Made up of 28 islands, the Farnes sit approximately between 2 and 5 miles off the coast of northern Northumberland. The number of visible islands is reduced by up to fifteen at high tide.
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Divided into the Inner and Outer Farnes, these historical Islands are protected by the National Trust for being home to one of the United Kingdom’s most precious and varied bird populations. There is no other place in the country where such a diversity and rarity of species is found in such a small area. Over 290 species of birds have been documented.
Bird watchers come from all over the world to see the Arctic Tern colony as well as a few others species of British Tern, Guillemots and Kittiwakes. The Puffins are a popular tourist attraction, as are the 5000 Grey Seals.
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It’s interesting to note that the first recorded visitors to the Farnes were hermitic monks seeking contemplative solitude away from the monastery at neighbouring Lindisfarne. St Cuthbert, Northumberland’s patron saint, was among the first to live on the Farnes, on Inner Farne, the largest of the Islands, and he introduced laws for the protection of the local birds which, in 676AD, were the very first of their kind.
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Over the last few decades, the Farnes have been frequented by divers interested in the rich marine life and the many wrecks caused by the dangerous coastline. Quite a few derelict lighthouses can be seen. Those which still function are all automated, but in past times the lighthouses and their keepers were integral to the region and the many ships which relied on them for guidance. Longstone is the best known of these old lighthouses. It is closely associated with the legendary bravery of Grace Darling, the 22 year old daughter of William Darling, the Longstone lighthouse-keeper.
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On 7th September 1838, Grace Darling and her father braved the stormy sea in a small boat to rescue nine survivors from the Forfarshire, a steam ship which ran aground on Harker Rock. Tragically, she succumbed to tuberculosis four years later, but remains a celebrated figure of the region, immortalized in a poem by William Wordsworth. The RNLI Grace Darling Museum in Northumberland pays tribute to her.
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