The lime kilns

The lime kilns from the south.

What are lime kilns and why were they built here? A lime kiln was used to produce quicklime. A carefully controlled burn reduced limestone to powder. This was used mainly as fertilizer and for mortar and limewash for buildings. Holy Island had a long established lime burning industry. The 19th century saw much of the lime being exported to Scotland. The industry had operated elsewhere on the island but this was the largest site. These kilns were built here as they were outside the enclosed land; close to the harbour and could be easily connected to the quarry on the north shore of the island. What is there to see? Look on the shore west of the castle for remains of the jetties where was imported and the quicklime exported. Trace the routes of the wagon ways that linked the quarry and the jetties to the kilns. The lime kilns could not have functioned without these other workings.

The remains of a railway sleeper and Looking south between the two jetties. wagonway near the Nessend quarry on the north of Holy Island. How did the industry work? Stone was quarried on the north of the island and dragged in wheeled tubs by a horse down a wagonway to the kilns. Labourers would push the cart to the top of the pots in order to spare the horse the heat coming from the kilns. Meanwhile, ships would have moored by the wooden jetties (or ‘staithes’) at the Castle gate and their cargo of coal was dragged in tubs by horses around the north side of the Castle to the top of the kilns. The kilns were then lit. While burning they were carefully monitored to ensure the correct temperature was reached. The finished quick lime was then taken back to the staithes for export.

Lindisfarne from the West, Ralph Hedley, The top of one of the six ‘pots’, from showing a ship moored between the where the coal and stone would have jetties with lime being loaded. been loaded. What happened to the industry? While one in five of the island men worked in the industry in the 1860s, by the 1880s only one man was working at the kilns and four at the quarry. This is probably because the lime industry on the mainland was able to use the quick and efficient coastal railways for transport. Lindisfarne couldn’t compete.

Detail from 1871 census, courtesy of National Archives. An industrial monument The lime kilns are a Scheduled Ancient Monument - a designation made in recognition of the national significance of the site. They are one of the largest examples of their kind anywhere in the country and certainly the largest actively-conserved kilns in the area. The Castle Point kilns are cared for by The National Trust who also maintain The lime kilns at Beadnell Harbour. the earlier coastal lime kilns at Beadnell.

Other lime kilns in the area can be Further reading: Roger C. Jermy Lindisfarne’s Limestone seen at: Past: Quarries, tramways and kilns Beadnell. (1992). A comprehensive study of the lime industry on Holy Island, Seahouses. focusing on those at Castle Point. Little Mill, near Longhoughton. www.brocross.com A website by David Kitching which has an excellent Peppermoor, near Longhoughton. section on lime kilns in and Christon Bank, near Embleton. .