0:00:03 > 0:00:04Britain is home
0:00:04 > 0:00:08to many of the most beautiful holy places in the world.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Our religious heritage and architecture is more varied
0:00:11 > 0:00:14than virtually anywhere else on Earth.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17My name is Ifor ap Glyn,
0:00:17 > 0:00:21and I'm on a journey to explore the best of Britain's holy sites
0:00:21 > 0:00:25and to uncover the rich and diverse history of our spiritual landscape.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32I want to know how these places came to be,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36discover what they reveal about the people who worshipped at them
0:00:36 > 0:00:40and explore why they continue to fascinate us today.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42This place is incredible.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46'My journey will take me to towering mountain hideaways...'
0:00:46 > 0:00:50It was here that St Turog took on the pagan forces of evil.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52'..Icy healing pools...'
0:00:52 > 0:00:54I'm not sure what effect
0:00:54 > 0:00:58this is having on me, but it's certainly having an effect.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01'..And the graves of long departed saints.'
0:01:01 > 0:01:04There's something quite unsettling about this relic.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07'I'll search out islands where the faithful
0:01:07 > 0:01:09'seek refuge from the world.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12'I'll wander ruins steeped in history.'
0:01:12 > 0:01:15His congregation were roused to come here
0:01:15 > 0:01:18and rip down the rich trappings of this cathedral.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23'And descend into caves which have been sacred for thousands of years.'
0:01:23 > 0:01:25Oh, wow.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29From the divine to the unexpected,
0:01:29 > 0:01:30join me on a journey
0:01:30 > 0:01:33to the unforgettable corners of our country,
0:01:33 > 0:01:36the landscapes that make the soul soar.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02I'm in the Lake District. This is Derwentwater
0:02:02 > 0:02:05and I've picked a very wet day to go rowing.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08This is the first leg of my journey
0:02:08 > 0:02:11to explore some of the holy islands dotted around Britain.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15I'd like to understand what it is about an island
0:02:15 > 0:02:18that has drawn the devout throughout history.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26It turns out this may not be as simple a question
0:02:26 > 0:02:27as it first appears.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37We tend to think of islands as a place to get away from it all,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40and that's an idea that's deep-rooted in our psyche.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45In many spiritual traditions, man would go into the wilderness
0:02:45 > 0:02:46in order to be nearer to God,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51in order to escape from the normal realm of human beings,
0:02:51 > 0:02:57in order to contemplate, in order, perhaps, to gain personal insight.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01And where better to seek out that kind of spiritual haven
0:03:01 > 0:03:03than on an island?
0:03:10 > 0:03:11This is St Herbert's Isle.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16St Herbert came here to live as a hermit in the 7th century.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18Since the earliest years of Christianity,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22there had been a tradition for monks to remove themselves from society
0:03:22 > 0:03:26in search of solitude in the deserts of the Middle East.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29As there were no deserts in 7th century Britain,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32many of our would-be hermits instead chose
0:03:32 > 0:03:34one of the 1,000 or so islands
0:03:34 > 0:03:37around the coastline and lakes of Britain.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41And this is the one where St Herbert chose to make his home.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49It would be nice to think
0:03:49 > 0:03:52that this wall is part of St Herbert's original cell,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55but it's actually part of a later building,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57in all probability a chapel that would have been erected
0:03:57 > 0:04:01to accommodate the pilgrims who came here to honour his name.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03St Herbert would have lived a simple life here,
0:04:03 > 0:04:08getting all his daily needs from the lake - water to drink, fish to eat,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10thus leaving him free
0:04:10 > 0:04:12to spend the rest of his time in contemplation and prayer.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19St Herbert only left the island once a year
0:04:19 > 0:04:21in order to visit his great friend,
0:04:21 > 0:04:26St Cuthbert, the abbot of Lindisfarne, to make his confession.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30St Herbert valued their friendship so highly,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33he prayed that he might be allowed to die
0:04:33 > 0:04:35on the same day as his confessor,
0:04:35 > 0:04:39fearing that otherwise, his grief would be unbearable.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43His wish was granted, as, extraordinarily,
0:04:43 > 0:04:48both men died on their respective islands on 20th March 687.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54It's a touching story, but it hints at something much deeper
0:04:54 > 0:04:57than just two men with a yearning for solitude.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Here we have two devout and learned people who chose to live
0:05:02 > 0:05:06a very specific kind of life in a very specific kind of place.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12It seems to me that this is perhaps the real pulling power of islands.
0:05:12 > 0:05:13Even on a day like today,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17this island is still one of the most beautiful places in Britain,
0:05:17 > 0:05:18and it's easy to see
0:05:18 > 0:05:21how being surrounded by the glories of creation
0:05:21 > 0:05:25might be conducive to a greater spiritual awareness,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28but what I'd like to know is this - is there more to islands
0:05:28 > 0:05:30than natural beauty alone?
0:05:38 > 0:05:43My next location is some 250 miles south of the Lake District,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46so I'm back on the motorway, somewhere I've spent
0:05:46 > 0:05:49a lot of time during my journey around our holy places.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54But for once, this feels quite fitting.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58I've come to see motorway driving as a modern form of hermitage,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02one of the few opportunities life provides us to be alone.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08On the motorway, we enter an intermediate world,
0:06:08 > 0:06:13halfway between where we've been and where we're heading,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16and it transpires that that was very much part
0:06:16 > 0:06:19of the ancient allure of islands.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28This is Hereford Cathedral. It's 50 miles from the sea
0:06:28 > 0:06:30and not an island in sight,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34but what it does have is something that gives us an intriguing insight
0:06:34 > 0:06:37into the way our ancestors thought about islands.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41I'm here to see the largest surviving medieval map in Britain,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43the Mappa Mundi.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47My guide is Canon Chris Pullin.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49The map itself is not something
0:06:49 > 0:06:52that the modern eye could readily recognise.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Can you interpret it for us?
0:06:54 > 0:06:58Yes, well, one thing, of course, is that it faces east.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00East is at the top, not north.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04So imagining the thing on its side, as it were,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07where would we find Britain?
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Well, Britain is just there, in the bottom left hand quarter.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13I see! Sort of scrunched up.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Yes, well, one of the things about the map is,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21it's been presented within a circle because that was a perfect shape,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25so things have been distorted to fit within the circle,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27and not just to fit within the circle
0:07:27 > 0:07:31but to have Jerusalem placed at the very centre of the map.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35And that's another distortion because the Holy Land is presented
0:07:35 > 0:07:39out of all proportion to its actual size in the world.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It's very large in the map there,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45but then it's very significant, and that's the reason why.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48It's geography governed by divine principles, rather than...
0:07:48 > 0:07:51It certainly is. This isn't a map to tell you
0:07:51 > 0:07:53how to get from one place to another.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It's really a map to tell you about what's important
0:07:56 > 0:07:59for a human journey through life. That's what it's about.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04The map was created by 13th century scholars
0:08:04 > 0:08:08and what strikes you immediately is just how many islands there are.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10The ones in the centre are real islands
0:08:10 > 0:08:13like the Balearics in the Mediterranean,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17but it's the other ones on the map which are drawing my attention.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21Around the edges of the map, we tend to have islands
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and lands that are known about through legend
0:08:24 > 0:08:26and through ancient writings,
0:08:26 > 0:08:31so down here we have the Happy Islands, the Fortunate Islands,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34where fruit just fell into your hand...
0:08:34 > 0:08:37- A kind of earthly paradise? - Yes, that's right.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39And of these mythical islands,
0:08:39 > 0:08:43there's one which all of us have probably heard of
0:08:43 > 0:08:45but never before seen on a map - Eden.
0:08:45 > 0:08:51They believed it was somewhere, but quite where, no-one could say.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56But it was somewhere that was thought to be unapproachable,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00either because of terrible seas and currents and things
0:09:00 > 0:09:01that would prevent you,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04but also because of this wall of fire
0:09:04 > 0:09:08that surrounded it, which would mean you couldn't get there.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And of course, you see directly above it
0:09:11 > 0:09:14that we have Christ sitting in majesty
0:09:14 > 0:09:16and judging the souls of the living and the dead,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20those on his left going into the jaws of hell,
0:09:20 > 0:09:24and those on his right being received by angels into heaven.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29And so worldly Paradise is very close to where on the map,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32we see the heavenly realm depicted.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40What this map shows us is that in medieval times,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43islands weren't just seen as beautiful places
0:09:43 > 0:09:44to get away from it all,
0:09:44 > 0:09:48but as somewhere that existed between this world and the next,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53spiritual stepping stones, to give you safe passage to heaven.
0:09:55 > 0:09:56With this thought in mind,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59I'm heading to another medieval island hideaway
0:09:59 > 0:10:03to explore the story of a woman who rejected society
0:10:03 > 0:10:05after her marriage came to a dramatic end.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12This is Llanddwyn, off Anglesey in North Wales, a lonely headland
0:10:12 > 0:10:15which becomes an island when cut off from the mainland at high tide.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27There's a cold, melancholic quality
0:10:27 > 0:10:30to the beauty of Llanddwyn island today, but then that's quite fitting
0:10:30 > 0:10:34because the saint that the island was named after came here first
0:10:34 > 0:10:36because she had a broken heart.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Llanddwyn means the church of St Dwynwen,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45and as the tide begins to recede,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49I cadge a lift from the island's warden in order to cross over
0:10:49 > 0:10:51and tell the fantastical story
0:10:51 > 0:10:54of what happened when her marriage to Maelon hit the rocks.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Dwynwen was a fifth century princess
0:11:01 > 0:11:04whose marriage to Maelon had broken down,
0:11:04 > 0:11:06so she prayed to God for assistance
0:11:06 > 0:11:11and received it in the form of a magic potion delivered by an angel,
0:11:11 > 0:11:15but when she gave the potion to Maelon, he was turned into stone.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17This was an outcome a little bit more drastic
0:11:17 > 0:11:19than that which she had envisaged,
0:11:19 > 0:11:24so she prayed to God once more that Maelon be restored to life.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26His reaction at that point is not recorded,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29but by then their marriage was definitely over.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33Dwynwen, freed from the tribulations of their union,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35was able to retreat to this island here
0:11:35 > 0:11:38where she devoted the rest of her days
0:11:38 > 0:11:41to a life of prayer and devotion as a hermit.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Dwynwen was trying to turn her back on her troubles
0:11:49 > 0:11:53by escaping to a place on the margins of society,
0:11:53 > 0:11:56somewhere that was still of this world, but only just.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Her dream of a normal, happy marriage was in tatters,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and so she chose something completely different.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Living alone on an island seemed the perfect answer,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13but things didn't turn out quite as she had expected.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Although unable to find love herself,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20it was Dwynwen's wish that God work through her
0:12:20 > 0:12:22to protect true lovers everywhere,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26and so in Wales she's become the patron saint of Welsh lovers.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28Her saint's day on 25th January
0:12:28 > 0:12:32is celebrated each year as a kind of Welsh Valentine's Day,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35and it was on that day that I asked my wife to marry me.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39So I for one still have reason to be very grateful to St Dwynwen.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46It's ironic that a hermit who embraced solitude on an island
0:12:46 > 0:12:50should become a patron saint of love, the ultimate in togetherness.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54But throughout her time here,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Dwynwen received a steady stream of petitioners seeking advice.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03The poet John Donne wrote in the 17th century,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07that "no man is an island, entire of itself,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10"every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main".
0:13:12 > 0:13:13By choosing this island,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Dwynwen had given herself the best of both worlds -
0:13:16 > 0:13:20at high tide, she could satisfy her need to be alone.
0:13:21 > 0:13:22The rest of the time, she too
0:13:22 > 0:13:25could entertain the pilgrims who came to visit her,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28becoming "a piece of the continent, a part of the main".
0:13:33 > 0:13:35It all seems very appealing,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38a life half in this world, half in another,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41but I wonder what the reality would be?
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Most of the holy islands around Britain
0:13:47 > 0:13:49have been long abandoned, but not all of them.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59I've come to Scotland to visit a modern day community
0:13:59 > 0:14:01led by monks and nuns.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08I'm on my way to Eilean Molaise, or Holy Isle,
0:14:08 > 0:14:10just off the coast of Arran.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12But the spiritual tradition that prevails here today
0:14:12 > 0:14:15is not one that you might expect to find in Scotland.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20This island has been a religious retreat
0:14:20 > 0:14:25since a Christian monk settled here in the sixth century.
0:14:25 > 0:14:26But since the 1990s,
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Holy Isle has been home to a Tibetan Buddhist retreat.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35It's not an obvious location for a spiritual tradition
0:14:35 > 0:14:38that originated in a landlocked country in the Himalayas,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41but the Lama of a Buddhist order bought it
0:14:41 > 0:14:45after claiming to have seen a vision of the island in a dream.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47When he finally met the Christian owner,
0:14:47 > 0:14:49it transpired she was keen
0:14:49 > 0:14:52to pass the island on to a new spiritual community,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55and so sold it to the Buddhists at a favourable price.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I've been invited here by Choden,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01a former monk who now runs the island,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04and he explains why people today want to come here.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08For genuine spiritual realisation,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10one needs to really go away for a time
0:15:10 > 0:15:13to deepen one's practice and re-enter the world.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15And in order for spiritual work to happen,
0:15:15 > 0:15:17you often need the right conditions,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20a place that's set back from the world, but not too far.
0:15:20 > 0:15:21The reason for this
0:15:21 > 0:15:25is that you're trying to set up somewhere that's special and precious
0:15:25 > 0:15:29so that when people enter that, they feel that they're entering something
0:15:29 > 0:15:32that's a different kind of energy, a different kind of feel.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33In the Tibetan tradition,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35they use the term mandala,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and mandala is where you set up a sacred space
0:15:38 > 0:15:40which has a clear boundary,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44a place you enter into to enable you to touch something more deeply.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47As we know, often living a very busy lifestyle,
0:15:47 > 0:15:52it's not easy to touch the deep inner wisdom of one's being
0:15:52 > 0:15:56because, you know, you're constantly...doing things
0:15:56 > 0:15:59and stressed and whatever.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01So an island is a good place to...
0:16:01 > 0:16:04So an island, yeah, I know this isn't the tradition of Tibet,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07but this fits the idea of a sacred mandala very well.
0:16:08 > 0:16:12Is it difficult being in a retreat on an island?
0:16:12 > 0:16:17It is. It's actually quite tough living here and practising here.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19The reality is that when you're in a place like this
0:16:19 > 0:16:22and all the distractions are taken away,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26you start running more into deeper aspects of the mind
0:16:26 > 0:16:27and in a way,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30many of the things one's been running away from most of one's life
0:16:30 > 0:16:34start appearing - one's anxieties, one's fears, one's sadness,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37many things that we might have put the lid on
0:16:37 > 0:16:39start appearing in Shangri-La!
0:16:39 > 0:16:44And the whole idea of mandala is to create a space
0:16:44 > 0:16:47that's safe and protected so that the things we've been putting a lid on
0:16:47 > 0:16:49have a chance to come up
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and we have a chance to work with them.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54That's really what retreat is about
0:16:54 > 0:16:57and that's really what meditation practice is about.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59And that is what this place is about, really.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02What the community here have created
0:17:02 > 0:17:05is a place to get away from the distractions of the world,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08leaving them alone with their thoughts,
0:17:08 > 0:17:10even if that is tougher than it first appears.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12But the Lama who bought the island
0:17:12 > 0:17:15didn't want this place to be exclusively for Buddhists.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18He didn't want the Arran people to feel
0:17:18 > 0:17:20that we were just taking the island from them.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24- Right.- So this would also be open to Christians
0:17:24 > 0:17:26and people of all religions or none,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29as long as they keep to the five golden rules,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33which are the basic ethics of the Buddhist tradition.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34And what are they?
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Which are not stealing, not lying,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43not killing, not drinking or smoking, so we're very strict on that,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47and maintaining healthy sexual relations.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49That doesn't mean you can't have sex,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52it means just that one engages in sexual relations that are healthy
0:17:52 > 0:17:58and don't harm. As long as people follow that, then anybody can come.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05I've never meditated before,
0:18:05 > 0:18:08but Choden's invited me to join one of their sessions.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11After running through a quick mental checklist
0:18:11 > 0:18:15to make sure I haven't broken any of the five golden rules -
0:18:15 > 0:18:19well, not recently anyway - I agree to give it a go.
0:18:19 > 0:18:20So, welcome.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24- Come and join our community of meditation.- Thank you.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29The first thing is to sit comfortably,
0:18:29 > 0:18:30maybe you're not used to this,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34and then the actual practice is
0:18:34 > 0:18:38using the breathing and just becoming aware of the breath
0:18:38 > 0:18:40as we breathe in and out,
0:18:40 > 0:18:42and every time your mind wanders away,
0:18:42 > 0:18:46just notice that and bring your attention back to the breathing.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02'The people on retreat meditate like this for an hour
0:19:02 > 0:19:04'and three quarters every day.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08'But for a beginner like me, three minutes is more than enough.'
0:19:18 > 0:19:21So how was that? Are you enlightened yet?
0:19:21 > 0:19:23I think it'll take a bit longer!
0:19:24 > 0:19:26It was interesting to just...
0:19:26 > 0:19:29to, er...
0:19:30 > 0:19:32..absent yourself.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36What did you actually notice happening in that short meditation?
0:19:37 > 0:19:40I was thinking about breathing.
0:19:40 > 0:19:46- Yeah.- I was studying a spot on the floor there.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50It reminded me of when I was a boy with appendicitis
0:19:50 > 0:19:53and I used to focus on a spot on the floor of the bathroom
0:19:53 > 0:19:55to make the pain go away.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57And then I thought "I'm not supposed to be thinking about that",
0:19:57 > 0:19:59and I came back to the spot on the floor here,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and breathed a bit more.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07So a lot of it's quite mundane, which is what the path is,
0:20:07 > 0:20:10and I think a lot of it's just realising what the mind's doing,
0:20:10 > 0:20:11moment by moment.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13They call it the monkey mind,
0:20:13 > 0:20:15becoming aware of the monkey mind.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25As I leave Arran, one thing that occurs to my monkey mind is this -
0:20:25 > 0:20:28here in Britain, we're all islanders.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30We live at a remove from the European landmass.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Perhaps this is another reason why we're drawn
0:20:34 > 0:20:37so strongly to the peripheries, and why some of the most
0:20:37 > 0:20:41important holy places in the country are on islands.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45And my next location is quite possibly
0:20:45 > 0:20:47the most famous holy place in Britain,
0:20:47 > 0:20:49and somewhere I've always wanted to visit.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Wow.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03This is the halfway point on the causeway to Lindisfarne.
0:21:03 > 0:21:05This road is submerged by the sea, apparently,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07for half of every day.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10You have to be careful with the tides, because apparently,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14at least once a month, somebody gets trapped on his way over.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18But the true pilgrims used to walk across the mudflats
0:21:18 > 0:21:22following the line of those poles set out over there.
0:21:22 > 0:21:27If they got caught by the tide, they'd have to scamper up
0:21:27 > 0:21:29into those little wooden tower things
0:21:29 > 0:21:32and then wait for the tide to turn.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46The monastic community here on Lindisfarne
0:21:46 > 0:21:48was established in the 7th century
0:21:48 > 0:21:52as an offshoot of the Celtic Christian community on Iona,
0:21:52 > 0:21:54off the west coast of Scotland.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57It was part of a mission to re-establish Christianity
0:21:57 > 0:21:59throughout England, and this island soon became
0:21:59 > 0:22:01the spiritual capital of the north.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08The island is now a major tourist attraction.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10It's home to a picturesque castle
0:22:10 > 0:22:15and it's where the sumptuous Lindisfarne gospels were created.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24But it wasn't these things that really put Lindisfarne on the map.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28What really catapulted Lindisfarne to its spiritual pre-eminence
0:22:28 > 0:22:31was the appointment of the sixth abbot, St Cuthbert.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Many miracles were attributed to him,
0:22:34 > 0:22:36but he was also an astute leader of the church
0:22:36 > 0:22:38at a difficult time in its history.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46St Cuthbert is one of the most important figures
0:22:46 > 0:22:49in the history of Christianity in England.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52His diplomatic talents held the church and country together
0:22:52 > 0:22:56as it moved from Celtic Christianity to Roman Catholicism,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00but his appeal goes beyond mere church politics.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05It was St Cuthbert that was so beloved by St Herbert,
0:23:05 > 0:23:08whose island we visited earlier on Derwentwater,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11and St Cuthbert appears to have inspired this level of devotion
0:23:11 > 0:23:13in everyone he met.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Long after his death, St Cuthbert was venerated by people
0:23:17 > 0:23:19as varied as King Alfred the Great,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22the Viking raiders who settled in Britain
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and the Norman invaders in 1066.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29He was one of the few saints to come out of the Reformation
0:23:29 > 0:23:30with his reputation intact,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34and in the years after his death his legend grew and grew
0:23:34 > 0:23:37until he was eventually named the patron saint of the North.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42But it's when you come here to Lindisfarne
0:23:42 > 0:23:46that you get a hint of what an unusual man he really was.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47Even here on this tidal island,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50St Cuthbert was sometimes overwhelmed
0:23:50 > 0:23:53by the cares of the world and the demands of his flock.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55At times like that, he would retreat
0:23:55 > 0:23:58to a little rocky outcrop just offshore,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01which we now know as St Cuthbert's Isle.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04There, he would immerse himself in the sea and pray.
0:24:04 > 0:24:05There's a lovely story
0:24:05 > 0:24:08that when he came out of the sea after praying,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12two otters would bound up and breathe on his feet
0:24:12 > 0:24:16in order to warm them up and try and rub him dry with their fur.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Without doubt, St Cuthbert was very much at home with nature
0:24:19 > 0:24:21and imposed what might be described
0:24:21 > 0:24:23as the world's first wildlife conservation laws.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27He banned the hunting of seabirds and the collecting of their eggs.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Eventually, even St Cuthbert's Isle
0:24:29 > 0:24:31couldn't give him the solitude that he craved.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34People would stand on the shore of the mainland and shout at him,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38asking for advice. So he retreated to the island of Inner Farne
0:24:38 > 0:24:40over there on the horizon,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43and that's where he died in the year 687.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49The place where St Cuthbert chose to live and die
0:24:49 > 0:24:50is as bleak and wild a spot
0:24:50 > 0:24:53as you could possibly hope to eke out an existence.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55It was very much in the tradition
0:24:55 > 0:24:58of being halfway between this world and the next,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02and should have been the perfect haven from worldly concerns.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06But as his followers were to discover soon after his death,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10this was no early paradise.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12Lindisfarne Abbey's island location
0:25:12 > 0:25:15ultimately proved to be something of a mixed blessing.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Its isolation may have helped
0:25:17 > 0:25:19to turn it into a spiritual and creative powerhouse
0:25:19 > 0:25:23packed with treasures, but it also made it a rich target
0:25:23 > 0:25:27that was extremely vulnerable to attack from the sea.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31The first recorded Viking raid took place here in 793
0:25:31 > 0:25:35and further raids eventually forced the evacuation of the island.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38As the monks abandoned the abbey,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41it returned to the state of natural solitude
0:25:41 > 0:25:44that had attracted them in the first place.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48The Viking attacks were brutal.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52They turned Lindisfarne into a mournful place
0:25:52 > 0:25:53of martyrdom and death.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59But oddly, that too is part of what a holy island should be.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02For the monks of Lindisfarne,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05the island had became their gateway to the next world.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09I have one final place to visit
0:26:09 > 0:26:12on my voyage around Britain's holy isles -
0:26:12 > 0:26:15Bardsey Island, off the northwest tip of Wales.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39In many traditions, crossing the waters
0:26:39 > 0:26:43represents a journey to a better place, a paradise.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Norse warriors would send their dead out to sea
0:26:46 > 0:26:48in a flaming funeral boat. According to Maori tradition,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51the souls of the deceased would congregate
0:26:51 > 0:26:53at the northernmost tip of New Zealand
0:26:53 > 0:26:57before setting out on their final journey. And in India,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00cremated remains are scattered upon the waters of the Ganges,
0:27:00 > 0:27:02so they can be borne out to sea.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08In Wales, there was a tradition for the dead to be carried
0:27:08 > 0:27:10across the water here, to Bardsey Island.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14It was considered so holy,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17it became the burial ground for the great and the good
0:27:17 > 0:27:21and is known as the Island of 20,000 Saints.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24In the 12th century,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Bardsey's sanctity was confirmed by Pope Calixtus
0:27:27 > 0:27:30when he decreed that three pilgrimages to Bardsey
0:27:30 > 0:27:32were equal to one pilgrimage to Rome.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36But for me, seeing Bardsey from a distance
0:27:36 > 0:27:41brings me closer to appreciating its real significance as a holy island.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45This is the very tip of Wales, the land's end,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49a great place to contemplate the infinity of the horizon.
0:27:49 > 0:27:50And out there,
0:27:50 > 0:27:56a tantalising distance between us and the horizon, is Bardsey.
0:27:56 > 0:28:03Perhaps this is the island at the top of the Mappa Mundi,
0:28:03 > 0:28:09that stepping stone between this world and the next.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Bardsey seems like a distant paradise that we can see,
0:28:15 > 0:28:17but can't quite reach.
0:28:17 > 0:28:19But that's how it should be.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24I understand now why islands hold an air of mystery and beauty,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27and why people have been drawn to them over the centuries.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32But I also know that it's not yet my time to take that last step,
0:28:32 > 0:28:37to discover what may lie beyond this island's distant shores.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd