Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan Written by the Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Partnership Board January 2013 Re profiled with the Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Partnership Board June 2014. Northumberland Coast AONB Partnership Conservation Team Development Services County Hall Morpeth Northumberland NE61 2EF Tel 01670 622650 Table of Contents Page 5 Executive Summary 6 Introduction 20 Understanding the landscape 55 Statement of significance 75 Aims and objectives to deliver the PLLPS and it's outcomes 80 Scheme plan and costs 94 Sustainability 97 Evaluation 99 Adoption and review 100 Appendix 1 Changes from Stage 2 application 106 Appendix 2 Consultation during re-profiling 108 Bibliography 113 Proforma Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan P a g e | 4 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AONB Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty EH English Heritage EMS European Marine Site HER Historic Environment Record HILCDT Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development Trust HIP Holy Island Partnership HLF Heritage Lottery Fund HLC Historic Landscape Character HLS Higher Level Stewardship LCAP Landscape Conservation Action Plan LPS Landscape Partnership Scheme NCC Northumberland County Council NNR National Nature Reserve SAC Special Area of Conservation SAM Scheduled Ancient Monument SPA Special Protection Area SSSI Site of Special Scientific Importance Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan P a g e | 5 Executive Summary Peregrini Lindisfarne is a landscape partnership project made up of community, voluntary and public sector organisations working on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne and in the surrounding landscape. Our vision for the scheme is that through partnership, Peregrini Lindisfarne will protect, restore, enhance and manage this special place as one environment. We will draw upon the Island and Mainland communities' close connection to their landscape, seascape, heritage and history to make the area a better place to work, live in and visit. The six main aims of our scheme combine to create the reality of one environment management; recognising the links between land, sea and shore and putting the community at their heart. Planned works will protect, restore and enhance the area’s rich natural, cultural and built heritage centred on shared inter-tidal waters. Community led activities will weave the various strands of heritage into the creation of one community-led archive. Agency working will be analysed, developed and improved, promoting a cohesive experience of land and seascape. Local people will be trained and empowered to participate in the development of the Holy Island Partnership as an agent of, and for, the community, which can plan for future management and maintenance of landscape intiatives . The scheme area is within the north Northumberland coastal plain, a landscape of sandy coastline. The area is rich in biodiversity including five UK priority habitats, very rare plant species, rich wildlife habitats (particularly for migratory and breeding birds) and high geological and geomorphological interest. The distinctive historic heritage of the area reflects both ecclesiastical influences and the strategic defence of coast and border. Cultural heritage is entwined with connections to St Aidan, St Cuthbert and the associated monasteries, cells and hermitages; the island’s association with the Golden Age of Northumbria; and the Lindisfarne Gospels most immediately reflected in its name. The scheme name was chosen to remind us of the monks and other devout itinerants who, in search of wilderness and tranquillity, built monasteries and cells on remote islands such as Lindisfarne. These people were known as peregrini; it gives us the word pilgrim, thousands of whom regularly visit this area today. Work on developing the scheme began in late 2009, emerging from the work of the Holy Island Partnership. This partnership is made up of agencies working in the area, the Parish Councils and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development Trust; its action plan addresses three areas of activity: landscape, visitor management and community cohesion. At the end of this LCAP in 2018 the Holy Island Partnership will safeguard the legacy of the Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Partnership Scheme. Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan P a g e | 6 Introduction For a number of years there had been suggestions that the residents and agencies working in and around the Holy Island of Lindisfarne should come together to better manage issues affecting the island community1. The Holy Island Partnership (HIP) finally came into being in 2009 after the Parish Council and the island’s Community Development Trust invited organisations to collaborate in a working partnership. The organisations approached were: National Trust English Heritage Natural England Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Northumberland County Council The HIP produced a management plan in 2010 that identified three key themes to be addressed by partnership working: visitor management, landscape conservation and communication and cohesion2. In its first year the HIP made the tentative, but positive, step of producing a joint information leaflet for the island. The following year the HIP – working through the development trust acting as accountable body – secured a grant from Northumberland Coast and Lowlands New Leader EU Regional Development Programme for England to address visitor management. Additionally Heritage Lottery Funding was approved to embark on an 18-month development phase for a Landscape Partnership Scheme called Peregrini Lindisfarne. Peregrini Lindisfarne Partnership Board This Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan has been prepared by the Peregrini Lindisfarne Partnership Board. The Board has been formed from members of the Holy Island Partnership and other individuals and organisations chosen for their skills, knowledge and experience. 1 Northumberland County Council (s.d. approx. 1997) 2 Holy Island Partnership ( 2010) Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan P a g e | 7 The Peregrini Lindisfarne Partnership Board is made up of members of the community, volunteers, the local authority and agencies working in the area with a specific remit for heritage landscape planning, management and protection (see Table 1). The board evolved out of the extensive consultation process undertaken during the development of the first stage application to Heritage Lottery Fund. Following the success of the first-stage application, a Peregrini Lindisfarne Scheme Development Officer was employed to coordinate the preparation of the original LCAP; this work took place between November 2011 and January 2013. The Scheme has been re-profiled between March to June 2014, the changes are reflected in this document. Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Conservation Action Plan P a g e | 8 Organisations on the Peregrini Lindisfarne Partnership Board during development of the original stage 2 application and LCAP. Ancroft Parish Council John Greenwood Volunteer Belford with Middleton Parish Council Brenda Stanton Volunteer Berwickshire and North Northumberland Coast Claire Hedley European Marine Site stretches from Alnmouth in Berwickshire & North Northumberland Northumberland, up to Fast Castle Head in Scotland Coast European Marine Site Officer and encompasses 635 square kilometres of shore and sea, including Lindisfarne and the Farne Islands. Cheswick Estate is owned by the Crossman family, Robert Pardoe Lords of the Manor of Holy Island, with a 2,000 acre Sale and Partners and agent for the estate estate covering most of Holy Island, and farmland around Cheswick and Goswick. English Heritage exists to protect and promote Kate Wilson FSA England's spectacular historic environment and ensure Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Team that its past is researched and understood; manage the Leader Priory and the Priory Museum. Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development Gordon Davies Trust delivers projects for locals and tourists, including Volunteer and Chair of Peregrini the Lindisfarne Centre with its 3 exhibitions and the Lindisfarne Board Gospel Garden. Owns and manages the inner harbour as well as 11 affordable housing properties. Holy Island Parish Council The Parish of Holy Island is Simon Bevan part of the Norham and Islandshire ward and consists of Chairman five elected members and a Parish Clerk. Dick Patterson Volunteer National Trust is a national charity with over 3.5 million Naomi Kinghorn members; own and manage Lindisfarne Castle, run a gift Regional Grants Consultant shop in the village, and own four properties on Holy Island, some of which are holiday homes. Natural England is the government’s advisor on the Jo Wilkes natural environment. Manage the Lindisfarne National Lead Advisor National Nature Reserves Nature Reserve which covers the majority of the island Delivery North Team and the area across to the mainland. North Northumberland Tourism Association was Dr. Ian Kille founded in 1985 to help small tourism businesses in Volunteer representative and geologist north Northumberland and the borders support each other and to inform and encourage visitors to the area. Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Jessica Turner Beauty Holy Island lies towards the northern end of the Historic and Built Environment Officer 39 miles designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty of coastline between Berwick and Amble. The AONB