The Legend of St Cuthbert's Beads: A Palaeontological and Geological Perspective

Folklore, April, 2001 by N. Gary Lane, William I. Ausich

Many other brief references to St Cuthbert's beads that occur in the literature maintain the association between fossil crinoid columnals, St Cuthbert, and Lindisfarne. The earliest reference to St Cuthbert actually making the beads is by Francis Grose, who said that "according to the vulgar belief, he often comes thither in the night, and sitting upon a certain rock uses another as his anvil, on which he forges his beads" (Grose 1783, 4:120).

The earliest illustration of crinoid columnals specifically from the Holy Island that we have been able to find is in a 1792 letter by "R. W." in The Gentleman's Magazine. In this long letter, R. W. noted that the beads "are found on the beach to the West of this island, but on no other part of the beach ... On the North East side of the island, however, there is a large track of limestone, which abounds with these concretions" (R. W. 1792 plate III; see also Figure 3).

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"D. H.," commenting on this letter, noted that "St Cuthbert's beads, are picked up among the rocks [of Lindisfarne] by the children who sell them to travellers" (D. H. 1792, 130). Sale of the beads at gift and souvenir shops on the island continued until about ten years ago (Mr Edward Douglas, personal communication, 1995).

Among modern references to the beads, M. G. Bassett summarised the St Cuthbert story and mentioned that St Cuthbert's name is also associated with the Whitby "snakestones," fossil ammonoid cephalopods. According to Basset, snakestones were specifically allied to the Holy Abbess Hilda, a contemporary of Cuthbert. Cuthbert was present at the Synod of Whitby in 664, and is said to have put a curse on the fossil ammonoids so that they lack heads (Bassett 1982).

Many of the citations for St Cuthbert's beads in both the palaeontological and the popular literature of Great Britain are based on Sir Walter Scott's epic poem, Marmion (1808):

   But fain Saint Hilda's nuns would learn
   If on a rock, by Lindisfarne,
   St Cuthbert sits, and toils to frame
   The sea-bom beads that bear his name:
   Such tales had Whitby's fishers told,
   And said they might his shape behold,
   And hear his anvil sound;
   A deadened clang--a huge dim form,
   Seen but, and heard, when gathering storm
   And night were closing round.
   But this, as tale of idle fame,
   The nuns of Lindisfarne disclaim (canto 2, verse 16).

In addition to this specific reference to the beads, Scott's poem includes many references to the Holy Island and to Cuthbert.

In summary, Cuthbert's name was associated with fossil crinoid columnals by the Lindisfarne islanders as early as 1671. The legend that Cuthbert manufactured the beads on a stone anvil was in existence as early as 1783, and the use of the beads as a rosary was recognised by 1686.

Palaeontology and Geology of the Holy Island

The overall geology of the Holy Island is relatively simple and it has been explained clearly by Galliers (1970) and Robson (1981). A series of marine limestones that are part of the Carboniferous Middle Limestone Group form the base of the island. These crop out along the northern coast foreshore with a gentle dip to the east, so that the oldest limestone, the Eelwell, was formerly exposed near the western edge of the island and the youngest, the Sandbanks Limestone, forms the cliffs of Castlehead Rocks to the east. Between these units is a middle limestone, the Acre, which forms Snipe Point and the extensive Back Skerrs platform on the western side of that point. Interbedded between these three limestones are sequences of shales, fine-grained sandstones and thin coals that crop out poorly, and that are known in part from drilled boreholes. Their stratigraphic intervals are represented along the northern coast by sandy beaches between the rocky points formed by each of the limestones. Over the top of these Palaeozoic rocks, there are widespread Pleistocene gravels and glacial tills as well as modern stable and active sand dunes, especially in the far western and northern parts of the island.