Holy Island, Northumberland : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Holy Island. You may be able to find further references to Holy Island in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Holy Island (or Lindisfarne) peninsula Bartholomew
HOLY ISLAND, or LINDISFARNE a village, an island, and a parish Imperial
Lindisfarne, or HOLY ISLAND peninsular parish Bartholomew

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Holy Island.

Place Type of entry Source
Fenham hamlet Bartholomew
FENHAM a township Imperial
Goswick coastal hamlet Bartholomew
GOSWICK a township Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Holy Island within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Northumberland 3
William Camden Durham, Lancashire and Westmorland 2
William Camden Smaller Islands in the British Ocean 2
Thomas Pennant July 4-17: Scarborough to Berwick upon Tweed 2
John Wesley 1763-4: In Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists"; Exhausting Days 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Haggerston 0 2
Islandshire 0 2
Beal 0 2
Kyloe 0 2
Ancroft 0 2
Scremerston 0 2
Bowsden 0 1
Lowick 0 2
Barmoor 0 2
Detchant 0 2
Elwick 0 2
Spittle 0 2
Middleton 0 2
Tweedmouth 0 2
Ord 0 2
Thornton 0 2
Shoreswood 0 2
Felkington 0 2
Ross 0 2
Longridge 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Holy Island. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
HOLY</EM> ISLAND Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
HOLY ILAND William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
HOLY ISLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
HOLY ISLAND OR LINDISFARNE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
INIS MEDICANTE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
LINDEFARN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
LINDESFARN Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
LINDIS FARN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
LINDISFARN William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
LINDISFARNE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
LINDISFARNE OR HOLY ISLAND John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.