History of Lindisfarne Priory
Lindisfarne – also known as Holy Island – was the site of the earliest Christian monastery in Anglo-Saxon Northumbria and one of the most important centres of early Christianity in England. Irish monks settled here in AD 635 at the invitation of the Northumbrian king, and the monastery became the centre of a major saint’s cult celebrating its bishop, Cuthbert. It was here that the masterpiece now known as the Lindisfarne Gospels was created in the early 8th century. The ruins now visible are those of a small priory established in the 12th century by monks from Durham, which claimed direct descent from the early monastery.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/lindisfarne-priory/history/