ENGLAND:
Just as Iona was the great headquarters of monastic activity for Scotland, so Lindisfarne founded by the Irish St. Aidan in 635 A.D. became the base of operations for the Irish missionaries in the North of England, especially in Northumbria. At this time Northumbria was an extensive kingdom extending as far south as the Humber and into modern Scotland as far north as the Firth of Forth. To the influence of Aidan and other Irish monks we trace the foundation of Lindisfarne, Coldingham, Mailros, Lastingham, in Northumbria, Ripon and Streanshalch (now Whitby) in Yorkshire, Burgh Castle in Suffolk, St. Bees in Lancashire, Malmesbury among the West Saxons, Bosham or Bosanham in Sussex, and “Glastonbury of the Gael” in Somerset.[116] In most histories the missionary work of St. Augustine is grossly exaggerated and the important missionary and educational work of the Irish monks is either completely ignored or accorded an amount of space utterly out of proportion to its importance.[117]