Aidan was an Irish monk who had been trained on Iona and who came to Holy Island in AD 635 and established the Abbey of Lindisfarne, considered to be the cradle of Christianity in north-east England. The island became a centre of Celtic Christianity where Aidan established a school to train monks, remaining here until his death at Bamburgh in AD 651. This statue to commemorate him stands in the grounds of Lindisfarne Priory.