The first invasions of Britain were well chronicled. The most publicised occurred on Lindisfarne island off the coast of Northumbria in 793 A.D. Lindisfarne was a monastery founded by St Aiden in 630 which was ransacked and their ecclesiastical finery of gold, jewellery and relics taken. Many monks were killed and others kidnapped. The alters were destroyed as well as the fabric of the buildings. This was the precursor for the next 273 years of Viking expansion.
The attack on Lindisfarne had far reaching effects because it was considered an assault on Christianity. News of this invasion travelled across Europe. The Vikings would not be finally beaten in England until 1066 A.D, by Harold II at the battle of Stamford Bridge. Following the destruction of Lindisfarne, they cast their attention to other easy targets.
Monasteries were their favourites because of the riches contained in them. To this end, they invaded Jarrow in 794 and Iona in 795, 802 and 806. They usually gave the holy houses sufficient time to replace their riches before invading again.
“In this year came dreadful forewarnings over the land of Northumbria, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of lightning and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons were seen flying through the sky. A great famine soon followed these signs and not long after in the same year, on the sixth day before the ides of January, the harrowing inroads of heathen men destroyed the church of God in Lindisfarne by robbery and slaughter.”
Source: The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
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Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "Viking Raid on Lindisfarne" https://englishhistory.net/vikings/raid-on-lindisfarne/, February 7, 2022