These islands form a group of desolate rocks lying off the Northumbrian coast.

Sir Walter Scott's description of the Northumbrian coast, in his poem of Marmion may well be recalled here.

He was a Northumbrian by birth, "and knew the Northumbrian coast," says one of his North-Country friends, "like his mother's face."

High above the yellow sand that borders the fierce North Sea on the extreme north of the Northumbrian coast still stands the castle of Bamborough.