Castle Point Lime Kiln

If you've been following the Fabulous North for a bit, then you'll know we enjoy a lime kiln. Having already visited the beautifully named Slaggyford and Crindledykes, we're still working our way through the 300 other kilns that were producing quicklime in Northumberland.

However we think we have found the motherload on our visit to Holy Island, so have a butchers at Castle Point lime kiln.

If you head to Lindisfarne Castle and walk beyond it, the kiln is pretty hard to miss and it's probably the largest in Northumberland. The location of the kiln is perfectly placed as it's close to the harbour where ships could bring in the coal and then easily export the end product up to Scotland.

However some of the quicklime was used in mortar to build Lindisfarne Priory.

You can still see the remnants of the two jetties and the remains of a railway sleeper and wagonway which connected it to the Nessend quarry on the north of the island, where the lime was sourced.

The kilns were built in 1860 by William Nicholl of Dundee to replace earlier kilns in the north-west of the island.

Within a year, 35 men were working at the lime kilns and at the quarries, but the success was to be short lived. Within a decade the business was already in decline as they couldn't compete with competitors delivering by railway rather by sea. The last of Nicholl's ships left in 1883.

Local farmers may have continued to use the kilns on a smaller scale, but have now remained dormant since 1900.

Well worth a quick visit after you have finished marvelling at the castle.