Holy Island lime kilns and Lindisfarne Castle in the background. Photo by The Archaeological Practice.

(NU 13834172) Old Lime kilns. (1)

NU 137417: Lime kilns on Holy Island, scheduled. (2)

A battery of six kilns in fair condition. Access to the base of the kilns is by round headed passageways and one with a pointed arched vault. Built in 1860 by a Dundee firm with associated wagonways to supply stone and to load the burnt lime at Staithes. (3)

Lime kilns established 1860; quarried and slaked until 1900. Restored by The National Trust. (4)

Lime quarried on north of island and brought via a railway to the kilns. (5)

Huge lime kiln erected at Castle Point in 1860s by a Dundee firm; a wagonway was also built and a new jetty west of the Castle (NU 14 SW 21). The kiln structure is one of the largest in Northumberland, comprising six kiln pots each with three or four draw arches and a tunnel through the structure giving access to some internal draw arches. By 1861, some 20% of the adult male population of Holy Island were employed in limeworking and carting; fallen to 14% by 1871. All older kilns probably closed after new ones opened. The works had closed completely by 1896. (6)

The kilns were built by William Nicholl, a Dundee merchant, as a replacement for those at Kennedy Limeworks (NU 14 SW 18). They were in use for about 20 years and were last fired around 1900. (7)

The kilns consist of six brick-lined pots within a rectangular plan kiln block of dressed, randomly coursed sandstone masonry. Pots were drawn from a series of barrel vaulted tunnels with five external entries, each with round-headed segmental arches. Two of the pots were accessed directly from two round-headed segmental draw arches on the south side. A high pointed segmental arch situated on the south side, which gave access to the interior of the block, is a notable architectural feature. A large earthen ramp, situated on the north side, gave access to the kiln top. A section of wagonway linking the kilns with Nessend quarry is a substantial earthwork which includes a bridge. The kilns were also connected to a nearby wharf, though little survives. (8)

Tramlines ran along the passages and facilitated removal of of the burnt lime into small trucks. Short loading ramp to the north provides access to the top of the kiln. (9)

Scheduled. (10)

Nicoll's involvement in the lime industry on Holy Island had ended by 1883. A detailed account is given of the Nicoll ownership using shipping intelligence and describes the wider limeworks on the eastern side of Holy Island. Following Nicoll's withdrawal the quarries were left untouched and the kilns were only fired perhaps one more time in about 1900, perhaps for agricultural lime. Certainly by this time the houses occupied by the former kiln and quarry workers were abandoned and a ruinous condition, almost completely buried by the sands.
There are extensive waste tips immediately north-east of the kiln bank, and to the east where some of the material overlies a terrace retaining wall. (11)

NU 138 417. Lime kilns. Scheduled No ND/555. (12a)

A post medieval lime kiln and associated tramway are visible as structures on air photographs, centred at NU 1382 4172. The site appears to be associated with a limestone quarry on the north of the island (UID 1472108). The tramway extends to the north of the island from NU 1381 4177 to NU 1312 4271. The lime kiln and part of the tramway are extant on the latest 2003 NMR oblique photography. (12b)

General association with HER 5353 and HER 29255. (12)