The Farne Islands are a group of islands in the civil parish of North Sunderland, off the coast of Northumberland, England. The group has between 15 and 20 islands depending on the level of the tide.e travel guide to Northumbria. "There are between 15 and 20 islands in number, depending upon the tide". They form an archipelago, divided into the Inner and the Outer Group. The main islands in the Inner Group are Inner Farne, Knoxes Reef, the East and West Wideopens (all joined on very low tides), and (somewhat separated) the Megstone; the main islands in the Outer Group are Staple Island, Brownsman, North and South Wamses, Big Harcar, and Longstone. The two groups are separated by Staple Sound. The highest point on Inner Farne is above mean sea level and on Staple Island is .Ordnance Survey Landranger map 75.
History Monks and hermits The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Farne Islands were various Culdees, some connected with Lindisfarne. This followed the old Celtic Christian tradition of island hermitages, also found in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.
The islands are first recorded in 651, when they became home to Saint Aidan, followed by Saint Cuthbert. Cuthbert isolated himself on the islands until he was called to the bishopric of Lindisfarne, but after two years, he returned to the solitude of the Inner Farne and died there in 687, when Saint Aethelwold took up residence, instead. Among other acts, Cuthbert introduced special laws in 676 protecting the eider ducks, and other seabirds nesting on the islands; these are thought to be the earliest bird-protection laws anywhere in the world.
The islands were used by hermits intermittently from the 7th century. These included Saint Bartholomew of Farne. The last hermit was Thomas De Melsonby, who died on the islands in 1246.MONUMENT NO. 8298, English Heritage: PastScape
A formal monastic cell of Benedictine monks was established on the islands circa 1255. The cell was dependent on Durham Abbey, now Durham Cathedral. A very small cell, it was usually home to only two monks, although on occasion this rose to as many as six. The cell was dissolved in 1536 as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.ST CUTHBERTS CHAPEL, English Heritage: PastScape
Following the dissolution of the monastic cell on the islands, they became the property of the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral, who leased them to various tenants. The islands remained a detached part of County Durham until 1844, when the Counties (Detached Parts) Act transferred them to Northumberland. In 1861, the islands were sold to Charles Thorp, who was at the time Archdeacon of Durham. In 1894, the islands were bought by industrialist William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong. In 1923, a meeting of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne made a public appeal for funds to enable the purchase of the Farne Islands and then to hand them over to the National Trust. The islands are currently owned by the National Trust.
Remains still exist of the 7th-century anchorite cell used by Saint Aidan and Saint Cuthbert, as do the remains of a 14th-century chapel associated with the cell. Known as St Cuthbert's Chapel, it is described as a "single-cell building of four bays". The remains of a second chapel have been incorporated into a later building.
Grace Darling The Farne Islands are associated with the story of Grace Darling and the wreck of the Forfarshire. Grace Darling was the daughter of Longstone lighthouse-keeper (one of the islands' lighthouses) William Darling, and on 7 September 1838, when she was aged 22, with her father she rescued nine people from the wreck of the Forfarshire in a strong gale and thick fog, the vessel having run aground on Harcar Rock. The story of the rescue attracted extraordinary attention throughout Britain, and made Grace Darling a heroine who has gone down in British folklore.www.bamburgh.org.uk. Gives details of Grace Darling.
Tourism By the 18th century, picnics were being held on the Farne Islands. A picnic was held in 1778 on Pinnacle Island by Dr Kayne and his house party which consisted of ten persons and one dog. The picnic was illustrated by S. H. Grimm who made a drawing of the house party and a separate drawing of the accompanying seven servants enjoying a picnic meal. Illustration 114. Illustrated English Social History.G.M.Trevelyan. Vol. Three, Pub 1951. Longmans.
Today The islands have no permanent population, but National Trust rangers live on the islands for nine months of the year, maintaining the site and monitoring wildlife. They live in Prior Castell's Tower on the Inner Farne (the largest and closest inshore of the islands), Lighthouse Cottage on Inner Farne and the lighthouse cottage on the Brownsman in the outer group. The pele tower was built during the early part of the 1494–1519 tenure of Thomas Castell as Prior of Durham.
Lighthouses
The first lighthouse was built on the islands in 1773; prior to that, a beacon may have been installed on Prior Castell's Tower, permission having first been given for a light on Inner Farne in 1669.
Currently, two lighthouses are operated by Trinity House on the Farne Islands: Farne Lighthouse was built in 1811 and originally named Inner Farne Lighthouse. Longstone Lighthouse was built in 1826 and originally named Outer Farne Lighthouse.
Former lighthouses on the islands include:
Farne Island Lighthouse was built in 1673, but never lit; its replacement was built by Captain John Blackett in 1778, itself replaced by Trinity House with the current Farne Lighthouse in 1811. A minor light, called the Low Light, was also established by Trinity House on the north-west of Farne between 1811 and 1910. to aid navigation by lining this light up with the Inner Farne light Staple Island Lighthouse was built by Captain Blackett in 1778 and blown down in the Great Storm of 1784; a replacement, built either in the same place or on Brownsman Island, was knocked down by heavy seas in 1800. Brownsman Lighthouse, built in 1800, was replaced by Trinity House with a new tower in 1811 and closed in 1826 when Longstone Lighthouse was established.
All the operational lighthouses on the Farnes are now automatic and have no resident keepers, although in former years, they did. The lighthouse is now maintained by Trinity House via its local lighthouse attendant, George Shiel, who provides guided tours inside the lighthouse. Ruins of some of the older lighthouses may be seen, for example on the Brownsman, which has two. Before the lighthouses, beacons were on several of the islands. The prominent white streak on the cliff facing the mainland (see photo) is similar to bird droppings; although many parts of the islands do exhibit this colouring during the breeding season only, in this case it is the result of chalk deposits from the many years of spent calcium carbide from the lighthouse being thrown down the cliff; this calcium carbide was used to generate acetylene, which was used as fuel for the light before electricity came.
Ecology and natural history The Farne Islands are an internationally important wildlife habitat. In summer eider duck, cormorant, shag, fulmar, kittiwake, Arctic tern, common tern, Sandwich tern, guillemot, razorbill, and puffins all breed here, while in late autumn a large colony of grey seals pup on the islands. Summer visitors to Inner Farne are strongly advised to wear hats due to Arctic terns dive bombing to protect their chicks.
Breeding birds on the Farnes (as of 2022; 2021 counts marked *) include:
Canada goose – 4 pairs Mallard – 13 pairs Common eider – 417 pairs Red-breasted merganser – 1 pair* Oystercatcher – 17 pairs Ringed plover – 4 pairs Kittiwake – 4,772 pairs Black-headed gull – 479 pairs Great black-backed gull – 24 pairs Herring gull – 1,219 pairs* Lesser black-backed gull – 1,088 pairs* Sandwich tern – 336 pairs Roseate tern – last bred 2015 (1 pair) Common tern – 51 pairs Arctic tern – 882 pairs Guillemot – 59,168 birds Razorbill – 523 pairs Puffin – 36,211 pairs* Fulmar – 271 pairs* Cormorant – 98 pairs Shag – 437 pairs Carrion crow – 1 pair Barn swallow – 7 pairs Pied wagtail – 4 pairs Rock pipit – 11 pairs
A total of 303 bird species have been recorded on the Farnes, including in the 1760s, an example of the now extinct great auk.Wallis, John (1769). The Natural History and Antiquities of Northumberland, London: Printed for the author, by W. and W. Strahan. pp. 340–341.
On 28–29 May 1979, an Aleutian tern, a rare tern from the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, visited the Farnes. It was the first, and still the only, member of its species ever seen anywhere in Europe.Incredible Birds. Documents Aleutian Tern on Inner Farne in May 1979.
A longer-staying unusual visitor was "Elsie" the lesser crested tern, which visited the Farnes every summer from 1984 to 1997; during that period (paired with a male Sandwich tern) she raised several hybrid chicks and attracted several thousand birders keen to see this species in Britain. Lesser crested terns normally nest on islands off the coast of Libya and migrate to West Africa for the winter; "Elsie" is thought to have taken a wrong turn at the Straits of Gibraltar on spring migration.www.towhee.net. Confirms "Elsie" the lesser crested tern visited Farnes.
An Arctic tern from the Farnes, ringed as a chick not yet old enough to fly in summer 1982, reached Melbourne, Australia, in October 1982, a sea journey over in just three months from fledging. This remains one of the longest known distances travelled by any bird.
Geology The Farnes are resistant igneous dolerite outcrops. These would originally have been connected to the mainland and surrounded by areas of less resistant limestone. Through a combination of erosion of the weaker surrounding rock, and sea level rise following the last ice age, the Farnes were left as islands. Because of the way the rock is fissured, dolerite forms strong columns. This gives the islands their steep, in places vertical cliffs, and the sea around the islands is scattered with stacks up to high on Inner Farne and on Staple Island. Many of the small islands are bare rock, but the larger islands have a layer of clay subsoil and peat soil supporting vegetation. The rock strata slope slightly upwards to the south, giving the highest cliffs on the south and some beaches to the north.www.seahouses.org. Gives geology details.
One popular view of the Farnes, is from the harbour at Seahouses. The islands are closer to the mainland farther north, towards Bamburgh, where they can be viewed from the Monks House Rocks, as well as from Bamburgh Castle and beach.
Shipwrecks and diving The Farne Islands are popular with bird watchers, and as scuba diving locations, with a variety of sites suitable for all levels of divers, for the seals and wrecks.
Hundreds of ships have been wrecked on the Farnes over the years, providing plenty for wreck divers to explore. Among them are:
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible autocollapse" |- ! Name || Year |- | Abessinia|| 1921 |- | Acantha || 1915 |- | Adelina || 1862 |- | Advance || 1891 |- | Aepos || 1920 |- | African Prince || 1931 |- | Aid || 1853 |- | Alert || 1918 |- | Alexander || 1845 |- | Alexander || 1947 |- | Arab || 1849 |- | Arbutus || 1890 |- | Ardincaple || 1833 |- | Armed Dutch vessel || 1650–1715 |- | Arms || 1825 |- | Ascot (HMS) || 1918 |- | Assuan || 1943 |- | Athelduke || 1945 |- | Attwood || 1876 |- | Auckland Castle || 1918 |- | Augusta || 1823 |- | Autumn || 1834 |- | Baltanglia || 1940 |- | Bonaventure || 1559 |- | Bowling || 1939 |- | Brave of Inverness || 1850 |- | Breeze || 1852 |- | Britannia || 1795 |- | Britannia III || 1875 |- | Britannia IIII || 1915 |- | Britannia PSS || 1849 |- | Byron || 1851 |- | Cairnduna || 1875 |- | Calcium || 1876 |- | Caledonia || 1917 |- | Caledonia of Montrose || 1802 |- | Caroline || 1955 |-