castle can be seen to the south.

The castle had been the capital of the British Kingdom of Bernicia (Bryneich) from the realm's foundation in c.420 until 547, the year of the first written reference to the castle. In that year the citadel was captured by the Anglo-Saxon ruler Ida of Bernicia and became Ida's seat. It was briefly retaken by the Britons from his son Hussa during the war of 590 before being relieved later the same year.

His grandson Æðelfriþ passed it on to his wife Bebba, from whom the early name Bebanburgh (Bamburgh) was derived. The Vikings destroyed the original fortification in 993.
The Normans built a new castle on the site, which forms the core of the present one. William II unsuccessfully besieged it in 1095 during a revolt supported by its owner, Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria. After Robert was captured, his wife continued the defence until coerced to surrender by the king's threat to blind her husband.

Bamburgh then became the property of the reigning English monarch. Henry II probably built the keep. As an important English outpost, the castle was the target of occasional raids from Scotland. In 1464 during the Wars of the Roses, it became the first castle in England to be defeated by artillery, at the end of a nine-month siege by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick.

The Forster family of Northumberland (previously mentioned in the St Aidan’s Church Bamburgh section) provided the Crown with twelve successive governors of the castle for some 400 years until the Crown granted ownership to Sir John Forster. The family retained ownership until Sir William Forster (d. 1700) was posthumously declared bankrupt, and his estates, including the castle, were sold to Lord Crew, Bishop of Durham (husband of his sister Dorothy) under an Act of Parliament to settle the debts.

The castle deteriorated but was restored by various owners during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The castle we see today is a relatively recent structure, built by famed industrialist the first Lord Armstrong at vast cost in late Victorian times. Lord Armstrong was also responsible for building Cragside House, Gardens & Estates at nearby Rothbury.

Regular archaeological digs that take place on the site have unearthed some spectacular finds.
Excavations started in the 1960s by Dr Brian Hope-Taylor, unearthed the gold plaque known as the Bamburgh Beast as well as the Bamburgh Sword.

Lord Armstrong's restoration saved it from ruin and the castle provides an ancestral home to the Armstrong family to this day.

Bamburgh Castle has 14 public rooms and more than 2,000 artefacts, including arms and armour, porcelain, furniture and artwork.

Bamburgh Castle's epic scale attracts film and television crews and it has featured in everything from Time Team to Becket.

It has recently become a popular wedding venue.

It won a bronze award in the 2008 North East Large Visitor Attraction Awards and a silver at the Green Business Scheme.

And to prove its universal appeal, the castle was recently a finalist in ITV1's Britain's Favourite View competition.

One of the most spectaculer views of the castle is as you are heading southwards you crest a rise, and there is the castle spread out before you in all its glory.

The castle dominates the village.

Bamburgh Castle - the Barbican

Bamburgh Castle - inside the Barbican

A view of the keep through the Barbican Gates

Bamburgh Castle - the Keep

Bamburgh Castle seen from the beach

Bamburgh Castle from the air - a mighty fortress

If you enjoy walking on an unspoilt and VERY UNCROWDED beach, then Bamburgh is just the place for you. There is an excellent butchers shop selling the famous Bamburgh Bangers, (a local award winning sausage) and lots of locally reared and home fed meat. At the top of the village green is a first class fruit and vegetable shop - again selling local home grown produce. The Copper Kettle Tea Rooms are situated alongside the village green, and you can also find The Victoria Hotel and The Lord Crewe Arms - both producing excellent and tasty meals, on the same side of the village green. A little further up the road is Blacketts Cafe and the Mizen Head Hotel which also supply meals.

Bamburgh really is a little gem of a Northumbrian village!