A rare, early piece of late-17th /early-18th century mahogany; an exceptionally small, gateleg table with a fold-over top from Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island & the collection of Edward Hudson, founder of Country Life magazine, illustrated in the Castle Gallery in a Country Life feature in 1913

17th Century

1675

Mahogany

British

Edward Burgess Hudson (1854 - 1936), publishing magnate and founder of Country Life Magazine, 1897. Oswalk Falk. Sir Edward de Stein. Lilburn family. Private Collection. This table formed part of the furnishings in the Gallery at Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, Northumberland, and is illustrated in the Gallery in a Country Life feature on the castle on 7th June, 1913. It remained in the castle until 1944 when it was given to the housekeeper's family and passed by descent to her granddaughter Linda Jean who was the last of Holy Island's Lilburn family. After her death it was acquired from the estate by a collector in 2008. In 1902, Edward Hudson, accompanied by his Editor Peter Anderson Graham, were on a visit to Lindisfarne when they caught site of the castle. Quick to realise its architectural potential and realising it was empty and abandoned, they clambered into the building. The last people to use the Castle were the Coastguards who took over the edifice to use it as an observation post. They regarded the fortress merely as rough barracks; inside it was forbidding and desolate. Hudson consulted his friend and architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens who quickly discovered here was a great opportunity to exercise his genius. Hudson initially leased the Castle from the local landowner Major Crossman before buying it in 1918. He employed Lutyens to convert the old tired Fort into a retreat and Gertrude Jekyll to lay out the gardens. Hudson was a shy 49 year old bachelor when he acquired the castle. Without an heir and finding the trips from London becoming too tedious, Hudson sold the Castle in 1921, when he was 67 years old, to a London stockbroker, Oswald 'Foxy' Falk for £11,000. Within 7 years Falk himself sold the Castle to Sir Edward de Stein. De Stein was a London banker, Director of Lazards and had a principal residence in Lowndes Square SW1. So taken were de Stein and his sister Gladys with the castle and the area that they made full use of the property for many holidays over the next 40 odd years. Neither of the de Steins married and in 1944 decided to give the property to the National Trust on the understanding they could retain the use of it until they died. Edward died in 1965 and his sister died in 1968. The Castle, along with much of Hudson's collection, remains in the hands of the National Trust. HOLY ISLAND : Also known by its Celtic name as Lindisfarne, Holy Island is accessible only at low tide, twice daily, by a three mile long causeway, built in 1954. Holy Island was one of the principle centres of Christianity during the Dark Ages and was given to St Aidan in AD635 by the King of Northumbria. Even more famous and influential was St Cuthbert, whose life and teaching was a magnet for pilgrims. He died in AD 687 and was initially buried in the church, but later his remains were moved to Durham Cathedral. LINDISFARNE CASTLE : Sited atop the volcanic mound known as Beblowe Craig, Lindisfarne Castle is one of the most distinct and picturesque features of the Island and can be seen for many miles around. Following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the Castle was built in the 1550's using stones from the nearby abandoned Priory to defend the Harbour of Holy Island. It was only successfully attacked once when it was taken by the Scots in the 18th century. The castle became disused in the 19th century and was restored in the 20th century. Today it is managed by the National Trust and is open to the public. LILBURN FAMILY A common thread runs through the later history of Lindisfarne Castle, from the early 1900s to 1968, and that is the Holy Island family, the Lilburns. The name of Lilburn has been found on the island since the 1500's. According to his unpublished manuscript "The Story of an Island", Sheddick claims it is one of the oldest island families. It became the senior island family around 1760. The men were mainly fishermen. Jack and Hannah Lilburn were taken on by Hudson, Hannah as housekeeper and Jack as handyman. When they became too old to continue, the jobs were passed on to their children George (and his wife Jane) and Edith 'Linda' (who never married) who maintained this tradition until 1968 when Gladys de Stein died. Friends of the family remember George and Jane keeping a bedroom just off the Kitchen, now a store room. Other parts of the Castle were reputed to have been occupied by the Lilburns, the area around the Long Gallery fireplace features in many family photographs, suggesting perhaps that the nearby West Bedroom may also have been used. The East end of the house seems to have been strictly the domain of the owners, but there may have been many months between their visits. ST OSWALD'S It is said that Edward Hudson engaged Lutyens to build St Oswald's in order to re-accomodate someone who lived on land he wanted to buy. A nurse lived there at some point and for a time it was the Island doctor's surgery. St Oswald's was not part of the 1944 gift and certainly up until 1968 it belonged to the de Steins. However in 1968 when the NT moved into the Castle full time, Jane by then a widow moved into St Oswald's with her daughter Linda Jean. The table which was gifted to the family in 1944 would have been removed from the castle at this time. Young Linda Jean, daugher of George, was born in 1937 and so certainly by the end of the de Stein's occupancy she could well have been employed by them. The table passed to Linda Jean by descent. She was the last of Holy Island's Lilburn family, and she died in 2007. This table was sold as part of her estate in 2008 and since then has been in a private collection. The National Trust subsequently acquired St Oswald's which is now a holiday cottage.