The earliest two lines connected limestone quarries at the northern end of the island with lime kilns and a tidal jetty in waters known as The Basin, northwest of Lindisfarne Priory.

[2] Geography and unenclosed land ownership inhibited ambition and opportunity, Lindisfarne was then and remains a semi-island remote from centres of population and industry.

"[4] This, the climate of the times and the presence on the island of industrialisation's key drivers – coal and iron – brought about radical change.

The standard work on the waggonways argues that the zigzag structure labelled "Limekilns" were not kilns at all, but storage bays for finished and semi-finished product where lime could be slaked.

[Notes 4] Map 1 shows that by 1860, if not initially, the waggonway to St Cuthbert's works included a long approach ramp from the quarries to the north joined by an approach ramp from the jetty to the south which curved through 180 degrees to meet the former at the top of the kilns, enabling them to be gravity fed with limestone and coal.

Tracks heading south from the kilns show no embanking, implying that the product was emptied at ground level and taken away to the stores mentioned above or to the jetty.

[15] Continuing south, the waggonway hugged the western coast until it reached a jetty just north of Tripping Chare, in an area known to seafarers as The Basin.

The right hand line continues beyond the Mean High Water mark at Snipe Point onto rocks which are submerged at some times, some even daily.

[20] A waggonway connecting it to the 1846 jetty a short distance south of St Cuthbert's Limeworks was first shown on an Admiralty chart dated "c1855".

When this succeeded he agreed to lease land and permission to a lime merchant named John Nicholl, of Dundee.

This was an ambitious move to a good site, but he had already built a substantial three-pot kiln at Lower Kennedy at the cost of several hundred pounds.

Two reasons are alluded to, firstly, that he acted hastily, and would have done better if he had done more research then gone for the superior Castle Point site straight away; or, secondly, that he built the Lower Kennedy kilns on land where he had no right to be.

[26] Whatever the timing and sequence of events, only the censuses conducted in 1851, 1861, 1871 and 1881 show anyone clearly working in the lime trade on the island.

It is unclear from maps or the census exactly where this accommodation was, but the sequence of enumeration visits suggests it was near the Castle Point works.

After a brief, expensive period working Lower Kennedy he obtained Admiralty permission to build new kilns and two parallel jetties near the castle and to connect them to Nessend Quarry by a wholly new tramway down the east of the island, abandoning Lower Kennedy, the 1846 jetty and all trackwork, though he may have recycled some materials.

The OS County Series, Northumberland 1898 1:2,500 map gives a good idea of the layout around the kilns and castle, but does not clearly convey the "grade separated" nature of the tramways designed to feed coal and limestone to the top of the kilns and take end product away at ground level; this unclarity comes about because the tracks had long been lifted and the rock outcrop on which the castle stands confuses natural and man made slopes.

No contemporary photographs of any lime trade activities on the island are known to exist, but images of two paintings by Ralph Hedley are attached; one is of operations at the later jetties near the castle, the other, made from a different angle, appears to be of the same location.

An 1874 report concerning land transfer noted that even with the low rate of consumption, the quarry would be exhausted before long.

Six of Nicholl's ships sailed regularly between Holy Island and Dundee in the 1860s: Agnes, Belford, Isabella, Lancaster, Margaret Reid and Maria.

They did not hold a monopoly, other vessels involved in the lime trade included Curlew, Mersey, Robert Hood and Superior.

Curlew, William and Mersey all separately suffered an occupational hazard of carrying quicklime at sea – water came into contact with the cargo.

[37] A powder magazine survived until the 1950s, showing that blasting was used as the stone was not to be used for building,[38] but no record of mechanical quarrying equipment has been found.

Hedley's paintings corroborate measurements taken from traces of sleepers that the tracks were approximately 2 feet (610 mm) gauge.

[39] No waggon has survived, once again Hedley gives a good idea that they looked not dissimilar to many unsprung four-wheeled tippler trucks on Victorian industrial lines.