Heading back to Seahouses from Inner Farne Island, we continue along St. Oswald’s Way 5km to the castle.
We pass Monk’s House along the way, the land given to the
monks of Inner Farne after the 10th century so that they could build
a granary and storehouse there.
Then we reach Bamburgh Castle, built on a high outcrop of
Whin Sill rock (below).
 |
Image: Mat Fascione, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6020958, no changes |
There has been habitation here since the ice-age nomads who
populated the area. The neolithic peoples began farming, and the Bronze Age
peoples further deforested the area for their field systems. There are remains
of an Iron Age hill fort, and a British roundhouse dating from Roman times (possibly
a fisherman’s due to the amount of periwinkle shells found here, which are used
as bait). After the Romans left, the site became the capital of the British
Kingdom of Gododdin in 420. This fort was called Din Guarie. In 547 the Angles
(a Germanic tribe) invaded, and King Ida built his wooden castle on the site. In
615 his grandson King Aethelfrith renamed the castle Bebbanburgh after his new wife,
Queen Bebba. King Aethelfrith was the father of Oswald and Oswy. The stone castle
you see today was built in the 1100s.
 |
Image: http://www.castleuk.net/castle_lists_north/75/bamburghcastle.html |
The language spoken in Northumbria at that time was Old English or Anglo-Saxon, which was a mix of four dialects: Northumbrian (which later became Scots), Mercian (Anglian), Kentish, and Saxon (another Germanic tribe). 70% of the English language today is still Old English. St. Aidan spoke Gaelic (Irish) which was close enough to Northumbrian for him to communicate a little, but it was not like the Germanic languages of the invaders. The new way of life that the invaders brought with them was quite different from the Brittonic way of life. One of our old blog posts has an excerpt from Flame of the Heart:
“As they approached the kingdom of Oswald, Aidan
began to speak to the people in the hill country. They spoke a language much
like his own. They were often at least nominally Christian. If they were
Christian, they could at least share the gospel and pray a little together.
Aidan assumed that Christians liked to pray and wanted to share their faith.
There were some language difficulties; but Aidan found apathy or indifference,
when he encountered them, far harder to deal with. He also began to realize
that within this kingdom of Oswald there was more than one kingdom to win for
Christ. The people of the land were of a similar Celtic stock to himself.
Rivers, hills, and landmarks all had strong Celtic names. It would only take a
little practice and he would be able to communicate with the native people. The
real difficulty was
their fear and resentment of the English. Oswald was a foreigner and an
invader. The English were the enemy of occupation, who had driven many of the
British off their land and from their homes. Aidan realized that much of his
work would be one of reconciliation, the building up of trust and good
relationships. His heart went out to these people who were oppressed. He wanted
them to know the gospel of liberty and love, also of forgiveness and
acceptance. He would have dearly liked to stay among the hill peoples, but his
call was to the coast and the fortress of Bamburgh.
At last they came in sight of the eastern sea. It had not appeared until their journey was nearly over. It would be good to get sea air into their lungs again. They were aware that the people they met now were different; these were warrior peoples, even though they were settling in farmsteads. But they were people of culture. Aidan thought some had heard of Christ, but now the language was a major difficulty. The brothers were not able to communicate with many people at all. For this reason, when possible, they avoided the little scattered communities, and still bore eastwards. The coast was not far away but they traveled on the other side of the hills, making straight for the capital.
When they came to the coast it was to a wide
sweeping bay. The tide was out and they could hardly see the sea. There were
sea birds aplenty. Evening prayers were said with a heron fishing nearby. The
heron had been one of Columba’s favorite birds and it made the little group
feel at home.
Image: Andrew Locking, https://www.andrewswalks.co.uk/bamburgh-castle-2.html, no changes
During these last few miles they had seen more people, and the road seemed to be busy with soldiers. They noticed that some of the soldiers were carrying what must have been booty. One more steep hill, and then a great vista opened up before them. There was a lot of woodland, but much land had been cleared. Directly ahead was a great rock, standing proud in the landscape. Below it was a sprinkling of cottages, and fields with cottages and sheep. On the rock there was a mighty palisade, a fortress truly fit for a king. Beyond it was the sea. Smoke was rising from one or two areas on the high rock. It seemed to be well-fortified, with many inhabitants. As the brothers approached the gates they were stopped by a sentry. They explained who they were, but the language barrier caused difficulty. They repeated the name ’Oswald’ more than once, and ‘Iona’ again and again. But the guards did not understand enough to make any headway. Then one guard left and returned with a tall, slim regal-looking man with a short pointed beard. Aidan’s heart leaped. Surely this was Oswald himself. The king had come out to meet them. Recognizing their attire, Oswald welcomed them in their own tongue. He issued an order to his guards which Aidan and his followers did not understand, but they were ushered in quickly.”
 |
| Image: Lisa Jarvis, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/456416, no changes |
This
extract is taken from 'Flame of the Heart' by David Adam, pgs. 38-40,
and is reproduced by kind permission of SPCK in one of our old blog posts. You can read
the book or order the book from our library here:
https://www.librarycat.org/lib/saintaidan/item/198357119
[bamburgh.org.uk, bamburghcastle.com, co-curate.ncl.ac.uk, englandnortheast.co.uk, Smithsonianmag.com, St. Oswald's Way and St. Cuthbert's Way by Rudolf Abraham, wikipedia]
