St OSWALD’S WAY
Holy Island
revisited and a good walk
As longer-standing members of the congregation may
remember, some twenty years ago, a large red Lothian Region double deck bus
labelled “private” drew up in Westgarth Avenue to receive the St Cuthbert’s
party for the church outing to Holy Island. That was a memorable day out both
socially and ecclesiastically. We all
enjoyed touring the island and attending our own service in St Mary’s Church
conducted by our rector, Donald Cole.
It was this memory that inspired us to choose to
walk St Oswald’s Way for our spring holiday.
This walk starts at Holy Island and the first section follows (in
reverse) the end of St Cuthbert’s Way. Thereafter it passes a number of sites
associated with both St Oswald and St Cuthbert and ends at Heavenfield.
St Oswald was a 7th century King of Northumbria
during a time when numerous independent and warring kingdoms existed in our
islands. When his father was killed his family fled to Scotland and he was
brought up under the influence of monks from Iona. Later he went back to Northumbria (as a Christian) to lead his
kingdom in battles against the heathen kings of Gwynedd and Mercia, notably at
Heavenfield. He also continued the important Christianising campaign of his
predecessor (Edwin) and asked the Iona community to provide a Christian
teacher.
The first teacher was not successful. However, then
St Aidan came in 635 and, with Oswald’s support, founded the community of
Lindisfarne which, for many years, was the great centre of Christianity in
England. Later St Cuthbert came from
Melrose to work as Prior of Lindisfarne and then at the Farne Islands before
returning as Bishop of Lindisfarne in 685.
There were many bloody battles at the time and Oswald was slain at
Maserfield, near what is now Oswestry, Shropshire in 642. His head was recovered and later was sent to
Lindisfarne where it became an important religious relic. Eventually Cuthbert retired to Inner Farne
where he died. His body was also taken
to Lindisfarne. When Vikings started
raiding the NE coast in the 9th century, the Lindisfarne Monks fled
taking with them their most precious relics, St Cuthbert’s body and Oswald’s
head. They now remain in the same tomb in Durham Cathedral.
We took the first day of our holiday as an
opportunity to see Holy Island again and to revisit the Church, the Priory and
the ancient castle.
Day two saw a 9a.m. start (determined by the
tides!!) as we walked the muddy 2½ mile ‘Pilgrim’s Way’ across to the
mainland. This was an inspiring way to
start, evoking thoughts of ancient settlers of the island. The rest of the day took us to Belford,
which is on the old A1 carriage route from York to Berwick. From Belford we
headed back to and along the Northumberland Coast via Bamburgh (St Oswald’s
headquarters) to Seahouses. Here we took a boat to Inner Farne to see the
wonderful colonies of sea birds, including puffins, shags, eider ducks,
guillemots and terns, all of which seemed remarkably unconcerned at our
presence. Of course, we also visited the tiny St Cuthbert’s Church on the
island.
The wonderful coastal trail continued via Beadnell
and Dunstanburgh Castle to Craster (of kipper fame) and thence via Alnmouth to
Warkworth. We walked through woods, on
grassy paths, dunes and beaches, surrounded frequently by primroses, cowslips,
bluebells and gorse. In many places we saw great fields of yellow rape
offsetting the wonderful greens of spring.
At Warkworth we were able to visit the very well
preserved medieval castle before turning inland. We followed the valley of the river Coquet to the pretty market
town of Rothbury from where we headed south via Kirkwhelpington and Great
Whittington to join the Hadrian’s Wall trail.
Following the Wall trail we ended the trek at
Heavenfield. This was the site of
Oswald’s famous battle in 634. Before
the battle he erected a large wooden cross, before which he and his army
prayed, successfully, for triumph in the coming conflict against the
unchristian Cadwallow of Gwynedd.
There is still a replica of the cross at Heavenfield
and a lovely little memorial church.
Today, on every 5th August, the anniversary of the battle,
and St Oswald’s day there is a pilgrimage from Hexham Abbey to the Church.
This was an amazing walk, giving a terrific sense of
history. Throughout, we enjoyed
wonderful peace and tranquillity, the only sounds being from birds, sheep and
lambs. We saw barely a dozen other people the whole way. The countryside was beautiful, full, as it
was, of lovely spring flowers and marvellous greenery. We also saw hares,
rabbits and deer. Overall it gave us plenty of good exercise and a great sense
of achievement. The total trip was
almost exactly one hundred miles which we completed in eight days, the longest
day taking us 15 miles.
Barry and
Helen Sealey
May 2010