THE Lindisfarne Gospels are heading back to their spiritual home - but only for a three-month stay.

Newcastle's Laing Art Gallery confirmed that the mediaeval masterpiece, compiled when the Northumbrian region was the centre of Christian culture, will be on display from October 7 to January 7 next year.

The region's most famous illuminated manuscript was recently redated and a link reaffirmed to the island of Lindisfarne and St Bede after previously undetected drawings were uncovered by British Library Curator and scholar Dr Michelle Brown.

The script was designated a national treasure in the 1960s and has been the focus of a vigorous battle by campaigners determined to bring the book back to the North-East on a permanent basis.

Even the arrival of electronic versions of the Gospels prompted a welcome from Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The exhibition of the real thing is therefore certain to prompt renewed calls for their long-term return.

The pages on display will be St Jerome's Letter to Pope Damascus and the beautifully-decorated title pages of the four Gospels.

David Fleming, director of Tyne and Wear Museums, said: "The Lindisfarne Gospels was fantastically popular last time it was here in 1996. This provides another opportunity for the public to see it in its native North-East."

Admission will be free to the exhibition.