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For the first time in more than a thousand years, a service will be held today within the boundaries of a newly-discovered church on Holy Island in Northumberland.

The find in the dig by volunteers has been described by historic buildings expert Peter Ryder as “probably the most significant archaeology find ever on Holy Island.”

The excavations, led by Richard Carlton of The Archaeological Practice and Newcastle University, began around a fortnight ago and will finish at the end of this week.

He said: “It is a very exciting and hugely significant find.”

The community archaeology project is part of the Peregrini Lindisfarne Landscape Partnership project, which is backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

It embraces the coastal plain including Holy Island and one of its aims it to celebrate the area’s long heritage and increase community participation in it.

The dig has uncovered huge sandstone blocks used in the building of the church on The Heugh, a ridge on Holy Island which offers extensive views of the Farne Islands and Bamburgh, which was a royal capital of the kingdom of Northumbria.

The church is pre-Norman Conquest and could date from the 630AD to 1050, although an early date is thought the most likely.

On Tuesday, a group from the Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, reputed to stand on the site of the original monastery founded by Aidan in 635AD, will conduct a service within the excavated remains which is due to start at 11am.

Mr Carlton said: “There are not many churches of potentially the Seventh or Eighth Centuries known in medieval Northumbria, which stretched from the Humber to the Forth.

“What is in favour of the argument for an early church is that on the ridge it would have been entirely visible from Bamburgh, the seat of political power at the time, and in turn would have had great views of Bamburgh.

“It adds another chapter to the history of Holy Island.”

The dig has revealed sandstone blocks a metre long, foundations of more than metre wide, a probable altar base and the division between the nave and the chancel.

There is the possibility that the building was placed on the site of the wooden church built in 635AD by St Aidan.

It is believed that the island’s early monastery had several churches, with one on the site of the present St Mary’s Church and another where the priory ruins now stand.

Northumberland-based Peter Ryder, who has been recording the dig, said that the building was “very likely” to have resembled the Seventh Century church which can be seen at Escomb in County Durham.

“It may have been built to commemorate where St Aidan’s wooden church stood,” he said.

“It must have taken a lot of manpower to move those great blocks of sandstone up to the ridge. The church would have been very visible – monasteries liked building on promontories.”

A dig last year, also part of the Peregrini project, revealed the significant stone foundations of what could be a watch tower, 50 metres from the church site.

The Venerable Bede recorded how a beacon, which was lit on the Farne Islands on the death of St Cuthbert, was seen by monks on Holy Island from a watch tower.