Lindisfarne Castle stands on Holy Island off the Northumberland coast and is reached by a causeway at low tide. Henry VIII ordered Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, to fortify the site in 1542, and a small fort was built on the island's highest rock, Beblowe, in 1549. Elizabeth I's works of 1569 to 1571 strengthened the fort and added gun platforms.
The publisher Edward Hudson, owner of Country Life, bought the castle in 1901 and had Sir Edwin Lutyens remodel it as a family home in the Arts and Crafts style. Lutyens created a new long gallery, and the dining room has neo-Gothic traceried windows. Gertrude Jekyll designed the walled garden from 1906 to 1912.
The castle has been in National Trust care since 1944. The steep entrance has no rails or fences, which Lutyens left deliberately to emphasize the site's exposure.

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