Durham Cathedral 
 William Greenwell
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 FLORENCE V. V. DICKEY 
 
 TO THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE DONALD R. DICKEY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 OF VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY
 
 UR.HAM CATHEDRAL 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED SEPTEMBEE 24. 1879, 
 
 WILLIAM GREENWELL, 
 
 M.A., D.C.L., F.E.S., F.S.A. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 WITH PLAN AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Durham : 
 
 ANDREWS & CO., 64, SADDLER STREET. 
 
 1889. 
 ALL BIGHTS RESEKVED. 
 
 K SHILLING : IN CLOTH BOARDS. TWO SHILLINGS.
 
 . 
 
 l> C K II A \l : 
 
 THUS. CALDCLEUGH, HBINTKB. 70, SADDLER STBEBT.
 
 TO THE MEMORY OK 
 
 uitam of Saint CarUef 
 
 THIS ATTEMPT 
 TO JU.USTRATK THK NOBLE CHURCH 
 
 WHICH HIS GENIUS AND IJIETV 
 
 \ 
 
 HAVE BEQUEATHED TO US 
 IS DEDICATED.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 'PHE following account of the Cathedral Church of 
 Durham was addressed to the members of the 
 Berwickshire Naturalists' Club and the Durham and 
 Northumberland Archaeological and Architectural Society, 
 at a joint meeting of the Societies, held in the Cathedral, 
 on September 24, 1879. 
 
 This will explain the form under which it appears, and, 
 it is to be hoped, excuse the colloquial and somewhat 
 desultory way in which the subject is treated. 
 
 It was not the intention of the author of the address, 
 when it was given, that it should appear in any other form 
 than that of an abstract in the Transactions of the Societies 
 to which it was delivered. 
 
 Several of his friends, however, have thought that 
 printed in extenso it might be of service as a Guide 
 Book to the Cathedral, and supply what has been too 
 long wanting in illustration of the Church of Durham. 
 
 To this wish he has assented, but with some reluctance, 
 feeling how inadequate is such a treatment of a subject so 
 important. 
 
 Some additional matter has been supplied in the notes 
 which will help to make it more useful than it was in its 
 original form.
 
 vi. PREFACE. 
 
 Though no pretence is made to completeness, the reader 
 may rest assured that all statements are given upon author- 
 ity, and that no source of information which was available 
 has been neglected. 
 
 The author thankfully acknowledges the assistance he 
 has received from the Rev. J. F. HODGSON and Mr. 
 CHARLES C. HODGES. The Cathedral is fortunate in 
 possessing, in one of its vergers, Mr. WEATHERALL, a most 
 obliging and well-instructed official, to whom, as well as to 
 Mr. THOMAS ATKINSON, sub-verger, he wishes to express 
 his many obligations. 
 
 DURHAM, 
 
 September, 1881. 
 
 '
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL: 
 
 AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN THE CATHEDRAL, ON SEPTEMBER 
 24TH, 1879, TO THE BERWICKSHIRE NATURALISTS' CLUB, 
 AND THE DURHAM AND NORTHUMBERLAND ARCHAEO- 
 LOGICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL SOCIETY, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. WILLIAM GREENWELL, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A. 
 
 {PROPOSE to divide what I have to say into two parts ; 
 the first commencing 1 with a brief account of the earliest 
 introduction of Christianity into the North of England, 
 bringing 1 the history down through the period before there 
 was any religious body whatever at Durham, and from 
 thence to the time of the Norman Conquest and the 
 establishment of the Benedictine Order here. After that, I 
 will give the historical facts which have relation to the 
 erection of various parts of the Cathedral, and at the same 
 time endeavour to show how the architectural features of 
 the several parts themselves agree with the historical data 
 which bear upon them. 
 
 VVith regard to the first introduction of Christianity, I do 
 not think there is any evidence to prove that it had taken 
 root during the time of the Roman occupation. There is 
 abundant testimon}' indeed of various kinds to show that 
 Christianity did then exist in several parts of Britain, but I 
 am not aware that there is anything which would enable us 
 to saj- that it was established here in the North of England, 
 at all events to any appreciable extent. There may have 
 been isolated instances of Christians, but that they were 
 few seems to be shown by the fact that all the inscriptions 
 and sculptured subjects upon the many Roman stones, still
 
 2 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 in existence, down to the latest period of the Roman rule, 
 are pagan. 1 
 
 As I proceed in my relation I shall have to bring before 
 you a number of great figures men, some of them of 
 extraordinary eminence, capacity and religious zeal in their 
 several times and places. The first of whom I have to 
 apeak is Paulinus (625-633), the great missionary of the 
 North of England in the earliest time, who had been conse- 
 crated bishop to accompany Ethelburga, daughter of 
 Ethelbert, king of Kent, when she was sent as bride to 
 Edwin, king of the Northumbrians. He preached through- 
 out the ancient kingdom of North umbria, in which are 
 comprised the present counties of Northumberland, Durham 
 and Yorkshire, together with South-Eastern Scotland up 
 to the Frith of Forth. There are several places well known 
 to many of you where he taught and baptised, one of which, 
 Pallinsburn, near the site of the well-known Field of 
 Flodden, may possibly have got its name from him. The 
 Derwent, the Eure and the Swale, in Yorkshire, and the 
 Glen, in Northumberland, are rivers associated with his 
 mission, and his traditionary well at Holystone, in the 
 valley of the Coquet, where he baptised, is familiar to most 
 of us. He was obliged, A.D. 633, to leave the country, 
 when, after the death of Edwin, slain in the battle of 
 Haethfelth (Hatfield, near Doncaster), 2 Northumbria was 
 conquered by Penda, king of Mercia, and Cadwalla, a king 
 of the Britons, and in a great measure relapsed, with its two 
 kings, into paganism. 3 I now come to one of the greatest 
 
 1 The few examples of the cross found are either of pagan work- 
 manship and allusive to pagan faiths, or are at the least doubtful. 
 One notable exception occurred at Corbridge, in the case of a silver 
 vessel, now lost, ornamented with six squares, each containing the 
 Christian monogram, formed of XP. Camden's Britannia, Ed. 
 Gough, Vol. iii., p. 250. Hodgson's Northumberland, Vol. iii., pt. ii.. 
 p. 246. Bruce, Lapidarium Septentrionale, p. 342. 
 
 2 Beda, Hist. Eccles., Lib. ii., cap. 20. 
 3 Beda, Lib. iii., cap. 1.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 3 
 
 names of Northumbria Oswald, who is so intimately asso- 
 ciated with the Church of Durham, in connection with its 
 patron, Saint Cuthbert, A son of Ethelfrith, of the royal 
 house of Bernicia, he fled from his country when a youth, 
 and took refuge in Scotland, where he became a convert to 
 the Christian faith. On his return to his own country, after 
 defeating and killing- Cadwalla at Hefenfelth (Heavenfield, 
 now St. Oswald's), near Hexham, in 634, 1 he was the means 
 of introducing Christianity into his kingdom. I shall now 
 have a few words to say with regard to the place from 
 whence Northumbrian Christianity came. I refer to lona. 
 lona, which many of you will know, is a small, low-lying, 
 sterile, inhospitable island upon the west coast of Scotland, 
 and the last place likely to be selected for a residence. It 
 was chosen, however, by a great Irishman, descended from 
 two of the lines of Irish kings, his name Columba (521-597). 
 He was a man in whom the opposing characteristics of his 
 race were strongly blended, and endowed with such powers 
 of body and mind as would have made an admirable soldier 
 and commander, had his energies been turned in that 
 direction. The early part of his life was intermixed with 
 the feuds then prevailing in his own land, and he was the 
 cause, not without fault, of much bloodshed, and was 
 compelled in consequence to leave his native country. An 
 exile from all he loved, he came to lona (A.D. 563), and 
 there settled, and never, except for a time, returned to 
 Ireland, which was so dear to him, and to which, through 
 all his life, his most earnest longings ever turned. He lived 
 at lona, where he founded a great missionary church, and 
 whence the Christian faith was diffused throughout a 
 considerable part of Scotland. There were other influences 
 
 lr The battle seems to have been fought near St. Oswald's, but 
 Cadwalla fell at a place, on the south and opposite side of the Tyne, 
 called Denisesburna, from the rivulet Denis, now Rowley-water, 
 which flows into the Devil's Water above Dilston. Beda, Lib. iii., 
 cap. 1, 2.
 
 4 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 through which it was spread in that country, but we must 
 look to Columba and to lona as the principal centre and 
 source of Christianity in Scotland. We can never think of 
 lona without a deep feeling- of veneration and regard, and 
 no Scotchman can visit or speak of it without strong 
 emotion. lona will always live in the memory of Scotland, 
 and her heart ever beats with a fervent throb at, the name. 
 I know not of &ny country in Christendom more imbued 
 with stronger religious feeling and more fervour than 
 Scotland, and doubtless she owes much of it to St. Columba 
 and his island home. Here, in Durham, too, and through- 
 out all the North of England, we cannot recall lona but 
 with deep feelings of thankfulness, for it is impossible to 
 do so without remembering that from it was extended to us 
 Christianity and its accompanying civilisation. . To return 
 to Oswald. After the defeat of Cadwalla, Oswald then 
 became firmly seated as king of the Northumbrians, and 
 immediately afterwards he sent to lona for help in his 
 endeavours to convert his people to Christianity. lona 
 responded to his call, and gave him at first Gorman, 1 who 
 failed, however, in his mission on account, as it is said, of 
 his too great harshness. A monk named Aidan (635-651) 
 at once supplied his place, and amply fulfilled the expec- 
 tations that had been formed of him. After Paulinus's 
 departure, Christianity to a great extent had disappeared 
 from Northumbria, and it remained in that condition until 
 Aidan's arrival. We know much about Aidan, and all we 
 know of him shows that he was a man of great religious 
 vigour and zeal, as well as piety, of tender charity, 
 gentleness and humility, and also of admirable tact. Beda 
 informs us about him, and though he is not an altogether 
 friendly witness, on account of the differences about the 
 keeping of Easter and the tonsure, he speaks of him in 
 
 1 Neither Beda (Hist. Eccles., Lib. iii., cap. 5) nor Fordun give the 
 name. That ascribed by Hector Boetius is adopted for convenience. 
 Hist. Scotorum, Lib. ix., Ed. Paris, Ascensius, fol. clxxxi.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 5 
 
 terms of the highest praise. 1 Oswald, with whom he was 
 most intimately connected, the king- often acting- as inter- 
 preter when the bishop preached, 2 fell in battle, in his 
 thirty-eighth year, at Maserfelth, probably near Oswestry, 
 in Shropshire, A.D. 642, 3 in fighting against Penda, the old 
 pagan king of Mercia, who had conquered Northumbria 
 before the time of Oswald. He defeated Oswald, and slew 
 him, using great barbarity. He cut off and exposed his 
 arms* and head. His head afterwards came to Lindisfarne, 
 and ever after became associated with St. Cuthbert. We 
 always hear of them together, St. Cuthbert being usually 
 represented as carrying King Oswald's head, which was 
 buried with him at Lindist'arne, and ultimately at Durham. 
 
 Perhaps it may not be here out of place to say a few 
 words with respect to Ireland as a source, not alone of 
 religion, but of art. It is entitled to our regard and atten- 
 tion on account of our Christianity having been introduced 
 from it through lona, and for other reasons about which I 
 have to speak. Ireland was then one of the principal 
 centres of missionary work, and sent religious ambassadors 
 to a large part of Europe, throughout the seventh, eighth, 
 and ninth centuries. It was also the country whence art 
 at that time was widely diffused. The art which we are 
 accustomed to call Anglo-Saxon, and which is sometimes 
 incorrectly known as Runic, is purely Irish. Almost all 
 the art ornamentation in use at that time in our own 
 country upon stone and metal and in books, originated 
 there. It exists to the present day throughout all ancient 
 Northumbria upon the numerous sepulchral and other 
 
 1 Beda, Lib. iii., cap. 3, 5, 17, 25. 26. 
 
 - Beda, Lib. iii., cap. 3. Symeon, Libellus de exordio Dunelmensis 
 Ecclesias, Lib. i., cap. 1, p. 17. Ed. Bedford. 
 
 3 Beda, Lib. iii., cap. 9. 
 
 4 His arms and hands, the right one remaining incorrupt in 
 accordance with the prayer of Aidan. were preserved in a silver 
 shrine in the church of St. Peter at Bamborough. Beda. Lib. iii., 
 cap. 6, 12.
 
 6 DURHAM CATHEDEAL. 
 
 crosses of stone, fragmentary or complete, which are found 
 on the site of nearly all our pre-Conquest churches. 1 Into 
 the principles of this art I cannot at this time and place 
 pretend to enter fully. It has but little in common with 
 classical or oriental art, and does not appear to have been 
 developed anywhere except in Britain and Ireland, and to 
 some extent in parts of South Germany, Switzerland, and 
 the neighbouring districts of France. In Ireland, however, 
 this special art ornamentation reached its highest excellency. 
 The power of design and execution, especially as shewn in 
 the manuscripts, is truly most remarkable. This principle 
 of art is in the main based on a spiral reversing itself, which 
 becomes joined on to an elaborate interlacing pattern, 
 probably originating in late-Roman mosaic work. This 
 union produced that marvellous system of ornamentation, 
 as subtle and intricate in its conception as it is delicate and 
 skilful in its execution, which is found so beautifully 
 expressed in many of the early books, written both in Ireland 
 and our own country, and in none more exquisitely than in 
 the Lindisfarne Gospels, which was until the Dissolution 
 preserved at Holy Island, but is now in the British Museum. 
 We have in the Cathedral Library another very fine example, 
 consisting of a fragmentary copy of -the Gospels, equally 
 beautiful with the Lindisfarne Gospels, and no doubt also 
 written at that place, and possibly by the same scribe. 2 
 
 1 Fragments of many of these crosses, some of them very beautiful 
 examples, from various places in Northumbria, are preserved in the 
 Cathedral Library. 
 
 2 The Lindisfarne Gospels was written by Eadf rit-h in honour of 
 God and St. Cuthbert, and all the saints in the island. Eadfrith 
 ruled as bishop over the Lindisfarnensian Church from 698 to 721, 
 but the book was probably written before he became bishop. The 
 Ornamentation was the work of ^Ethelwold, who was bishop from 
 724 to 740. Bilfrith, the anchorite, added the jewelled binding. 
 The interlinear English gloss was made by Aldred, the priest, about 
 the middle of the tenth century. These several fkcts are recorded 
 in an entry at the end of the book, in the handwriting of Aldred.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 7 
 
 When Oswald (A.D. 635) placed Aidan at Lindisfarne 1 
 (now called Holy Island), or more probably when Aidan 
 himself selected that spot for a religious settlement, he 
 found it singularly resembling the place from whence he 
 had come. It is a small, low-lying, sandy and unfertile 
 island, not far distant from the mainland, of which, indeed, 
 for some hours of each day, it almost forms a part. Both 
 Lindisfarne and lona are exposed to all the storms from the 
 ocean, and to those of the opposite highlands, and in other 
 respects also are much alike, and I cannot but think that 
 Aidan was induced to settle at Lindisfarne, partly from a 
 sentiment of affection, because of this likeness to the island 
 where he had received his education, and where he became 
 so deeply imbued with a true Christian spirit. Lindisfarne, 2 
 like lona, must always hold a deep place in the affections of 
 Northumbria, nor can we visit that hallowed site, or view 
 the crumbling remains of its venerable and most interesting 
 church, without being strongly moved. The religious body 
 established on the island by Aidan was fostered by that 
 great and most virtuous of kings Oswald and there the 
 bishop and the monks remained for many years. But before 
 I bring you away from Lindisfarne to Chester-le-Street 
 
 1 The island itself is not properly called Lindisfarne, but is the 
 island off the Lindisfarnensian land (terra Lindisfarnensis). The 
 word appears to be compounded of the names of two small rivulets, 
 the Lindis, now the Low, and the Waren, under the form of Fame. 
 The Low falls into the sea almost opposite Holy Island, the AVaren, a 
 little to the north of the group of islands called the Fame. The 
 terra Lindisfarnensis, however, extended far beyond the limits of 
 the territory comprised between these rivulets, and included a 
 considerable tract of country north of the river Tweed. Historia de 
 S. Cuthberto, Symeon of Durham. Surtees Society, Vol. li., p. 140. 
 Leland. Collectanea, Vol. i., p. 366, Ed. 1770. 
 
 * Ecce ascclesia S. Cuthberti sacerdotum Dei sanguine aspersa 
 omnibus spoliata ornamentis. Locus cunctis in Britannia 
 venerabilior paganis gentibus datum ad deprajdandum. Alcuin, 
 Epistola ad ^Edilredum Regem. Opera. I., p. 20, Epist. xii., Ed. 
 Ratisbon, 1777. Will. Malm., Gesta Regum. Ed. Hardy, ii., p. 103.
 
 8 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 and from thence to Durham, there is a figure which 
 rises before us, and compels our earnest attention the 
 figure of the great Saint of North Northumbria, our patron 
 Saint at Durham Cuthbert. His genealogy is disputed, 
 but there is little question that he was of Anglian and not 
 of Celtic origin. He was probably of humble parentage, 
 although a noble descent has been claimed for him. We 
 hear of him first as a shepherd boy in the south of Scotland, 
 not far from Melrose, the monastery at which place he 
 entered, and where he received instruction in religion, Kata, 
 his predecessor as bishop at Lindisfarne, being then abbot. 
 He afterwards became a great evangelist, and preached 
 throughout a large part of Northern Northumbria, then 
 extending through the east of Scotland up to the Frith of 
 Forth. He became bishop 1 much against his will, and had 
 he chosen his own lot he would never have ruled over the 
 Bernician See, but have lived on in retirement from human 
 kind as a hermit upon the adjoining island of Fame, to 
 which, nine years before, in 676, he had retired from 
 Lindisfarne. I cannot but think, and Beda's account of 
 him quite justifies the thought, that he must have had other 
 qualities than those of the ascetic which induced the people 
 to select him so persistently for their spiritual ruler. We 
 know that he was a great missionary, and that he preached 
 with much effect, but he must also, like Aidan, have had a 
 conciliatory spirit, kindness, firmness, discretion, and the 
 skill to rule. He certainly possessed eminent self-control 
 and patience, great persuasive power and deep sympathy. 
 He became bishop at Lindisfarne, A.D. 685, and after a 
 
 1 He was chosen bishop, first to Hexham, but was immediately 
 transferred to Lindisfarne by his own choice. The election took 
 place at a synod held under King Ecgfrith, Archbishop Theodore 
 presiding, ad Tuifirdi (at the two fords) on the river Alne. This 
 place was probably situated near the present Alnmouth, though 
 Whittingham, also, like Alnmouth, an early Anglian settlement, 
 with the remains of a pre-Conquest church, has been claimed as the 
 site. Beda, Hist. Eccles., Lib. iv., cap. 28. Vita S. Cuthberti, cap. 24.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 short but vigorous and beneficent ministration, died on the 
 great Fame, A.D. 687, to which, knowing that his death 
 was near at hand, he had some weeks before returned. 
 The account given by Beda brings before us very vividly 
 the events of his last illness, as related by Herefrith the 
 abbot, and his parting words emphasise very strongly the 
 character of the Saint, 1 His body was taken to Lindisfarne 
 and there buried. Eleven years after his death it was 
 disinterred, the monks having, in the meantime, prepared a 
 coffin in which to place it. They naturally expected to find 
 a skeleton, but they found the body incorrupt. 2 They then 
 placed it in the coffin which they had prepared, and, 
 probably, with the exception of coffins from Egypt, this is 
 one of the oldest wooden coffins of which remains still 
 exist. Fragments of large portions of it are preserved in 
 the Cathedra] Library. Reginald, a monk at Durham, who 
 was living during the latter part of the twelfth century, 
 the author of an account of the miracles of St. Cuthbert, 
 and who had opportunities of carefully examining it, says it 
 had upon it representations of various figures cut out in the 
 wood. Many of these figures still remain on the fragments 
 of the coffin preserved at Durham, and the description given 
 by him so fully agrees with the character of the work, that 
 there cannot be the slightest doubt that in these remains we 
 have portions of the coffin made before A.D. 698. The 
 letters, for some of the figures have the names attached, are 
 also markedly of the form in use at that time. 
 
 I must now mention another great name that of Beda, 
 the Venerable, as he is commonly called. He wrote a life 
 of St. Cuthbert, and he therefore becomes very intimately 
 connected with the great Saint of the North. Beda was 
 possessed of high attainments and culture. He was not, 
 perhaps, a man of action, and I do not know but that he 
 passed his whole life more or less in seclusion, not mixing 
 1 Beda, Vita S. Cuthberti, cap. 27, seq. 
 - Beda, Hist. Eccles., Lib. iv., cap. 30. Vita S. Cuthberti, cap. 42.
 
 10 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 in the world. He was emphatically a student, and remark- 
 able for great personal religion. He is, indeed, an instance 
 of, for his time, extraordinary learning, of much simplicity 
 of life and character, and of eminent and unselfish piety. 
 Who is there that can read the account of his parting 
 moments, and the story of his death, without emotion ? I 
 think there can be nothing more affecting. 1 He was a 
 great writer, and second to none as a historian. His 
 history contains, no doubt, many things which modern 
 investigation has shewn to be incorrect. That arose, 
 however, not from any fault in his own mind, but because 
 the evidence of facts now familiar to us was then quite 
 unknown. When we think of him, we recall to mind nor 
 does Beda suffer by this recollection the great Greek 
 historian, Herodotus. He was also an eminent theologian, 
 and, indeed, was well versed in every branch of literature 
 then understood. He was truly a great man, and amongst 
 the most eminent of the scholars who lived at that time. 
 We possess at Durham not only the bones of Cuthbert, but 
 those also of Beda. He died at Jarrow, A.D. 735, and was 
 there buried. There lived, however, in the monastery at 
 Durham, a monk, Elfred Westou, who was greatly attached 
 to the memory of St. Cuthbert, and who had charge of his 
 body. He thought that two such men should rest together. 
 Can we blame him for his wish, or for the way in which he 
 attained its fulfilment ? He took an opportunity of carry- 
 ing off the bones of Beda from Jarrow, and removed them 
 to Durham, and here they yet remain. 2 
 
 I must now pass over a considerable period, and come to 
 the year 875, when our connection with Lindisfarne ceases 
 to a certain extent. At that time the great Scandinavian 
 invasions were assuming large proportions, and among 
 
 1 The account of his death is given by one of his disciples, Cuthbert, 
 in a letter to a fellow disciple, Cuthwin, and is to be found in 
 Symeon's History of the Church of Durham, Lib. i., cap. 15. 
 
 2 Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 7, p. 161.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 11 
 
 other parts of England where the Danes landed and harried 
 the country was the coast of Northumbria. The monks 
 fled from Lindisfarne. I mentioned before that I thought 
 Lindisfarne had been selected by Aidan because of its 
 resemblance to lona. I think there was probably another 
 reason for the choice its neighbourhood to the stronghold 
 of Bamborough, the seat of the Northumbrian kings. 
 Lindisfarne is very near to it, and naturally would be under 
 the protection of the king, who lived there. Bamborough, 
 however, proved no great protection against the Danes, 
 who came over the sea, and landing on the coast, then over- 
 ran the country. The monks, fearing lest they should be 
 deprived of the Saint's body and their other treasures, and 
 of their lives as well, fled from Lindisfarne, carrying with 
 them, in accordance with his own command, the body of 
 the Saint. They travelled, not only over a great part of the 
 north of England, but also over a considerable portion of 
 the south of Scotland ; and many churches dedicated to St. 
 Cuthbert in those parts probably mark the spots where the 
 monks rested for a while with the body of the Saint. After 
 wandering from 875 to 883, having remained for a short 
 time at Crayke, they settled at Chester-le-Street, 1 which 
 was given to them by Guthred, a Danish king then reigning 
 in Northumbria, and who had become a Christian. Chester- 
 le-Street, unlike Lindisfarne, is inland, and stands upon the 
 site of a Roman station. It possesses no great natural 
 provisions for defence, but it is likely that some considerable 
 remains of the old Roman walls were standing, which may 
 have served as a protection against these Northern rovers. 
 There are a few relics of the monks' sojourn at Chester-le- 
 Street still left there in the shape of .crosses, which are 
 decorated with that peculiar sculpture to which I have 
 already referred as of Irish origin. There the body rested, 
 and from it the Bernician See was ruled, until the removal 
 of Bishop Aldhun and the congregation of St. Cuthbert, 
 1 Symeon, Lib. ii., cap. 13. p. 120.
 
 12 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 after a short sojourn at Ripon, to Durham in 995. x The 
 difficulties of an adequate defence probably proved to the 
 monks that Chester-le-Street was not a suitable place for 
 their protection. The superior position of Durham was, no 
 doubt, the reason why it was selected for the site of the 
 See. This, then, was the commencement of the Church 
 and City of Durham. 
 
 The site chosen for the final resting-place of the body of 
 the patron Saint of Northumbria, is a plateau, small in 
 extent, but enclosed by precipitous banks, and having the 
 river running almost entirely round it, its course assuming 
 the shape of a horse shoe. So strong, indeed, is its position 
 that in those days it was all but impregnable. 
 
 You will bear with me for a few moments while I take 
 you outside the building, and beg you to call to memory 
 and picture in your mind's eye the marvellous position 
 which it occupies. 2 No grander one can be conceived. 
 Rising high above the surrounding river, which clasps it 
 about in its protecting embrace, upon steep, rocky and 
 wooded banks, in near connection and combination with the 
 neighbouring but not rivalling castle, it forms a picture 
 scarcely to be excelled, and whose beauties no other scene 
 can ever efface. There is a reflection which will naturally 
 occur to you when you review this position ; you will recall 
 the site of many other great monasteries, and contrast them 
 with this at Durham. The contrast is indeed great. As a 
 rule, the chosen place for the settlement of a monastic 
 house, if it was not in an already existing town, was in 
 some retired and low-lying spot, on a rich and sheltered 
 
 1 Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 1, p. 140. 
 
 - An early English poem. De situ Duneimi, ascribed to Aelf red, a 
 Durham ecclesiastio living in 1060, gives a graphic description of 
 Durham as it appeared not many years after its foundation. It has 
 been printed in Hickes, Thesaur. Ling. Sept., Vol. i., p. 178 ; Wright, 
 Reliquiao Antiques, Vol. i., p. 159 ; Preface to the Lindisfarne 
 Gospels, Surtees Society, Vol. xlviii.. p. xxxii.; and in Symeon of 
 Durham. Surtees Society. Vol. li.. p. 153.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 13 
 
 piece of land by the. banks of some river well stored with 
 fish, and where the surrounding- hills closed it in from the 
 blasts of inclement storms, and from the eye of the world 
 without. 1 All spoke there of peace and contemplation, of 
 seclusion from the ordinary life of strife, trouble and unrest, 
 and of a longing for calm and repose to come, but as yet 
 only dimly shadowed, in the quiet places where they dwelt. 
 Here, at Durham, was the very opposite. The church 
 fronted the world as if in defiance, alike regardless of the 
 tempest which beat against its massive walls, as its inmates 
 were in strong 1 antagonism to the ignorance, oppression and 
 cruelty which raged around. The castle also, so near, so 
 intimate, suggests another reflection. At Durham we 
 cannot sever the connection between the bishop and the 
 monks. The unity of the old congregation of St. Cuthbert 
 still lingers about the place, and the monastery takes its 
 stand alongside the castle on the rocky height, as part of a 
 great defensive and protective work, equally against a 
 spiritual as against an earthly foe. 
 
 In 999, Bishop Aldhun, having commenced it three years 
 before, completed the building of a stone church, 2 to which 
 the body of St. Cuthbert was transferred from a wooden 
 building, cecclesiola Symeon calls it, 3 where it had been at 
 first placed. Of that church I do not know that a single 
 stone remains visible to the eye, though there are, no doubt, 
 
 1 A retired site was one more peculiarly selected by the Cister- 
 cians, the Benedictine order frequently placing its monastic houses 
 in towns. The preference for different situations by various orders 
 has been expressed in the couplet : 
 
 Oppida Franciscus, magnas Ignatius urbes, 
 Bernardus valles, montes Benedictus amabat. 
 
 2 Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 2. p. 144, cap. 4, p. 148. It is difficult to 
 reconcile what Symeon says here about the completion and dedication 
 of the church, with what, in chap, v., p. 152, he says of Aldhun, "qui 
 de aecclesia quam incaeperat solam turrim occidentalem imperfectam 
 reliquit, cujus perfectionem et dedicationem ejus successor 
 adimplevit." 
 
 3 Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 1, p. 142.
 
 14 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 thousands of the stones belonging to it enclosed within these 
 walls. This building- remained until after the Norman 
 Conquest, a great change having taken place in the 
 meantime. The monks, who with the bishop had originally 
 constituted the congregation of St. Cuthbert, had fallen 
 from the rule which was. at first observed. There was in 
 those days a great tendency among the regular clergy in 
 the Saxon church to degenerate into a kind of secular 
 clergy. Symeon says those at Durham were neither monks 
 nor regular canons. 1 At Durham, as at Hexham and 
 elsewhere, they were married and had families, and there 
 was rapidly springing up an hereditary priesthood, son 
 succeeding father, 2 and had that system gone on, there 
 would have arisen a sacerdotal caste, with all the evils 
 attending such a body. The Norman Conquest happily 
 did away with that, as it did with other abuses. I incline 
 to think that some remains connected with these pre-Con- 
 quest Saxon clergv were discovered when, in 1874, the 
 foundations of the east end of the old Chapter -house, which 
 was so ruthlessly destroyed in 1796, were laid bare. Just 
 outside of the east wall of the present Chapter-house the 
 graves of Bishops Ranulph Flambard, Galfrid Rufus and 
 William de St. Barbara were met with, each covered with a 
 slab bearing his name, probably not quite contemporary, 
 and in them were found three episcopal rings of gold, set 
 with sapphires, and in the grave of Flambard the head, 
 made of iron, plated with silver, and the iron ferule, of a 
 pastoral staff, all of which are now preserved in the Library. 
 Much to our surprise, below the level of the bishops' graves 
 there were found a considerable number of skeletons of 
 men, women and children, with one of which was deposited 
 
 1 Nam neque sui ordinis ibi monachos, neque regulares repperivit 
 canonicos. Symeon, Lib. iv., cap. 11, p. 220 ; Lib. in., cap. 18, p. 
 193 ; Lib. iv., cap. 3, p. 224 ; Prsefatio, p. 3. 
 
 2 Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 1, p. 143. See a paper by Mr. W. H. D. 
 Longstaffe, The Hereditary Sacerdotage of Hexham, Archaeologia 
 
 N.S., Vol. iv., p. 11.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 15 
 
 the iron head of a spear, having the socket plated with 
 gold. 1 There can, I think, be little doubt that the bodies 
 found at a lower level than the graves of the bishops, those 
 skeletons of men, women, and children, belonged to the 
 married clergy and their families, who occupied the 
 monastery at Durham from the time of Aldhun to the time 
 when they were dispossessed by Bishop William of St. Carilef. 
 I have already alluded to the congregation of St. Cuthbert, 
 but of that body I must give you some further, if it be bat 
 slight, account. The religious community, the congregation 
 of St. Cuthbert, which ultimately settled at Durham, 
 included the bishop and the monks. The two formed one 
 body,whose interests were identical, and whose property 
 was in common, and the bishop lived among the monks, 
 over whom he ruled within the community, as he ruled over 
 the diocese without, having no estates or means of sub- 
 sistence separate from the congregation of which he formed 
 a part. 2 This unity between the bishop and the monks was 
 very similar to that which prevailed among the religious 
 communities in Ireland and Scotland. The system went on 
 at Durham until the establishment of the Benedictine order 
 there, shortly after the Norman Conquest, by Bishop William 
 of Saint Carilef. He was the second bishop appointed bv 
 William the First, Walcher, the first Norman bishop^ ha ving 
 
 1 It is a curious fact that the heads of the bishops discovered 
 during the course of this examination were eminently brachy- 
 cephalic or round-headed, whilst those of the persons buried beneath 
 were as markedly dolicho-cephalic or long-headed. See a paper 
 giving an account of the excavations, by the Eev. J. T. Fowler 
 F.S.A., Archaeologia, Vol. xlv., p. 385. 
 
 -There can, I think, be no doubt that this was the ancient 
 
 arrangement, though at first sight Symeon's statement (Lib. iv., cap. 
 
 3, p. 226), "Antiqua enim ipsius Eecclesiaj hoc exigit consuetude ut 
 
 qui Deo coram Sancti Cuthberti corpore ministrant, segregata's a 
 
 ' Episcopi suas habeant," might appear to be inconsistent with 
 
 is view. The question has been fully discussed by me in Feodarium 
 Pnomtus Dunelmensis. (Surtees Society, Vol. Iviii., p. 14.) 
 
 3 It had been Walcher's intention to place monks at Durham and
 
 16 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 reigned only a short time, when he was killed by his own 
 people at Gateshead, during a rebellion caused by the 
 oppression of his officials. 1 William of Saint Carilef, abbot 
 
 as Symeon tells us, he had not only laid the foundations of the 
 monastic buildings, as they existed in his time, but had began to 
 build, -when his death put a stop to the work. " Unde positia 
 fnndamentis, Monachorum habitacula. ubi nunc habentur, Dunhelmi 
 construere coepit." Lib. iii., cap. 22, p. 207. 
 
 I think it not improbable that in the wall on the east side of the 
 cloister and to the south of the Chapter-house, there still remain 
 portions of the kdbit&oula begun by Bishop Walcher. The masonry 
 is of a kind different from any other used either in the Cathedral 
 itself or the domestic buildings connected with it, being entirely of 
 rubble stones without any squared ones. The walls also are much 
 thinner than those of the later work of the Norman period. There 
 is also a feature which is indicative of early masonry on the inner 
 side of the wall in question, immediately to the south of the wall of 
 the Chapter-house a triangular-headed recess. Any building erected 
 in Bishop Walcher's time would almost certainly proceed from the 
 hands of native masons, and would naturally be of the same kind 
 as that to which they were accustomed. In this respect the wall 
 and the recess quite agree with the suggested time of their erection. 
 
 It is also probable that the early work extends as far as to the 
 south end of the Prior's hall, now the ante-room of the Deanery, in 
 which a large window of Prior Castell's time is inserted. In the 
 west wall of the same hall, above the cloister roof, is still to be seen 
 a window, now blocked up. It has a semi-circular head, and is much 
 wider in proportion to its height than the Xorman windows of later 
 date. It was probably one of the windows lighting the original 
 dormitory, if, as is likely, that building occupied the south part of the 
 eastern range of the qloister, its usual position in a monastic house. 
 
 If I am right in attributing this wall to Bishop Walcher, then the 
 crypt on the east side of the passage leading from the cloister into 
 the College, and situated under the Deanery ante-room, and also the 
 crypt under the Refectory, described later on (p. 19), are both the 
 work of the same bishop. 
 
 1 The bishop had met the leaders of the people in the church and 
 endeavoured to bring about a peaceable issue. On their retiring the 
 tumult increased, and the cry was raised, " Short rede good rede, slay 
 ye the bishop." Roger de Wendover, Ed. Coxe., vol. ii., p. 18. The 
 church was fired, and Walcher fell pierced by the spears of his 
 enemies. Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 24, p. 213.
 
 DUEHAM OATHEDKAL. 17 
 
 of Saint Vincent, became bishop in 1 08 1 . Originally a secular 
 priest, he afterwards became a monk in the monastery of 
 Saint Carilef, and such an establishment of married clergy 
 as that he found at Durham must have been most distasteful 
 to him. A Benedictine monk himself, he naturally preferred 
 being surrounded by religious of his own order, and not by 
 those of whose system he disapproved. In the time of 
 Bishop Walcher, the ancient monasteries at Jarrow and 
 Wearmouth were, to a great extent, though probably not 
 altogether, deserted, and had been so since they were laid 
 waste by the Danes. 1 The present church at each of these 
 places contains portions which are probably as old as any in 
 this country, and there can be no doubt that the lower part 
 of the tower (porticus ingressus), and the west end of the nave 
 at Monk Wearmouth, were built by Benedict Biscop towards 
 the end of the seventh century. The chancel at Jarrow has 
 been attributed to the same time and builder, but there are 
 features in it difficult to account for consistently with this 
 supposition. Into this question, however, I cannot now 
 enter. I would strongly urge any of you, who have not 
 already been to Jarrow and Wearmouth, to visit those two 
 ancient Christian sites, which possess the highest interest, 
 whether they are regarded ecclesiastically or with reference 
 to their architectural features. At these two places Bishop 
 Walcher had settled Aldwine, a Benedictine monk, formerly 
 prior of Winchcombe, and two others, his companions, from 
 Evesham, 2 giving them lands for their support and for the 
 
 1 Jarrow, at all events, was not entirely desolate for the church 
 was occupied by Bishop Egelwinin 1069, when he fled to Lindisfarne, 
 with the body of St. Cuthbert, on the approach of King William. 
 " Et prima quidem nocte in ascclesia Sancti Pauli in Giruum .... 
 mansit." Symeon, Lib. iii., cap. 15, p. 183. The church was after- 
 wards burnt. "Tune et ascclesia Sancti Pauli in Giruum flammis est 
 consumpta." Symeon, Gesta Eegum (Surtees Society, Vol. li., p. 86). 
 
 3 Symeon, Lib. iii., cap, 21, p. 198. Dedit (Walcherus) ergo eis 
 monasterium beati Pauli Apostoli, a Benedicto quondam Abbate 
 constructum in Gyruum, quod stantibus adhuc solis sine culmine 
 parietibus, vix aliquod antiquse nobilitatis servaverat signum. p. 200.
 
 18 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 reparation of the churches and domestic buildings. When 
 Bishop Carilef determined upon establishing Benedictine 
 monks at Durham, he found these two monasteries already 
 existing at Jarrow and Wearmouth. Thinking there were 
 not sufficient means for the maintenance of more than one 
 monastery, he transferred (he monks from Jarrow and 
 Wearmouth to Durham, and founded a Benedictine house 
 here. 1 But before then he had dispossessed the secularised 
 clergy. 2 At that time the church of Aldhun was still 
 standing, and it is uncertain whether Carilef determined 
 from the first to build a new church for the new order. He 
 became a party to the rebellion against William Rufus, in 
 1088, and was driven an exile for three,years into Normandy. 
 It may well be that during his sojourn there he conceived 
 the design of replacing the old church by a new and more 
 magnificent one. Nor is it improbable that he brought back 
 with him, from the country of his exile, the plan of the very 
 church in which we are now met. Normandy at that time 
 was full of large and noble churches, many lately erected, 
 and we can readily understand how the thought may have 
 passed across the mind of Carilef, that if he ever returned 
 
 Donaverat autem illis ipsam villam Wiramutham Tune 
 
 ascclesiam Sancti Petri, cujus adhuc soli parietes semiruti steterant. 
 succisis arboribus, eradicatis vepribus et spinis, qute totam 
 occupaverant, curarunt expurgare ; et culmine imposito, quale hodie 
 cernitur, ad agenda divinas laudis officia sategerant reetaurare. p. 20(i. 
 
 1 Anno ab incarnations Domini MLXXXIII., a transitu vero Patris 
 Cuthberti cccxcvil. ... ex quo autem Aldwinue cum duobus sociis 
 in provinciam Northanhymbrorum venerat decimus . . . memoratus 
 Episcopus (Willelmus) monachos ex supradictis duobus monasteriis, 
 videlicet, Apostolorum Petri et Pauli in Wiramuthe et in Gyruum 
 simul congregates ... in Dunhelmum perduxit. Symeon, Lib. iv., 
 cap. 3, p. 223. 
 
 Monachos quos in duobus episcopatus locis Wiramuthe et Gyrwe 
 invenerat, in unum coram sancto illius corpore congregaret, quia 
 episcopatus parvitas ad tria Monachorum cenobia non sufficeret. 
 Lib. iv., cap. 2, p. 222. 
 
 2 Symeon, Lib. iv., cap. 2, p. 220 ; Lib. iv., cap. 2, p. 224.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 19 
 
 to Durham, he would raise there a more glorious building, 
 and one better adapted to the wants of the new community 
 than the church he had left behind him. At all events, on 
 his return, he determined to build a new church, and may 
 we not suppose that gratitude was among the motives 
 which induced him to do this. In the meanwhile, during 
 the time of his exile, as we learn from Symeon, the monks 
 had built the refectory, as, says he, it now stands. 1 Symeon 
 was living in the early part of the twelfth century. He 
 therefore speaks with authority. The crypt under the 
 refectory, which still exists, cannot be later than Sj'ineon's 
 time, and must, therefore, if not a still older piece of work 
 (see p. 15, note 3), be part of the refectory built during 
 Carilef's exile (1088-1091), and is therefore one of the 
 earliest buildings we have at Durham in connection with 
 the monastery. This very ancient structure lies on the 
 south side of the cloister, and to the west of a contemporary 
 passage leading from it into the great enclosure of the 
 monastery, now called the College. The passage itself has 
 an arcade of low blind arches on either side ; and openings, 
 possibly coeval with it, lead into the crypt under the 
 refectory at one side, and into a smaller one, to which I 
 shall presently have to draw your attention, on the other. 
 The refectory crypt is low, being only seven and a half feet 
 high, and commences at the east end with a division, which 
 has a plain, barrel-shaped roof. Then follows a space 
 divided into three compartments by two rows of short, 
 massive square pillars, forming two arcades of five bays 
 each, and supporting a plain quadripartite vaulting without 
 ribs. This space is again succeeded towards the west by 
 three divisions, the westernmost one being not so long as 
 the others, all the three having, like the first and eastern- 
 
 1 Post non multum vero tempus per aliorum machinamenta orta 
 inter ipsos dissensione, Episcopus ab episcopatu pulsus ultra mare 
 secessit. . . . Hoc tempore ref ectorium, quale hodie cernitur, monachi 
 aedificaverunt. Symeon, Lib. iv., cap. 8, pp. 234, 235.
 
 20 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 most one, plain barrel roofs. Up to this point the whole 
 crypt is of the same early date, but beyond, to ihe west of 
 what appears to be an original wall, are some other 
 substructures, the cellar and pantry, of later times. 1 The 
 older crypt has been lighted on the south side by at least 
 seven, or possibly more, small windows, all round-headed 
 except one, which is circular. 2 To the east of the passage 
 there is, as I have already told you, a smaller crypt, which 
 in all its features corresponds with the architectural character 
 of that under the refectory. It is now beneath the entrance 
 hall of the Deanery, once part of the Prior's hall, and has 
 apparently been curtailed of some of its original length. It 
 is 38 feet long and 23J feet wide, and is divided into two 
 aisles by four arches supported on piers similiar to those in 
 the crypt under the refectory, each aisle having a plain 
 barrel roof. It is not improbable that, as has been suggested 
 by Mr. Gordon Hills, 3 it may have been underneath the 
 original dormitory, a building which was probably 
 commenced in the time of Bishop Walcher. 
 
 Having thus shortly given you the history of the Church 
 of Durham, before it was actually established there, and 
 brought you face to face with Durham itself, I now come 
 to the second part of my address. You will, perhaps, ask 
 what authority I have for the statements I shall have to 
 make with regard to the dates of the various parts of the 
 church. I have already told you that Symeon, a monk of 
 Durham, lived when a great part of the work at the church 
 was going on, and therefore his testimony is very important. 
 
 1 And at the greese (stair) foot (of the Refectory or Frater House) 
 there was another door that went into the Great Cellar and Buttery. 
 Rites of Durham, p. 74. And the meat or drink . . . was carried 
 in at a door adjoining to the great kitchen window into a little vault 
 at the west end of the Frater House like into a pantry, called the 
 Covey, p. 77. 
 
 2 They are now blocked up by a modern passage which leads from 
 the old monastic kitchen into the Deanery. 
 
 3 Journ. British Arch. Assoc.. Vol. xxii., p. 228.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 21 
 
 He wrote a history of the Church of Durham, arid his history 
 was continued after him by an anonymous writer. 1 We 
 next have a further continuation by Geoffrey de Coldingham, 
 Robert de Graystanes and William de Chambre, 2 together 
 with a number of indulgences from various bishops, given 
 towards obtaining means for making additions to and 
 alterations in the building, and a few but late fabric rolls. 
 Besides these, there is a most important document, " A 
 description or brief declaration of all the Ancient Monuments, 
 Rites and Customs, belonging or being within the monastical 
 Church of Durham, before the suppression," apparently 
 written towards the end of the sixteenth century, by some 
 one who had been an inmate of the monastery. 3 These 
 form our series of historical evidences. 
 
 In 1093, on the llth of August, the foundation stone of 
 the new church was laid, 4 Aldhun's church having been 
 previously destroyed. 5 There were then present, Bishop 
 William of St. Carilef, Turgot, prior of the Monastery, 
 afterwards bishop at St. Andrews, and, as other writers 
 say, Malcolm, King of Scotland. 6 If he was present, it is 
 curious that Symeon does not record the fact in his history 
 of the Church of Durham. The building went on rapidly. 
 The bishop had been accumulating money for his new 
 church, and he appears to have completed it from the east 
 
 1 Symeonis Monachi Dunelm. libellus de exordio Dunhelmensis 
 Ecclesise. Ed. Thomas Bedford, London, 1732. 
 - Historic Dunelmensis Scriptures Tres. Surtees Society, Vol. ix. 
 
 3 Printed first by Da vies of Kid welly, Ifi72, afterwards by Dr. 
 Hunter, 1733, and again by Sanderson, 1767, and in a more correct 
 form by the Surtees Society, Vol. xv. (Quoted from as Rites of 
 Durham.) 
 
 4 Symeon, Lib. iv., cap. 8, p. 236. 
 
 5 Tertio Idus Septembris, secundo anno suae reversionis, secclesiam 
 veterem, quern Aldunus quondam Episcopus construxerat a funda- 
 meutis destruxit. De injusta vexatione Willelmi Episcopi primi. 
 Symeon, p. 374. 
 
 6 Symeonis Dunelm. Historia Regum, Continuatio. Surtees Society 
 Vol. 1L, p. 103.
 
 22 
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 end of the choir, where it was commenced, as far as the 
 first great bay of the nave, including the piers and arches 
 which carry the central tower. 1 You will observe that the 
 
 THE NAVE. 
 
 1 Many persons have found it difficult to believe that so large a 
 work should have been executed in the short space of less than three 
 years (Carilef died Jan. 6, 1095-6), and it has been suggested that 
 much of the building might have been already erected before the 
 foundation stone was laid. The express words of Symeon, however, 
 forbid such a supposition. He says : ;< Eo enim die (tertio Idus 
 Augusti, f eria v.) Episcopus et Prior Turgotus ... in fundamento 
 lapides posuerunt. Nam paulo ante, id est, iv. Kal. Augusti, feria vi.. 
 idem Episcopus et Prior, facta cum fratribus oratione ac data 
 benedictione, f undamenta coeperant fodere." Symeon, Lib. iv., cap. 
 8, pp. 236, 237.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 23 
 
 first great bay of the nave arcade, with its two sub-arches, 
 and the easternmost bay of the triforium correspond in their 
 mouldings and other features with those of the choir, 
 whereas in the remainder of the nave towards the west, 
 although the elevation in its general design and principal 
 features is the same, 1 the mouldings in some essential 
 particulars, especially in the use of the zig-zag and the course 
 of hollow squares forming a quasi hood moulding round the 
 arches of the great arcade, differ from those of the choir. 
 There is also a marked difference in the clerestory of the 
 two parts of the church. In the choir there is only a single 
 round-headed window in each bay, and no passage between 
 them. In the nave there are three arches in each bay, 
 decorated with zig-zag, and having a passage extending 
 along the whole length of the wall. There is a difference 
 also in the way in which the diagonal ribs of the vaulting 
 are carried. In the choir they were supported on a vaulting 
 shaft which rises from the level of the triforium floor ; in 
 the nave they are supported on brackets formed of two 
 grotesque heads, which are inserted in the sprandril between 
 the two outer arches of the triforium. The eastern bay of 
 the nave with the triforium arch above it, which, in fact, 
 acted as a buttress to the tower on the west side, as the 
 similar and corresponding ones of the transepts did on the 
 north and south, must necessarily have been built at the 
 same time as the tower arches themselves, and, therefore, 
 naturally corresponds with them in the details. I may here 
 draw your attention to the spiral grooving on the piers, a 
 
 1 To this there is a notable exception, that whereas in the aisles of 
 the choir and transepts the transverse and diagonal ribs spring from 
 a cluster of three semi-shafts attached to the round pillar with 
 corresponding responds, in the nave throughout that feature is 
 omitted, and the whole spring from the single capital of the circular 
 pillar. The responds on the aisle wall of the nave take the simple 
 form, a semi-circular pillar. This, which is an undoubted advance 
 in the design, may. however, have suggested itself to the same 
 architect as the work went on.
 
 24 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 rare feature in Norman work, which is seen in the choir and 
 transepts, but not in the nave, where they are replaced by 
 lozenge and zig-zag 1 patterns and flutings. The spirals, 
 you will observe, are contrary to the ordinary direction of 
 those on a screw. The eastern part of Carilef's church no 
 longer exists, having being replaced by the very beautiful 
 eastern transept, to which I shall presently have to draw 
 your attention. It is impossible, in the absence of any 
 record, to say how the choir originally terminated, but 
 there can be little doubt that, according to a common 
 arrangement at the time, the end was apsidal. It has 
 been thought that it consisted of three apses, one at the 
 end of each aisle, like the church at Lindisfarne, where, 
 however, the apses are transeptal chapels and not the 
 termination of aisles, and the choir has a square and 
 not a semi-circular end. 2 It is not, indeed, improbable 
 that the two churches were built by the same architect, 
 and their resemblance is very striking, Lindisfarne, the 
 later building, being a miniature likeness of Durham. I 
 think, notwithstanding this, it is almost certain the choir 
 at Durham terminated in a semi-circular apse, round which 
 the side aisles were carried. 
 
 I shall have to ask you to recall to your recollection what 
 I have just said about the extent of the work completed in 
 Carilef's time. In addition to what I have already told you, 
 I have to add that I believe he finished the exterior wall of 
 
 1 The southernmost pier of the south transept is ornamented with 
 a zig-zag grooving, which differs, however, from that on the pillars 
 of the nave. It has an arrow-head shaped termination to each point 
 of the zig-zag, rising from the hollow to the plane of the pier, and 
 which reminds us of a similar pattern at Dunfermline. The abbey 
 there, later as it is, bears a strong resemblance to Durham, and was, 
 no doubt, built under its influence. 
 
 2 The apsidal foundation still remaining in the choir at Holy 
 Island is probably the termination of a pre-Conquest church. The 
 existing east end, into which a later window has been inserted, is 
 unquestionably the original Norman work.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 25 
 
 the church, throughout the whole of its extent, as high as 
 the top of the aisle arcade which surrounds the entire 
 building- from east to west. I shall be able to point out to 
 you that this arcade is identical in all its features in both 
 choir, transepts and nave, the zig-zag, so characteristic a 
 decoration of other parts of the nave, being there entirely 
 wanting. Some capitals also of a distinctive form are found 
 as well in the north transept as in the south aisle of the 
 nave, a fact which points strongly to the arcade, in both 
 these parts of the church, having been built at the same 
 time. There is also another feature which favours this 
 view. If you will carefully examine the walls of the aisles 
 of the nave, you will see that the stone up to the top of the 
 arcade is of a colour quite different from that of the wall 
 above it, as well as from that of the great nave arcade and 
 triforium, a feature which is not likely to have occurred if 
 the two parts had been built at one and the same time. You 
 will also observe that the size of the stones varies, those in 
 the upper part above the aisle arcade being larger than 
 those below. 
 
 The death of Bishop Carilef took place in 1096, and an 
 interval of three years elapsed before the election of Bishop 
 Flambard in 1099, who is described as great by some and 
 infamous by others. 1 Ralph FJambard was William Rufus' 
 Chancellor, and whether he was infamous or not, he was 
 anyhow a remarkable man. We are told by the continuator 
 of Symeon, 2 that he carried on the work of the nave up to 
 the roof that is. that he completed the nave, including the 
 
 1 Feodarium Prioratus Dunelmensis. Surtees Society, Vol. Iviii., 
 pp. 108, 109ft. Laurence, Prior of Durham, a contemporary, speaks 
 of him in terms of high praise. Dialogi Laurentii Dunelmensis 
 monachi ac prioris. Surtees Society, Vol. Ixx., p. 22. line 231. 
 
 2 Circa opus Eecclesiaj modo intentius modo remissius agebatur, 
 sicut illi ex oblatione altaris vel cimiterii vel suppetebat pecunia vel 
 deficiebat. His nanque sumptibus navem tecclesice circumductis 
 parietibus ad sui usque testudinem erexerat. Symeon, Continuatio, 
 cap. i., p. 257.
 
 26 DURHAM CATHEDEAL. 
 
 side aisles and their roofs, as far as the vaulting-, and also, 
 at the same time, no doubt, building- that portion of the 
 western towers which attains an equal elevation with the 
 walls of the nave. If you will examine the whole of the 
 capitals in the choir, transepts and nave, you will see that 
 they are almost identical in form and detail throughout, 
 thoug-h those in that part of the nave built by Flambard are 
 somewhat shallower than those of the choir and transepts. 
 It would, therefore, appear as if no long- time had elapsed 
 between the completion of the choir and that of the nave. 
 Flambard probably began to build soon after he became 
 bishop, and though that part of the church which is due to 
 him might not have been finished until near the time of his 
 death, no alteration seems to have been made in the plan. 
 With regard to the upper part of the western towers, and 
 the time when they were built, we are entirely left to the 
 evidence of the architecture itself, for nothing has been 
 recorded which has reference to their erection. The upper 
 stages belong to a time when the style called the Early 
 English was being developed, and they may have been 
 constructed during the episcopate of Richard de Marisco 
 (1217-1226), 1 or even of Philip de Pictavia (1197-1208). 
 Although the towers have suffered much from weathering, 
 and more from the paring process, which, however, to some 
 extent has been remedied by the late conscientious and 
 skilful reparation, they are well designed and very effective 
 additions to the church as originally planned. In 
 combination with the end of the nave and Pudsey's boldty- 
 moulded Galilee, they form a termination which will 
 
 1 Except that the work appears to be of an earlier date, the 
 episcopate of Bishop Poore would have seemed a more likely time for 
 the erection of the upper part of the western towers. During the 
 reigns of Philip de Pictavia and Richard de Marisco a constant feud 
 had been going on between the bishop and the convent, and it was 
 only on the accession of Richard Poore that peace ensued, when in 
 Ms second year (1229) an agreement by an instrument, called Le 
 Convenit, was come to between them.
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 27 
 
 not suffer even when compared with some of our finest 
 west fronts. The upper part of both is enriched by four 
 arcades, two open and two blank, of alternately round- 
 headed and pointed arches. The towers were until the time 
 of the Commonwealth surmounted by spires of wood covered 
 with lead. 1 At present they are finished by a parapet and 
 turrets, placed there towards the end of the last century, 
 which, though faulty in detail, are nevertheless by no means 
 unworthy of the towers they crown, and add materially to 
 the picturesque outline of the Cathedral when viewed from 
 a distance. . 
 
 I must now, after this digression, bring you back again 
 to the time of the death of Carilef. In the interval between 
 his death and the consecration of Flambard, we learn that 
 the monks went on with the work. There had been an 
 agreement by which the bishop undertook the building of 
 the church, and the monks that of the domestic parts of the 
 monastery, but that agreement came to an end on Carilef's 
 death. 2 There can be little doubt that those parts of the 
 church which were built by the monks during this interval, 
 were the west side of the transepts and the vaulting of the 
 north one. You will recognise a difference in the vaulting 
 ribs of the two transepts ; those of the north transept 
 corresponding with the Norman work of the choir and its 
 
 1 Bishop Cosin, in his articles of enquiry at his first visitation in 
 1662, asks, "What is become of the wood and lead of the two great 
 broaches that stood upon the square towers at the west end of the 
 church ?" Miscellanea, Surtees Society, Vol. xxxvii., p. 257. That 
 they were never rebuilt is shown by Buck's View, published in 1732, 
 where the towers are without spires. 
 
 2 Porro predecessor (Willelmus de S. Carilef o) illius (Rannulfi), 
 qui opus inchoavit. id decernendo statuerat, ut Episcopus ex suo 
 aecclesiam, monachi vero suas ex ascclesias collectis f acerent oificinas. 
 Quod illo cadente cecidit. Monachi enim omissis officinarum sedifi- 
 cationibus operi secclesiaj insistunt, quam usque navem Rannulfus 
 jam factum invenit. Symeon, Continuato. cap. i., p. 257. Igitur 
 monachis suas officinas . asdificantibus, suis Episcopus sumptibus 
 secclesias opus faciebat. Symeon. Lib. iv., cap. 8, p. 237.
 
 28 DURHAM CATHEDEAL. 
 
 aisles, whilst those of the south have more in common with 
 the nave. The north transept was, no doubt, roofed over 
 earlier than the south, the vaulting of the latter having the 
 ribs decorated with a moulding, the zig-zag, which, though 
 abundantly used in the nave, is not found in the choir. The 
 zig-zag is not, however, in each case quite of the same 
 pattern. It may be remarked that the diagonal ribs of the 
 vault of each transept are supported in the bay nearest to 
 the tower, on the western side by brackets, a plan similar 
 to that adopted in the nave, whilst on the eastern side they 
 rest on vaulting shafts similar to those which formed part 
 of the original roof of the choir. The west side of each 
 transept (the eastern in both cases being part of Carilef's 
 work) seems to indicate by its simpler and less ornate 
 character which almost gives it an appearance of being 
 earlier than it is that, as we might expect, the funds at 
 the disposal of the monks were not equal to those of the 
 bishop. The corbels with grotesque heads upon them, 
 which support the diagonal ribs of the vault on the west 
 side of the south transept (the later work) are in every way 
 similar to the corresponding corbels of the nave, whilst 
 those on the same side of the north transept (the earlier 
 work), consisting of grotesque heads under a cushioned 
 capital, have only a general resemblance. You will also 
 notice that some of the shafts on the east side of both 
 transepts are carried up as far as the vaulting, and, indeed, 
 appear to run through it, being quite useless as supports to 
 it. It has been suggested that in the first instance it was 
 intended to place over the transepts a flat wooden ceiling, 
 which was to be carried on these shafts. If such were the 
 design, it could only have been proposed as a provisional 
 and temporary roof, for the main bearing shafts, which are 
 contemporary with the walls, have been from the first 
 constructed to support a vaulting of stone. It is possible, 
 however, that the first intention of Carilef's architect was to 
 complete the vaulting of the extreme compartment of each
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 29 
 
 transept, in the same manner as the adjoining- one towards 
 the tower had been planned and was subsequently carried 
 out. The design having 1 been changed, these vaulting 
 shafts were continued up to the filling in between the ribs, 
 as the best mode of terminating them. Though the original 
 plan was to place vaulting over the south transept, that was 
 subsequently altered, the convent, possibly, not having 
 sufficient means for the work, and for a time it was covered 
 with a wooden roof and ceiling. You will observe that the 
 clerestory, on both the east and west sides, at one time con- 
 sisted of a continuous arcade, on piers constituted of square 
 blocks of masonry, constructed in such a manner as to preclude 
 the possibility of there having been a stone vaulting, though 
 well fitted for a flat wooden ceiling. This arrangement 
 may have continued until the nave was about to be vaulted, 
 when the original intention was carried out. This appears 
 probable from the great similarity between the vaulting of 
 these two parts of the church, the only important difference 
 between them consisting in the transept vault having semi- 
 circular transverse ribs, a circumstance to be accounted for 
 from the desire to make the vault of this transept correspond 
 in that feature with the vault of the north one. 
 
 We are next told that, after the death of Bishop Flambard 
 in 1128, in the interval before the accession of Bishop 
 Galfrid Rufus in 1133, the monks completed the nave. 1 
 There was nothing left to complete but the vaulting, for 
 Flambard had already finished the nave up to the roof. 
 With this date, about 1130, the architectural features well 
 agree, notwithstanding the pointed arch of the main ribs. 2 
 The vaulting of the nave, richly decorated, as you see it, 
 with zig-zag moulding, has however, been generally 
 
 1 Eo tempore navis secclesias Dunelmensis monachis operi instanti- 
 bus peracta est. Symeon, Continuatio, cap. i., p. 261. 
 
 2 Though this is certainly an early instance of the use of the 
 pointed arch, it is not a singular one, the nave arcade of Malmesbury 
 Abbey, built 1115-1139, has pointed arches.
 
 30 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 attributed to the time of Bishop Farnharn (1241-1248) and 
 Prior Melsanby (1233- 1244). 1 There is no evidence 
 whatever to support this view, and the characteristic details 
 of the work are quite at variance with it. 2 The mouldings 
 are very similar to those on the vaulting ribs of the south 
 transept, and agree in every respect with the architecture 
 of the beginning of the twelfth century, whilst they have 
 nothing in common with that of the middle of the thirteenth. 
 As I am now speaking of the nave roof, I will ask you to 
 notice the lowest stone of the outer order of the mouldings 
 of the main vaulting ribs. You will observe that it is of a 
 larger size and projects further upon the capital of the 
 supporting shaft than those in continuation above it. This 
 appears to suggest that when Flambard built the walls of 
 the nave he included the first stone of the ribs in his work, 
 and that afterwards, when the monks completed the nave 
 by putting on the vault, they for some reason decreased the 
 size of this particular moulding, thus making the zig-zag a 
 less bold feature than had at first been contemplated. In 
 connection with the attribution of the vaulting of the nave 
 to the thirteenth century, I would remind you that the 
 mediaeval architects were not mere imitators nor even 
 eclecticists, and that architecture was then a living and 
 growing science, with all the elements of such a condition 
 inherent in it. It would have been as unlikely for Nicholas 
 
 1 It was repaired by Prior Wessington (1416-1446), at an expense 
 of 91 Os. 6d. Among many other works executed by him is 
 included, " Tectura australis partis navis aecclesias cum solucione f acta 
 plumbario pro opere suo, 110." (Hist. Dunelm. Script. Trot. 
 Appendix, No. ccxxviii., p. cclxxiij.) This of course refers to the 
 wooden roof above the vaulting. 
 
 2 Leland, in his Collectanea, says : Nic. Fernham, episcopus, fecit 
 testudinem ternpli 1242. (Vol. i., p. 122, Ed. 1774.) To which roof 
 this refers, granting that he had any good authority for his 
 statement, it is impossible to say. It is probable, however, that 
 Leland's assertion has been the origin of the mistaken notion that 
 the nave roof belongs to the middle of the thirteenth century.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 31 
 
 de Farnham or Thomas de Melsanby to have put such a 
 vaulting- on to the nave as that we are now standing- under, 
 as it would have been for them to have erected a roof of 
 the style of the fifteenth century. 1 That such an opinion 
 should ever have been entertained must appear strange 
 indeed when we remember that the eastern transept, the 
 chapel of the Nine Altars, was in course of erection at the 
 very time when the vaulting- of the nave is supposed to 
 have been built. 2 I may here take the opportunity of saying 
 a, few words with regard to the original vaulting of the 
 choir. It was very common in Norman churches to have a 
 wooden ceiling without any groined stone roof. Such a 
 ceiling may in the first instance have been placed over the 
 choir as well as over the nave at Durham, but if that was 
 so it could onlj have remained for a very short time, and it 
 is evident from the nature of the vaulting shafts as well as 
 from the flying buttresses existing in the triforium of the 
 nave and the somewhat similar ones in that of the choir, 
 that a stone roof was intended and provided for from the 
 first in both cases. There is sufficient evidence, however, 
 to prove that a stone vaulting was placed over the choir 
 not long after the completion of the walls, for the marks of 
 one are still left on the clerestory. But we also have the 
 evidence of historical relation. In 1104 the church was so 
 far completed that the monks were enabled to transfer the 
 
 1 Instances occur of assimilated work for the sake of preserving 
 the general harmony and proportions of the building, as, for example, 
 the nave of Westminster Abbey ; but in every such case the 
 mouldings and all minor details are purely those of the time when 
 the work was executed. 
 
 2 Though it seems scarcely necessary to adduce any evidence in 
 favour of the nave vaulting belonging to the early part of the 
 twelfth century, a later date has been, and still is, so persistently 
 asserted, that it may not be out of place to mention a statement 
 made by Robert de Graystanes which has an important bearing on 
 the question. Bishop Bek in the year 1300 deposed Richard de Hoton 
 from the priorate, and intruded Henry de Luceby, prior of Holy 
 Island, and who had formerly been sacrist at Durham, into the
 
 32 ' DUEHAM CATHEDEAL. 
 
 body of St. Cuthbert from the small building 1 in the 
 cloister, where it had before remained, to the shrine at the 
 east end of the choir. At that time a very remarkable event 
 took place, as we learn from William of Malmesbury's 
 " Gesta Pontificum." 2 He tells us that the wood work 
 supporting the roof over the shrine was still there when 
 the body was about to be removed, a fact which implies 
 that the stone vaulting- had only been lately completed. He 
 says there was some difficulty about taking down the 
 woodwork before the body of St. Cuthbert was placed in the 
 shrine. St. Cuthbert, however, came to the assistance of 
 the monks, and knocked down the centering during the 
 night, and on the following morning it was found spread 
 out on the floor, without having done injury to anything 
 beneath it. 
 
 Galfrid Rufus was the next bishop, following Flambard 
 after an interval of five years, and reigned from 1133 to 
 1140. We are told that the Chapter-house was completed 
 by him. 3 It was probably begun before his time ; but, at 
 all events, it was then finished. 4 The Chapter-house, alas ! 
 prior's chair. Whilst he held the office of sacrist he effected many 
 works in connection with the church, and amongst others " tectnm 
 navis fecclesise de novo reparans." This reparation must have been 
 done some years before 1300, and therefore at a time so near to that 
 (about 1245) when it is asserted the vaulting of the roof was built, 
 that it is almost impossible to believe it could then require any 
 important repair. Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 77. 
 
 1 This building existed until the time of Dean Home, who destroyed 
 it. The image of St. Cuthbert which it contained was broken up by 
 Dean Whittingham. Rites of Durham, pp. 58, 59. 
 
 2 Rolls Series, Ed. Hamilton, p. 275. 
 
 3 Ipsius (Gaufridi) tempore capitulum monachorum consummatum 
 est. Symeon, Continuatio, cap. ii., p. 262. 
 
 4 The wall arcade of intersecting arches, though of a more delicate 
 character, has a considerable resemblance to the aisle arcades of the 
 choir and nave of the church, which I have attributed to the time 
 of Bishop Carilef . and certainly appears to be of an earlier date than 
 1133. The west wall, no doubt built during the episcopate of Galfrid 
 Ruf us, has apparently been constructed subsequently to the north and
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDEAL. 33 
 
 I can hardly say chapter-house, for it is now only a 
 miserable remnant of a building once probably the finest 
 Norman chapter-house in England. It was, by an act of 
 barbarism scarcely credible, almost entirely demolished in 
 1796, 1 in order, as it is stated, to make the room warm and 
 comfortable for the members of the Chapter. The Galilee 
 narrowly escaped being destroyed at the same time, and 
 was only saved through the intervention of John Carter, 2 
 who had in vain interceded for the chapter-house. Although 
 the subject is a painful one, I cannot refrain from giving 
 you in a few words some description of what it was before 
 the destruction took place. This, I hope, when you see 
 what still remains of the building itself, will enable you to 
 re-construct it in imagination. The proportions were large, 
 for it was 78| feet long and 35 feet wide, having an apsidal 
 termination at the east end. The vaulting over the apse 
 
 south walls, on to which it does not join as if the several parts had 
 been planned and executed at the same time. The vaulting, now 
 entirely destroyed, with the exception of three of the corbels and 
 some stones of the ribs, was of the time of Galfrid Rufus. 
 
 a At a Chapter held November 20th, 1795, present, Mr Dean (Lord 
 Cornwallis), Mr. Sub-dean (Dr. Cowper), Mr. Weston, Dr. Dampier, 
 Mr. Egerton, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Bowyer, Mr. Haggett and Dr. 
 Bathurst, it was ordered that the old Chapter-house, being 
 pronounced by Mr. Wyatt on his survey thereof to be in a ruinous state, 
 be taken down by Mr. Morpeth, under contract, also that a new room 
 be erected on the same site according to the plan given in by Mr. 
 Morpeth. 
 
 2 Carter was an architectural draughtsman, and the engravings of 
 Durham Cathedral, in the series of English Cathedrals issued by the 
 Society of Antiquaries in 1801, are from his drawings. The then 
 dean (Lord Cornwallis) has had the credit of saving the Galilee, but 
 it was through Carter having drawn attention to the contemplated 
 destruction at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, that the 
 dean, who had sanctioned the removal, became frightened into 
 stopping it. It is to be regretted that public opinion has not since 
 then been exerted in favour of our Cathedrals and especially of 
 Durham ; much evil might have been averted had others followed 
 in the steps of John Carter. 
 D
 
 34 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 was constructed with great skill, and had four of its ribs 
 supported by corbels, consisting- of figures, associated with 
 a very characteristic and effective intertwining foliage 
 pattern, three of which are preserved in the library. The 
 vaulting ribs of the whole of the groining as well as of that 
 of the apse and the string course beneath were decorated 
 with a zig-zag moulding. Below, an arcade of semi- 
 circular headed and intersecting arches ran round the 
 building except at the west end. Beneath the arcade was 
 a stone bench, raised on two steps, upon which the monks 
 sat whilst in chapter ; and at the centre of the east wall, 
 standing on a dais of two steps, was the stone chair, 
 contemporary with the building, in which the bishops had 
 been installed up to Bishop Barrington in 1791. Close to 
 the bishop's seat was a wooden chair, fastened in the wall, 
 where the prior sat when the bishop visited the Cathedral 
 Church. 1 The floor was covered with the monumental 
 slabs of the bishops buried beneath it, including those of 
 William of St. Carilef, Ralph Plambard, Gal f rid Rufus and 
 Hugh Pudsey, some of which still remain under the present 
 flooring. It was lighted at the east end by five inserted 
 decorated windows of three lights each, and by two 
 original round-headed ones to the west of them, one on 
 each side; and at the west end by two window-like 
 unglazed openings into the cloister, of the same date as the 
 building, and by a large window of the fifteenth century, 
 which still exists in a restored form, though only visible on 
 the outside, being above the ceiling of the present room. 
 The original doorway was at the west end, and remains on 
 the inside tolerably complete, but somewhat defaced by 
 incorrect restorations in plaster. It is, as you will see, 
 richly moulded and decorated with patterns characteristic 
 of the early part of the twelfth century. 2 Through it the 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 48. 
 
 2 Upon one of the capitals is a centaur shooting with an arrow. 
 The sign Sagittarius was the badge of King Stephen (1135-1154).
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 35 
 
 monks passed into and along the cloister, and so by a 
 doorway, now blocked up, into the south transept, and 
 thence into the choir, the present direct way from the 
 chapter-house into the church being, it is scarcely necessary 
 to remark, quite modern. The outside of this doorway and 
 also of that into the " parlour " still show, as you will see, 
 in spite of the chiselling they have undergone, many 
 indications of the elaborate and beautiful way in which 
 they have been sculptured. It is impossible to speak in too 
 strong terms of the stupid and unintelligent manner in 
 which the whole Cathedral has been treated, not only in 
 Wyatt's time, but even in these later days of architectural 
 revival. Many important features which, in part at least, 
 told the story of the Church, and which might have 
 remained to tell it to future times, have been ruthlessly 
 swept away. 1 Windows and doorways and mouldings, 
 historical and architectural facts, of high moment as they 
 were, have been destroyed without any apparent reason, 
 and are now as completely gone from us as though they 
 had never existed. When the destruction of this noble 
 house took place, the stone roof was allowed to fall on the 
 pavement, the key-stones of the ribs having been knocked 
 out. The episcopal chair and the grave covers of the 
 bishops were broken in pieces, and of the former not a 
 fragment was preserved. 
 
 There is a doorway, now partly effaced, in the south wall, 
 which leads into three chambers, 2 used as " a prison for the 
 monks for all such light offences as was done amongst them- 
 
 who was contemporary with Bishop G-alfrid Rufus (1133-1140). 
 
 1 A portion of the south end of the south transept is still left to a 
 great extent untouched by the restorer's hand, and shows what the 
 condition of the building was when Wyatt undertook his destructive 
 work, and also what we have lost by that operation. 
 
 - Upon the south side of the larger chamber, that adjoining the 
 chapter-house, are the remains of a mural' painting representing 
 our Lord in glory. In the south wall of the easternmost of the two 
 inner chambers is a hatch for the purpose of conveying provisions 

 
 36 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 selves." 1 Between the chapter-house and the south transept 
 is a narrow, passage-like room, called the "parlour" in 
 monastic days, of the same date as the chapter-house itself, 
 and corresponding- in its position with similar passages 
 which exist under the name of " slype " in other monasteries. 
 Through this was the way leading into the monks' 
 cemetery, and it also served as a place where merchants 
 displayed their wares and trafficked with the convent. 2 
 You will observe in the cloister roof, just to the north of 
 the entrance into the "parlour," an oblong opening. 
 Through this a chimney once passed to carry off the smoke 
 from the oven in the south transept where the altar-breads 
 were baked. Above the "parlour" was the library, 3 the 
 approach to which was by a staircase, still in part remaining, 
 at the south-west corner. It was built in the years 1414 
 and 1415, according to an entry in the Feretrar's roll, but it 
 was then probably only altered, for among other works of 
 Prior Wessington (1416-1446), he is stated to have made 
 two windows in the library, and to have repaired the roof, 
 desks, two doors and the books, all of them unnecessary, it 
 might be supposed, if the room had only been built a few 
 years before. 4 In the east wall of the cloister, to the south 
 of the chapter-house, is a doorway, of early twelfth 
 century date, evidently an insertion. Within it are the 
 remains of a staircase ascending over the roof of the prison. 
 
 for the confined monks, and in the inner chamber, which has had a 
 strong door between it and the outer one, and 'which probably was 
 used as the prison cell, is a latrine. 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 48. 
 
 2 Rites of Durham, p. 44. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 26. 
 
 4 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. ccxxviii., p. cclxxiii. 
 Prior Wessington's roof, and his two windows, which have, however, 
 been restored, still exist. The room is now divided into two parts, 
 one of which is used as a vestry. It only requires the removal of 
 two wooden partitions and a plaster ceiling to bring back the room 
 to what it originally was.
 
 DUEHAM OATHEDEAL. 37 
 
 It is not improbable that this was the way into the original 
 dormitory, which, as I have before suggested (page 16) 
 may have been part of the " habitacula monachorum " begun 
 to be constructed by Bishop Walcher. 
 
 To Galfrid Rufus may be attributed the present great 
 north and south doorways of the nave, themselves, however, 
 replacing earlier ones. 1 The sculpturing upon these 
 doorways and that upon the corbels which once supported the 
 ribs at the east end of the chapter-house have apparently 
 been done by the same hand, and there is otherwise much 
 in common between the decoration of these doorways and 
 that of the chapter-house itself. 
 
 I would particularly draw your attention to the very 
 beautiful way in 'which the shafts of both the south 2 and 
 north 3 doorways are sculptured, as well as to their other 
 
 1 The occurrence on the north doorway of the centaur with bow 
 and arrow, also found on the doorway of the chapter-house, seems 
 to fix the date to the time of King Stephen, and, therefore, before 
 the episcopate of Pudsey, to whom it has been generally believed 
 that these doorways are due. 
 
 2 There are three shafts on each side supporting the arch. The 
 two outer ones have upon them, and extending over both, a diamond 
 pattern of parallel ridges and grooves which has somewhat the 
 appearance of a zig-zag when seen only upon one shaft. The inner 
 one has also a diamond pattern, but of a quite different character, 
 constituted by lines of zig-zag having the points opposed, the space 
 in the centre of each diamond being occupied by four leaves 
 arranged in the form of a cross. The capitals are covered with a 
 pattern of grotesque animals and foliage work. The two inner 
 members of the arch have a zig-zag moulding upon them, and the 
 outer a floriated ornament with eleven medallions set at intervals 
 upon it, the lower four on each side containing alternately a 
 conventional leaf and a grotesque animal, the three central ones 
 having each a leaf. 
 
 3 This doorway, which is much loftier than the opposite one, has 
 only two shafts on each side. The outer one is quite plain, the 
 inner being most artistically sculptured over the whole surface with 
 interlacing foliage work, forming circles and lozenges which contain 
 grotesque beasts and human figures, one a man riding on a lion.
 
 38 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 details. The great west doorway does not appear to be an 
 insertion, and is probably part of Flambard's work. It is 
 by no means so elaborately ornamented as those we have 
 just examined, and which, as I have told you, are of the 
 time of Bishop Galfrid Rufus. 1 When we go outside the 
 church you must not neglect to examine the skilfully- 
 
 The capitals of both shafts have foliage work and animals upon 
 them, the abacus bearing a leaf pattern, that on the west side 
 corresponding to that on the east side of the opposite doorway, and 
 that on the east side (which is also a leaf pattern but of a different 
 form) corresponding to that on the west side of the same doorway. 
 The two inner members of the arch are ornamented each with a 
 zig-zag moulding, and the outer with a foliage pattern, having 
 eighteen diamond-shaped compartments upo it, containing, in 
 addition to grotesque animals and birds, some subjects which require 
 more special notice. Two of them have each a centaur shooting 
 with bow and arrow and armed with a conical helmet. A third has 
 two figures embracing. A fourth has a boy laid across a stool and 
 being whipped by an older person, who has an uplifted rod in his 
 right hand, while he holds up the boy's dress with his left. A 
 fifth has a long-bearded figure clothed to the feet, strangling with a 
 rope another figure whose dress reaches only to the knees, and who 
 holds in both hands over the left shoulder what looks like a sceptre. 
 Other two have each a man performing apparently some gymnastic 
 feat. And another has a beast like a lion over which a man is 
 standing, who holds the tail of the animal with his left hand, and 
 appears to be forcing open the beast's mouth with his right. This 
 may be a representation of Samson. 
 
 1 The arch is supported on each side by two shafts, both of which 
 are plain, as also are the capitals. The inner order of the arch is 
 decorated with a zig-zag moulding, and the outer one with a leaf 
 pattern, which has upon it thirteen medallions. The central one 
 contains a human face, the others grotesque animals and figures, the 
 upper part of which is human. The treatment of the sculpture is 
 flatter and less bold than that of the north and south doorways. 
 The exterior face of the doorway, which is now within the Galilee, 
 is much like the inner one. but is deeper, having four orders of zig- 
 zag and a hood moulding which consists of a series of diamonds, 
 each divided into triangular spaces, one sunk, the other in relief. 
 The medallions contain each a leaf pattern, except the central one, 
 which has a human face.
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 39 
 
 wrought and early iron work, which covers the south 
 door, still remaining" in a very perfect state. You will also 
 observe on the north door sufficient indications to shew what 
 the iron work once there has been, and, indeed, with care and 
 under a favourable light, the pattern of the very elaborate 
 design may be made out. The grotesque but effective 
 sanctuary knocker of bronze of the same date as the door 
 itself, if it does not invite the unfortunate offender to seek 
 for that protection now, happily, under more humane 
 conditions, not needed for his safety, will recall to your 
 memory how the Church in a ruder age held out her saving 
 hand, and interposed between the shedder of blood 
 often the innocent one, except in the mere act and the 
 avenger. 1 Over the north porch, now sadty barbarised by 
 Wyatt, are still left some slight remains of the two chambers, 
 once occupied by the men who admitted the suppliants to 
 sanctuary, 2 which opened by a staircase into the triforium, 
 and by two small windows, still visible though blocked up, 
 into the nave aisle. The porch itself, which originally 
 extended about four feet further to the north than it does 
 at present, is probably of the same date as the doorway 
 within, and was also built by Bishop Galfrid Rufus. It 
 has, however, been so pared down and otherwise maltreated 
 by additions and " restorations " that it is somewhat difficult 
 to come to any decision with regard to the exact time of its 
 original construction. 3 In its present condition it is a most 
 unworthy and discreditable portal for so majestic a temple 
 as that into which it ushers the worshipper. 
 
 1 An account of the persons who claimed sanctuary at Durham 
 and also at St. John of Beverley, with the offences they committed, 
 has been published by the Surtees Society, Vol. v., under the title, 
 Sanctuarium Dunelmense et Sanctuarium Beverlacense. 
 
 2 Rites of Durham, p. 35. 
 
 3 The innermost moulding appears to remain in its original state, 
 and much resembles the corresponding one in the arch of the outer 
 gateway of the Castle. Both structures were probably built at the 
 same time and during the episcopate of Galfrid Rufus.
 
 40 DTJEHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 The episcopacy of William de St. Barbara (1143-1152), 
 so far as we know, was not marked by any important work. 
 
 We then come to a great builder, Hugh de Puiset, or 
 Hugh Pudsey as he is generally called (1153-1195), a 
 nephew of King Stephen, and a son of the Count of Bar. 
 He was young when he became bishop, and during the 
 many years he occupied the See, a large number of works 
 were effected by him. 1 His episcopate comprises a time 
 when great and important changes were taking place in 
 artistic and architectural design, and when a new style was 
 beginning to be developed. He had two architects whose 
 names have been recorded, Richard and William, 
 " ingeniatores " as they are called, and about one of them 
 Mr. Surtees, the historian of the County of Durham, has 
 made a curious mistake. He took " ingeniator " to mean 
 snarer or poacher, and describes Ricardus ingeniator as 
 " Dick the snarer," instead of which he was an important 
 landowner in the county, holding a considerable estate, the 
 reward doubtless of his skill as Pudsey 's architect. Bishop 
 Pudsey, as we are told, began to build what he no doubt 
 intended to be a Lady Chapel at the east end of the 
 Cathedral. He caused marble columns and bases to be 
 prepared for it, which came from beyond the sea. These 
 still exist in the Galilee, and are made of Purbeck marble. 
 By the expression " beyond the sea " it is not meant that 
 they came from any foreign country, but that they were 
 brought by sea to Newcastle from Dorsetshire. He made 
 some progress in the work, but as it went on, cracks began 
 to appear in the walls, and Pudsey, thinking it was 
 distasteful to God and St. Cuthbert, left off building there 
 and transferred the chapel to the west end, where, under 
 
 1 There is a valuable paper by Mr. W. H. D. Longstaffe, " Bishop 
 Pudsey 's buildings in the present County of Durham," in the Trans- 
 actions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham 
 and Northumberland. Vol. i., p. 1.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 41 
 
 the name of the Galilee, it still remains. 1 It was erected 
 about the year 1175, and is a most exquisite specimen of 
 late twelfth century work, testifying to the taste and power 
 of artistic design of the architect. 2 There can be no doubt 
 as to the cause of the shrinking. The foundation of the 
 Cathedral at the west end is close to the rock, whilst at the 
 east end the soil is deep and in places of a peaty nature. 
 The old builders often cared little about the foundations 
 and, appear sometimes to have been wanting in engineering 
 skill. Indeed they frequently planted the walls merely 
 upon the surface, and thus, when the soil was of a 
 compressible nature, shrinking of the walls was apt to take 
 place. From the same cause that affected Pudse3''s work, 
 the east end of Carilef's choir began early to shew signs of 
 instability and became ruinous. 
 
 Although no words of mine can give you any idea 
 whatever of the beautiful example of Transitional work you 
 will see in the Galilee, I think it will be desirable to prepare 
 you for your visit by a short description of this so unusually 
 situated Lady Chapel. I shall, however, have to defer the 
 consideration of some of its details to a latter part of my 
 address. How it came to be placed at the west end of the 
 church you have been told already. St. Cuthbert is said to 
 have had a more than usual monastic dislike to women, and, 
 
 J Novum ergo ad orientalem ejusdem aecclesise plagam opus 
 coiistruere coepit. A transmarinis partibus deferebantur columpnse 
 et bases marmoreas. Cumque . . . muris in aliquam vix altitudinem 
 erectis, in rimas tandem deisceret, manifestum dabatur inditium id 
 Deo et famulo suo Cuthberto non fuisse acceptum. Omissoque 
 opere illo, aliud in occidentem inchoavit ; in quo muliebris licite 
 fieret introitus : ut quse non habebant ad secretiora sanctorum 
 locorum corporalem accessum, aliquod haberent ex eorum contem- 
 platione solatium. Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres (Surtees Society), p. 1 1. 
 
 -Mr. Longstaffe, in the paper on Pudsey's buildings before 
 referred to, gives some documentary and other evidence in favour of 
 this date, which indeed the architectural features themselves 
 sufficiently indicate. Transactions of the Durham and Northumber- 
 land Architectural and Archaeological Society. Vol. i., p. 3.
 
 42 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 therefore, to have built the Lady Chapel at the east end of 
 the choir the ordinary position and close to his shrine, 
 would have been most distasteful to him., No woman, 
 indeed, was allowed to approach further eastward in the 
 church than as far as a line of dark coloured Prosterley 
 marble, forming- a cross by two short limbs at the centre, 
 which, as you will see, stretches across the nave between 
 the piers just west of the north and 'south doors. 1 The 
 chapel of the Blessed Virgin, commonly called the Lady 
 Chapel, was, therefore, placed where we now see it. It 
 rises almost directly from the edge of the river bank, and is 
 built against the west front of the church. It is of an 
 oblong form, of five aisles divided by four arcades each of 
 four bays, the aisles being all of the same width. The 
 middle aisle is higher than those adjoining', and these again 
 are higher than the extreme north or south ones. The 
 arches, richly decorated with zig-zag-, are supported upon 
 piers, originally of two slender shafts of Purbeck marble, 
 but now of four, alternately of marble and sandstone, 
 having- capitals of plain volutes which are very chai'acteristic 
 of the transitional period. I shall have to speak to you 
 ag-ain about these added shafts later on when we come to 
 discuss Cardinal Langley's work in the Galilee. It was 
 entered from without through a doorway on the north side? 
 which has been restored, the old one, however, having been 
 exactly copied to the minutest parts. The doorway is 
 deeply recessed, the wall being increased in thickness on 
 both sides in the manner usual at that time, and is a fine 
 example of the style in use when it was erected. Access to 
 the church from the Galilee was obtained through the great 
 west door, which was probably not blocked up until more 
 than two hundred years after the Galilee was built. The 
 chapel was at first, lighted by eight round-headed windows, 
 placed high in the wall above the arches of the outer 
 arcade on the north and south sides, but it doubtless had 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 30.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 43 
 
 other windows at the west end, and possibly in the north 
 and south walls. In these, after the middle of the 
 thirteenth century, the windows which still remain, though 
 in a restored form, were inserted, three on the north and 
 four on the south. It is probable that at the same time five 
 similar windows were placed in the west wall, of which only 
 two are now left, the present three fifteenth century 
 windows, to which I shall have occasion to refer later on, 
 having replaced the earlier ones. At the time when the.se 
 important alterations were made, the original windows 
 were probably blocked up. Their outline, however, is still 
 to be traced quite distinctly. You will observe that some 
 parts of the building do not adapt themselves very 
 accurately to the older work to which they are attached, a 
 circumstance which may have arisen from some at least of 
 the stone work having been prepared in the first instance 
 for Pudsey's intended chapel at the east end of the choir. 
 Pudsey's architect appears to have made some changes in 
 the west front of the church, the wide recesses on each side 
 of the west door being evidently alterations. This you will 
 see if you examine that part of the west front which is 
 above the Galilee roof, where the buttresses flanking the 
 recess containing the great west window, cut into below, 
 still remain untouched. This alteration was no doubt made 
 for the purposes of the altars the bishop proposed to con- 
 struct there. 
 
 1 must not leave the subject of the Galilee without 
 telling you that the bones of the Venerable Bede were 
 ultimately placed there in 1370, 1 in front of his altar, where 
 
 1 They were removed from near St. Cuthbert's shrine into the 
 Galilee by the intervention of Richard de Castro Bernardi (Rites of 
 Durham, p. 39. where the inscriptions upon the shrine are given). 
 The stone in which the iron rods were fixed for the purpose of 
 raising the wooden cover of the shrine, together with another stone 
 also belonging to the shrine, is now in the floor of the nave between 
 two of the piers of the south arcade near the south door. (Rites of 
 Durham, p. 87.) The pulley still remaining on one of the beams of
 
 44 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 they were incased in a magnificent shrine of gold and 
 silver, which had been made long before then by Bishop 
 Pudsey for their reception, when he removed them from 
 the coffin of St. Cuthbert. You will see the plain tomb 
 where they still repose, having upon it the well-known 
 inscription, which, however, was only engraved on the 
 covering slab in 1830, 
 
 HAG SUNT IN FOSSA BEDXE VENERABILIS OSSA. 
 
 There still remains another and not the least interesting 
 feature of the chapel, to which I have to draw your 
 attention. You will see when we visit it some beautiful 
 and well-preserved fresco paintings on the east wall at its 
 north end. They are contemporary with the building, and 
 comprise a king and bishop, probably St. Oswald and St. 
 Cuthbert, and some tasteful decoration of conventional leaf 
 forms very characteristic of the art of the period. The 
 lower part of the back of the recess, 1 on the sides of which 
 the figures occur, is filled with a representation of hangings 
 the middle of which is now defaced, but where, before the 
 Dissolution, was a picture of our Lady with the dead 
 Christ. 2 It is not impossible that the principal altar of the 
 
 the roof over where the shrine was placed, and which it has been 
 supposed was used for lifting the cover, was more probably for 
 suspending the light in front of St. Bede's altar. Another pulley 
 occupies a similar position in front of where the altar of our Lady 
 of Pity formerly stood. 
 
 1 Above the recess the wall has been filled with fresco painting 
 which is now so far destroyed that the subject cannot be made out. 
 The wall above the arcade to the south of the recess has also been 
 decorated. 
 
 In the wall just north of where the altar stood is a small aumbry, 
 which has a slit opening into it from above. This was probably an 
 arrangement for the reception of offerings of money. 
 
 2 It is difficult to decide whether the background of hangings 
 filled the whole space from the first, or there was in the middle a 
 picture of our Lady and Christ. In the latter case the altar of our 
 Lady of Pity must have existed there from the time of the building
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 45 
 
 Blessed Virgin originally stood there, and was transferred 
 by Cardinal Lang-ley to the position it afterwards occupied 
 when he probably built up the great western doorway of 
 the church. 1 The site in question was up to the time of the 
 Reformation devoted to the altar of our Lady of Pity, 2 
 which may have been removed thither by Langley from the 
 recess to the north of it, which is surmounted by an arch 
 with the dentelie moulding of a date not later than the 
 commencement of the thirteenth century, a removal 
 necessitated by his making there one of the two new 
 doorways into the Galilee. These paintings are not only 
 of great interest in themselves, but they possess a further 
 one of being the only specimens of fresco decoration in the 
 Cathedral which are now anything more than mere 
 fragments. The arches and capitals in the Galilee have also 
 been, though slightly, enriched by colour, and among the 
 designs are a zig-zag and spiral pattern. It does not 
 appear that this kind of decoration had ever been used to 
 any great extent throughout the church, for very few 
 remains of it were discovered when the modern whitewash 
 was lately removed. I shall, however, be able to point out 
 to you in the aisle of the north transept, where the altars of 
 
 of the Galilee. The picture, may, however, have been an insertion 
 by Cardinal Langley, if he transferred that altar from the recess on 
 the north. 
 
 1 The Consistory Court was held in the Galilee, and over this 
 doorway is an inscription that has reference to it Judicium Jehovae 
 est, Domine Deus da servo tuo cor intelligens ut judicet populum 
 tuum et discernat inter bonum et malum. 
 
 2 This designation, like the Italian Picta, refers to the Virgin 
 Mother supporting the dead Christ. " On the north side of the said 
 Galilee was an altar called the Lady of Pity's altar, with her picture 
 carrying our Saviour on her knee, as he was taken from the cross, a 
 very dolorous aspect. The said altar was ordained for a chantry 
 priest to say mass every holy day. having above the altar on the 
 wall the one part of our Saviour's passion in great pictures, the other 
 part being above St. Bede's altar on the south side." Rites of 
 Durham, p. 38.
 
 46 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 St. Benedict and St. Gregory and that of St. Nicholas and 
 St. Giles once stood, some portions of the pictures which 
 adorned the wall behind them, including 1 , in connection with 
 St. Gregory's altar, the upper part of a figure vested with 
 the pallium. There are also some scanty remnants of 
 colour left behind the altars of our Lady of Houghall 1 and 
 our Lady of Boltou 2 in the aisle of the south transept. The 
 site of the Neville chantry in the south aisle of the nave 
 still contains sufficient remains of the delicate and tasteful 
 pattern to enable you to judge what the design has been ; 
 and slight traces of colour are to be found upon the arches 
 of the arcade behind the altars in the chapel of the Nine 
 Altars. It is probable, indeed, that the walls behind all the 
 altars in the church have been more or less decorated with 
 painting, though certainly it had not been used generally 
 on the church itself. 
 
 Although we have no record of the builder, or of the 
 date when it was built, it is certain that the exterior of the 
 south-east doorway of the cloister, sometimes called the 
 Prior's door, is of the time of Pudsey, the interior being 
 Carilefs work. It is a splendid and characteristic example 
 of his time and very rich in all its details; though bolder it is, 
 perhaps, a still more beautiful specimen of late twelfth 
 
 1 The designation of this and the adjoining altar originated in the 
 fact, that the funds, by which the priest officiating at each was 
 paid, arose, in one case, out of land at Houghall, near Durham 
 in the other, from land at Bolton in the parish of Edlingham, 
 Northumberland . 
 
 2 There are still to be seen, built into the wall, two of the pillars 
 which once supported the altar stone of our Lady of Bolton ; and 
 by the side of the south wall of the same aisle there exists, possibly 
 in situ, the only piscina remaining in the church, a stone in the 
 pavement with a square sloping drain, which belonged, no doubt, to 
 the altar of St. Faith and St. Thomas the Apostle which stood there. 
 A part of the drain of the piscina belonging to the altar of the 
 Blessed Virgin in the Galilee still remains to the south of Cardinal 
 Langley's tomb, where the altar stone itself, with its five crosses 
 upon it, forms part of the floor.
 
 DUKHAM CATHEDRAL. 47 
 
 century decorative architecture than the doorway of 
 Pudsey's great hall in the castle. 
 
 From the time of Pudsey we have no account of anything 
 having been done until the episcopate of Bishop Poore 
 (1220-1237), and to him probably from the fact that 
 he began to make preparations for it has always been 
 attributed the building of the eastern transept, commonly 
 called the Nine Altars, on account of its having originally 
 contained that number, one placed under each of the east 
 windows. It was not commenced until after his death, 
 when in 1242 Prior Melsanby began the work. Bishop 
 Poore had been a great builder at Salisbury before he came 
 to Durham, and he must always have the merit of the 
 intention, if he did not live to carry out the building of the 
 noble specimen of thirteenth century architecture we see in 
 the Nine Altars. It is quite possible, however, that the 
 plan may have been made during his lifetime, and that to 
 his taste and judgment part at least of the credit of this 
 unrivalled design is due. Some time before his episcopate 
 cracks had begun to appear at the east end of the church, 
 and there are a number of indulgences in existence, some 
 of them going back to an early period and one coming 
 down as late as 1278, granted by various bishops in aid of 
 the new work, 1 which was to replace the apse then hasten- 
 ing to its fall. Prior Thomas of Melsanby (1233-1244), in 
 whose time the building of the Nine Altars was commenced, 
 had been elected bishop by the monks, but was refused 
 confirmation by the Crown. He was one of the greatest 
 men who have sat in the prior's chair at Durham, and to him 
 we must feel deeply indebted for carrying out the build- 
 ing of the Nine Altars. 2 I am glad to be able to tell you 
 
 1 Raine's St. Cuthbert, pp. 99-102. Appendix, p. 7. 
 
 - Anno Domini mccxlii., inoepit Thomas (de Melsanbi) Prior novam 
 fabricam aecclesise, circa festum Sancti Michaelis, juvante Episcopo, 
 et fecclesiam de Bedlington ad ejus fabricam conferente. Hist. 
 Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 41.
 
 48 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 who the architect was. 1 It is very rarely that the name of 
 airy of the mighty builders of old has been preserved. 
 They had no ambition that their names should be handed 
 down to posterity. They were content to build and leave the 
 work and not themselves to speak. I have, however, come 
 across the architect of " the new work," as the Nine Altars 
 was called, as a witness to a conveyance of land in Durham. 2 
 He was Master Richard de Farnharn, possibly a brother 
 or near relative of Nicholas de Farnham, who was at 
 the time Bishop of Durham. It has been conjectured, 
 with much probability, that a head in a close fitting- 
 cap, which occurs more than once and which you will see 
 in the very beautiful arcade of the Nine Altars, may be a 
 portrait of the architect. 3 
 
 Before we examine the eastern transept, it will be de- 
 sirable that I should give you, by way of introduction, a 
 brief description of its principal features, including the plat- 
 form upon which the shrine of St. Cuthbert once stood. To 
 those of you who are familiar with Fountains Abbey the 
 resemblance between the Nine Altars at each place, which 
 were in course of erection at the same time, will at once be 
 apparent. The level of the floor of this beautiful example 
 
 1 There is an inscription upon the corner stone of one of the 
 central buttresses at the east end which may give the name of the 
 master mason. Posuit hanc petram Thomas Moises. The name still 
 exists in Durham, and the city may number among its inhabitants 
 some of his descendants. 
 
 2 The deed, one of the muniments of the Dean and Chapter, 
 conveys land in the Bailey, from Willelmus aurifaber to Thomas 
 carnifex, son of Lewinus, and Farnham is described as " Magister 
 Ricardus de Farinham tune architector novas fabricse Dunelm." 2<Ja 
 18m Spec. No. 7. 
 
 3 The Rev. J. F. Hodgson, in an appendix to his valuable and 
 exhaustive paper on Kirkby Stephen Church, in vol. ii., p. 120. Trans, 
 of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and 
 Northumberland, expresses an opinion that there are the heads of 
 two artists who both worked on the Nine Altars represented in the 
 arcade.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 49 
 
 of thirteenth century architecture is lower than that of the 
 aisles of the choir, which are themselves lower than that of 
 the choir itself. It has been supposed that the nature of 
 the ground at the place about which I have already 
 spoken was the cause of this peculiar arrangement. I 
 believe another explanation is more likely to be the true 
 one. In carrying out such a design as that of the eastern 
 transept height was essentially necessary in order that the 
 building- might be properly proportioned. If it had been 
 constructed on the same level as the choir it would have 
 been requisite in order to obtain this height that the roof 
 should have been higher than that of the choir. This, how- 
 ever, would have materiallj' destroyed the general effect of 
 the church, for the central bay of the Nine Altars forms, 
 when seen from the west, the ordinary termination of the 
 choir. To obviate this difficulty the simplest plan was to 
 lower the level of the floor, and this has been done without 
 any detriment to the appearance of the church. 
 
 The original termination of the choir of Carilef s church, 
 as you have already heard, was almost certainly apsidal, 
 and it must have extended to within a short distance of the 
 present end of the Nine Altars, if not quite up to that point. 1 
 In consequence of its ruinous condition, as we are told, it 
 became necessary to take it down, a process which appears, 
 from indications we shall see in the existing building, to 
 have been effected gradually, the new work, the chapel of 
 
 1 Dr. Raine, in an account of the Cathedral, which he gave to the 
 Archseological Institute, when that body visited Durham in 1854. 
 says that in making a grave in 1844 the foundation of the outer wall 
 of the apse was discovered (Memoirs, Newcastle Meeting, vol. i., 
 p. 238). The grave must have been that of the Rev. James Towns- 
 end, who was buried in that year, and, as it was made on the plat- 
 form, close to the east wall, it seems to be certain that the church 
 originally extended as far as the present east wall of the Nine 
 Altars. 
 
 A very trifling amount of excavation would settle the question of 
 an apsidal termination and its extent. 
 E
 
 50 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 the Nine Altars, having apparently been completed, at all 
 events as far as the vaulting, before it was joined on to the 
 Norman choir. It was begun in 1242, and the eastern wall 
 up to the roof and the arcade all round were, no doubt, 
 rapidly brought to completion. The south and north walls 
 (the north being the latest) above the arcade appear to be 
 somewhat later than the east wall, the windows in form and 
 details shewing a decided advance beyond its simple lancets. 
 The large and fine geometrical window in the north side 
 (called the Joseph window on account of its having con- 
 tained in its painted glass the history of the Patriarch) well 
 deserves your attention. 1 You will observe that the main 
 ribs of the window are double, the clustered shafts of the 
 inner tracery being joined to the mullions by through 
 stones. 2 I shall be able to point out to you clear indications 
 that, as originally designed, the north end was intended 
 to correspond with the south. The foundation of the 
 vaulting pier at the middle of the wall, which coincides 
 with that still remaining at the south end, is visible in the 
 pavement, and the somewhat different form of the trefoiled 
 arches, and the varied quality of the stone at the place, 
 shew that the pier had been completed at any rate as far as 
 the top of the arcade, if it was not finished up to the vault- 
 ing. You will observe on the exterior that the massive 
 sustaining buttress of this pier still remains perfect up to 
 the sill of the window, where it is now abruptly terminated 
 by a gabled head. The large rose window is one of Wyatt's 
 " improvements," in 1795, and did not replace the original 
 
 1 In the north alley of the said Nine Altars there is another goodly 
 fair great glass window, called Joseph's window, the which hath in 
 it all the whole story of Joseph, most artificially wrought in pictures 
 in fine coloured glass, according as it is set forth in the Bible, very 
 good and godly to the beholders thereof. Rites of Durham, p. 3. 
 
 2 The clerestory window in the west wall of this limb of the eastern 
 transept corresponds, except in being of a much smaller size and in 
 having no cusping in the tracery, with the Joseph window.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 51 
 
 thirteenth century window, but one possibly put in by 
 Prior Wessington (1416-1440), l who executed many repairs 
 about the windows, filling 1 all the lancets with tracery, 
 which was removed by Wyatt from those of the east end, 
 but which still remains, though in a restored form, in those 
 in the south side. The arcade which occupies the wall be- 
 neath all these windows, and is continued round the west 
 side and at the east end of the choir aisles, is singularly 
 beautiful. 2 It is of the period when what has been called 
 the Early English style attained its highest perfection. 
 Nothing, indeed, can exceed the graceful and yet mascu- 
 line treatment of the trefoiled arches, with their deeply cut 
 mouldings, raised on slender shafts of marble and sur- 
 mounted by capitals where the use of foliage, with all the 
 crisp and forcible character of the style, combines so artist- 
 ically with the hood moulding and its sculptured heads. 3 
 You will equally admire the lofty clustered columns which 
 divide the bays, their shafts alternately of sandstone and 
 marble, the latter being detached, doubly banded with 
 marble and carrying capitals where a pattern of foliage, not 
 so crisp as that of the arcade but quite as lovely, is found in 
 
 1 This window, as we know from the entry in the Liber Vita (Surtees 
 Society), p. 115. was glazed by Richard Pickering, rector of Hem- 
 ingburgh (1409-1413), a church belonging to Durham, at an expense 
 of 14. It is not expressly mentioned in the list of works executed 
 by Prior Wessington, an account of which is printed, Hist. Dunelm . 
 Script. Tres, Appendix, No. ccxxviii., p. cclxxii., and may therefore 
 have been, equally as regards the stone work as the glass, the work 
 of Richard Pickering. 
 
 2 The arcade is deprived of much of its effect by the introduction 
 of monumental slabs within its arches, a perfectly unwarrantable 
 and unnecessary tampering with so beautiful a design. It is deeply 
 to be regretted that this injurious treatment is still being continued, 
 and without even the excuse of the person commemorated having 
 been buried at Durham. 
 
 3 Two of the quatrefoils above the arcade arches are filled, one 
 with a figure, now mutilated, the other with foliage. It does not. how- 
 ever, appear that the remaining quatrefoils ever contained any subject.
 
 52 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 harmonious combination with animal forms. The whole 
 composition, its parts admirably fitted to each other, com- 
 bines to make up a termination which fully rivals the other 
 glories of the church. 
 
 In addition to the entrances into the Nine Altars from 
 the choir aisles, there are two doorways leading- into the 
 church from without, placed, as at Fountains, at the west 
 end of the north and south side. That on the north, which, 
 as you will see, is now built up, is said to have been made for 
 the purpose of bringing- in the body of Bishop Anthony Bek 
 in 1311, the first person, except the patron saint, ever interred 
 within the church. 1 There can, however, be no doubt that 
 both these doorways are part of the original plan and were 
 constructed when the arcade through which they pass was 
 built, and with which in the details of their mouldings they 
 correspond, though there has, apparently, been some trifling 
 reconstruction in the north doorway. 
 
 Into the Nine Altars is projected on the west side a plat- 
 form, upon which the shrine of St. Cuthbert 2 was placed aud 
 within which his bones still rest. Access to it was obtained by 
 two doorways in the screen behind the High Altar, and also 
 by two staircases, one still remaining, on the south side of the 
 platform, and another, now destroyed, on the north side. By 
 means of this provision persons visiting the shrine were 
 enabled to ascend one staircase and after paying their 
 devotions to ' the saint to pass down the opposite one. 3 
 
 1 Betwixt the last two altars lieth buried Anthony Bek, Bishop of 
 Durham and Patriarch of Jerusalem, in a fair marble tomb under- 
 neath a fair marble stone, being the first bishop that ever attemptec 
 to lie so near the sacred shrine of St. Cuthbert, the wall bem ff 
 broken at the end of the alley, for bringing him in with his a 
 Rites of Durham, p. 2. 
 
 2 A minute description of the costly shrine, too long to quote, is 
 given in the Rites of Durham, p. 4. 
 
 3 There still remain in the floor on both the north and s 
 
 of the platform several holes in the stones, and on the south side the 
 mark of where a door has turned upon its hinges. These were pro
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 35 
 
 The platform is now oblong in form, having upon the east 
 side an arcade of round-headed arches supported by shafts 
 with moulded capitals. This work is simpler than the rest of 
 the building, but apparently is of about the same date. 
 When originally constructed at the east end of Carilefs 
 church, the platform no doubt followed the line of the apse, 
 having beyond it the ambulatory which was carried round 
 that part of the church in continuation of the north and south 
 aisles of the choir. I think I shall be able to prove to you that 
 the same form was preserved in the platform when the Nine 
 Altars was commenced, and that it was only after the work 
 had made some progress that it was enlarged and assumed 
 a form more in harmony with the form of the building in 
 which it was to stand. 1 In proof of this I will direct your 
 
 bably all connected with the ' almeryes of wainscot, varnished and 
 gilted finely over with little images ; very seemly and beautiful to 
 behold, for the relics belonging to St. Cuthbert to lie in ; and within 
 the said almeryes did lie all the holy relics and gifts that was offered 
 to that holy man, St. Cuthbert ... so that for the costly riches and 
 jewels that was in the same almeryes, and other relics that hung 
 about within the said feretory upon the irons was accounted to be 
 the most sumptuous and richest jewels in all this land, . . . for great 
 was the gifts and goodly devotion of kings and queens, and other 
 estates of that time towards God and holy St. Cuthbert in that 
 church." Rites of Durham, p. 4. 
 
 1 The platform was until late years surmounted by an oak screen 
 of very good design and workmanship, and which added materially 
 to the general effect of the Nine Altars. It has been supposed that 
 it was placed there when, during the reign of Queen Mary, the old 
 religion again became possessed of the Cathedral. According to a 
 privately issued book, called -i Record of Works done in and upon the 
 Cathedral Church and Collegiate Buildings of Durham," printed for 
 the Chapter in 1858, 1864, and which is an admirable record of de- 
 structive work, it was of ' inferior workmanship, probably of 
 James II.'s time, which surmounted three sides of the sanctuary, 
 and much obstructed the view of the Altar-Screen from the Nine 
 Altars." I need scarcely say it was destroyed, though a portion of 
 it still exists, but robbed of its cresting, as a s;creen in the University 
 Library. It is represented in Billings' Durham Cathedral, plates 
 Ixvii., Ixviii.
 
 54 
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 attention to the piers which support the great arch opening 
 into the Nine Altars, where you will observe that the bases 
 of the shafts which stand within the limits of the original 
 platform are placed upon it, whilst the shafts, which were 
 at first beyond it, now run through its pavement and have 
 
 NINE ALTARS. 
 
 their bases concealed within the platform itself. These 
 piers have generally been considered to have formed part 
 of the new work, and to have been erected when that was 
 being carried out. It is possible, however, that they are, 
 though not in their present form, the piers from which the
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDEAL. 55 
 
 apse of Carilef's church began to curve, having- been refaced 
 and otherwise altered when the chapel of the Nine Altars 
 was built.. If they are of the same date as the opposite 
 piers in the east wall, and in connection with which they 
 support the main transverse ribs of the vaulting, it might 
 perhaps be expected that they should agree with them 
 in the arrangement of the shafts. The apparent intention 
 has been to make them as similar to those in the east 
 wall as was possible, consistently with having to deal 
 with existing and different shaped piers, and there does not 
 appear to be any reason why all the four should not have 
 been more or less alike, if they had all been built at the 
 same time. There is another feature, too, which seems to 
 favour this view the fact that the width of the building 
 between them is above two feet less than that between the 
 corresponding Norman piers to the west of them. This 
 would naturally occur if they represent the original piers at 
 the commencement of the apse, where the choir was begin- 
 ning to narrow for the curve, but is not easy to explain if 
 they were entirely built anew when the Nine Altars was in 
 progress. 1 I may also tell you that the outer Norman wall 
 of the choir aisles extends on each side up to the west wall 
 of the Nine Altars, and, therefore, to the same point east- 
 ward as the piers in question. 
 
 When you come to examine the west side of the Nine 
 Altars and the connecting portion between the chapel and 
 the choir, you will find the work no less beautiful than that 
 already described, but you will observe that a short interval 
 
 1 It is possible that the narrowing of these two piers may have 
 originated in another way. The east wall of the Nine Altars was 
 built before the work which connects it with the choir was com- 
 menced. The two main shafts on the east wall, which had to support 
 the transverse ribs of the vault, were then constructed of a certain 
 width apart, a width narrower than that of the choir, and the oppo- 
 site piers therefore may have been built on their present site to 
 correspond in position with those already existing in the east wall.
 
 56 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 had elapsed before those parts were completed, and that 
 during 1 this time some changes in the character of the 
 mouldings and other features had taken place. The treat- 
 ment of foliage had become more natural and less stiff, and 
 there is a greater abundance of animal forms and birds than 
 in the older capitals j 1 the hollows also are not so deeply 
 cut nor are the mouldings quite so bold, features, all of 
 them, showing some advance in style. 
 
 The point of junction between the iNforman choir and the 
 thirteenth century work, which connects it with the eastern 
 transept, may be placed at the fourth pier from the great 
 choir arch on each side. You will observe that the arch of 
 the triforium next these piers comes close up to them, 
 whereas in the corresponding piers to the west there is a 
 space between the arch and the pier. The same feature is 
 to be seen in the triforium arch which is next to the piers 
 of the great choir arch and which have five shafts, the 
 others having only three. It is very probable that the piers 
 at the entrance of the apse supported a larger transverse 
 arch than the others, corresponding in this to the great 
 choir arch, and that the supporting piers had, like those at 
 the entrance of the choir, five shafts. These piers, the 
 body of which forms a part of Carilefs Norman work, 
 untouched where they face into the aisles, have been 
 incased on their choir face with very rich and tasteful 
 decoration of about rhe middle of the thirteenth century. 2 
 This includes two arcades, the lower one of six small blank 
 
 1 The capitals of the arch of the north and south aisles where they 
 open into the Nine Altars are singularly beautiful and characteristic. 
 Those of the south side are carved' with foliage, winged beast-lizard 
 forms and harpies, some fighting ; those of the north side with foli- 
 age, birds, and animal forms. 
 
 2 The Norman capitals of the bearing shafts of the fourth bay of 
 the triforium have been carved with foliage work similar to that 
 of the thirteenth century capitals adjoining them whilst retaining 
 generally their old form ; the capitals of the shafts to the west of 
 them have been left untouched.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDKAL. 57 
 
 arches, the upper of three much loftier and more highly 
 ornamented ones into which banded shafts of dark-coloured 
 marble have been introduced with excellent effect. I will 
 ask you to examine every piece of detail in this part of the 
 church with minute attention. It well deserves it, the 
 triforium and clerestory being especially worthy of remark. 1 
 Above, upon each side of the choir, you will notice a figure 
 
 1 A more detailed description of the decorative sculpture in this 
 part of the choir may be useful. On the north side, the capitals of 
 the outer shafts of the clerestory arches have foliage work upon 
 them, the middle one having creatures which combine an animal, 
 bird and lizard form. The string course below has at intervals the 
 same creatures. The capitals of the triforium arches have, on the 
 easternmost one, foliage and similar combined forms, on the next, 
 four human-headed winged beasts, and on the two remaining ones, 
 foliage. In the spandrils of the triforium arch are two sunk quatre- 
 foils. in each of which is a bunch of foliage in high relief, and below- 
 each quatrefoil there is a bold boss of foliage. The string course 
 beneath is ornamented with foliage, human figures, two birds, one 
 tearing the other, and the combined form of animal, bird and lizard. 
 The capitals of the arch of the arcade consist of mixed foliage, the 
 combined form and harpies biting each other. The capitals of the 
 shafts which support the main vaulting rib contain a single subject, 
 foxes carrying off geese on their backs, the shafts springing from a 
 lion and griffin combating. The wall arcade below consists of three 
 slightly trifoliated arches, each under a canopy richly decorated 
 with foliage, birds and human figures and heads under small 
 canopies ; the capitals of the supporting detached shafts have upon 
 three of them foliage and birds, and upon the fourth foliage and 
 two animals with twisted tails, the shafts springing from (1) the 
 upper half of a winged human figure, holding in each hand a 
 cymbal ('), (2) a human head. (3) the upper half of a human figure 
 whose left hand is pulling at a nondescript creature biting his ear, 
 (4) the upper half of a man with long hair and beard which he is 
 pulling with his left hand, his right one being broken off. 
 
 On the south side the work is similar but not so varied, and it may 
 suffice to mention that the shafts of the upper wall arcade spring 
 from (1) a half human figure, (2) a seated cross-legged figure with 
 his hands clasped over his head, (3) a crouching figure with one 
 hand on his knee while the other supports the shaft above, (4) a 
 double-headed animal whose tail ends in foliage.
 
 58 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 of an angel under a canopy, that on the south side holding 
 a crown in the left hand, the other having- lost the uplifted 
 hand and what it formerly held. They are the only two 
 left out of the numerous host of statues once decorating 
 the church, and whose beauty makes the destruction which 
 has taken place the more to be regretted. 1 
 
 I have already told you that the Norman roof at the east 
 end of the choir was in so dangerous a condition at the 
 early part of the thirteenth century as to be unsafe. How 
 far the cracks extended towards the west we do not know, 
 but after the Nine Altars was finished and the connecting 
 part between it and the choir completed, not only was a 
 new vault put on to the eastern part of the choir, but the 
 whole of the original Norman vault was taken down. The 
 reason for this was almost certainly an artistic one ; the 
 sumptuously decorated vault of the Nine Altars being of a 
 pointed form, while the original plain vault of the choir was 
 semi -circular, it would have been quite impossible, when the 
 great transverse arch was taken down, to bring these two 
 forms into harmonious combination. It was replaced by 
 one which in every particular of moulding and decoration 
 corresponds with that of the Nine Altars. The vaulting 
 had no doubt been begun at an earlier time, but it appears 
 to have been unfinished in 1278, in which year there is an 
 indulgence from William, Bishop of Norwich, in furtherance 
 of the work. 2 Whatever difficulty, however, there may 
 have been in collecting the necessary funds for the erection 
 of this noble addition to the church of Bishop William of 
 St. Carilef, first projected by Bishop Poore, no expense or 
 pains had been spared in its being carried out to perfection, 
 and the vault of the Nine Altars and choir, the last part of 
 this great work, with its enrichment of dog-tooth ornament 
 
 1 Several brackets once supporting statues, all of the fifteenth 
 century, still remain, two in the choir, five in the south, and five in 
 the north transept. 
 
 2 Raine's St. Cuthbert. p. 102.
 
 DUKHAM CATHEDKAL. 59 
 
 of various and graceful forms and bosses of foliage and 
 figure subjects, 1 fitly completes the building in a style no 
 less beautiful and effective than the walls which support it. 
 
 1 The bosses in the roof of the choir and the circular openings 
 (well-holes) in that of the Nine Altars are so interesting that they 
 require a somewhat minute description. The westernmost boss of 
 the choir roof has, within a quatrefoil, the souls of the faithful 
 being received into heaven, represented by a bearded figure with 
 long hair, probably Abraham, holding a cloth with both hands, rising 
 out of which are seen the heads of small human figures. The next 
 boss contains nondescripts, some with human heads, and foliage. 
 The third has the Holy Lamb. The fourth has foliage, and the fifth, 
 foliage and nondescripts. 
 
 The circular opening at the north end of the roof of the Nine 
 Altars has a most beautifully executed pattern, deeply undercut, of 
 vine leaves and bunches of grapes, and the boss to the north of it 
 has a similar pattern. The middle and largest opening has figures 
 of the four Evangelists with their symbols. St. Matthew, who is 
 writing in a book, is seated with his feet placed on a crouching 
 human figure, and behind his shoulder is a small youthful figure. 
 St. Mark, who is on the opposite side, is seated writing, and has the 
 winged lion at his feet, which stands on a crouching human figure 
 and is looking up at the Saint. St. Luke, who is also writing, is 
 seated with the ox, standing on a crouching human figure, at his 
 side. St. John, a youth, is seated writing, his feet placed on a 
 crouching human figure, and with the eagle at his right shoulder. 
 All the figures are very beautifully and artistically sculptured, the 
 drapery being executed with great skill. The southern opening has 
 round it four subjects. 1. A draped standing figure, holding a long 
 shafted cross with both hands, is apparently being censed by a 
 smaller figure standing at the side. 2. A similar figure, but looking 
 like a female, holds a staff, and is being censed by a figure at the 
 side, while a small half-kneeling figure at the feet holds up its hands 
 in the attitude of prayer. 3. The next group consists of a figure, 
 with a canopy overhead, having a smaller figure at the feet in the 
 attitude of prayer, whilst a figure above with bent knees is censing 
 the principal figure. 4. A standing figure, with the hands clasped 
 in front of the waist, is accompanied by three figures, one as large 
 as itself is kneeling behind, while two smaller ones kneel, one in 
 front of, and the other behind, the feet, -the whole three having 
 their hands raised as if in prayer. The execution of these figures is 
 much inferior to that of those round the central opening.
 
 60 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 I may assert, indeed, without fear of contradiction, that no 
 more effective or majestic vaulting crowns any church in 
 our country. 1 
 
 I think it will be desirable for me to bring under your 
 notice before we proceed to visit it, some of what may be 
 called the furniture of the choir. The most important, as it is 
 not the least striking and beautiful object, is the large and 
 lofty throne, built by Bishop Thomas de Hatfield (1345-1381) 
 during his lifetime, 2 for his tomb beneath and the throne 
 above. It is a structure worthy of the Palatine See of 
 Durham, and of the mighty Prince-Bishop who erected it. 
 The alabaster figure of the Bishop still remains, com- 
 paratively perfect, in richly decorated pontifical vestments, 
 lying on an altar-tomb under a canopy whose groining is 
 finely ornamented with bosses of boldly sculptured foliage. 
 Upon the wall at each end of the arch, and opposite to the 
 head and feet of the bishop, are two angels painted in fresco. 
 Those at the feet hold a blank shield, but at the other end 
 the painting is too much damaged to allow the object they 
 hold to be made out. The whole throne has once been 
 
 1 During- the middle part of the thirteenth century and for many 
 years after that time, it is evident that the convent was engaged 
 upon very extensive works, of which no doubt the Nine Altars and 
 the choir roof formed an important part. There exists an agreement 
 made in 1254, between Robert de Neville, lord of Brancepeth, and 
 Prior Bertram de Middleton and the convent, concerning Neville's 
 wood at Aldwood, between Brancepeth and Willington. The 
 agreement was to be in force for thirty years, and the timber 
 growing upon six acres was to be delivered each year to the convent 
 to be carried to Durham. There are a number of clauses in the 
 agreement connected with ensuring the new growing trees being 
 protected, and with the herbage for cattle and panna.ge for pigs, the 
 preservation of wild animals and of the nests of hawks and other 
 birds. The prior and convent, however, were not to incur any loss 
 on account of the lord or his servants hunting. Hist. Dunelm. 
 Script. Tres, Appendix, No. Ixvii., p. Ixxxiii. 
 
 2 Hist. Dunelm. Scrip. Tres, pp. 137, 139, 142. Appendix, No. 
 cxxxii., p. cxlix.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 61 
 
 richly gilded and coloured, and contains many shields with 
 the bishop's and other arms upon them. In the construction 
 of the upper portion of the throne you will observe that it 
 is not well fitted into the space it occupies between the 
 pillars, and that some of its parts do not quite correspond 
 with each other. The impression given by these incon- 
 gruities is, that Hatfield used some pieces of stone work 
 already carved before he planned the throne, and that it 
 possibly was, like the Galilee, not intended from the 
 first to occupy the position in which it was ultimately 
 placed. 
 
 Another beautiful piece of work of about the same 
 period as the throne is the screen behind the High Altar, 
 commenced to be built in 1372 and finished before 1380, 
 when the altar was dedicated. It is commonly called the 
 Neville screen, on account of the greater part of the expense 
 of erecting it having been defrayed by John, Lord Neville, 
 of Raby, 1 though Prior Fossor (1 341-1374), 2 Prior Berring- 
 ton (1374-1391) and others 3 bore some part of the cost. It 
 was brought from London to Newcastle by sea, and has 
 alwa}'S been spoken of as made of Caen stone, " French 
 peere " as it is called in the Rites of Durham, being really 
 Dorsetshire clunch. It is, as you will see, a very graceful 
 composition, but suffers somewhat from the absence of the 
 figures of alabaster, 107 in number, which once occupied the 
 niches. The central figure was that of our Lady, having 
 on one side St. Cuthbert, and on the other St. Oswald. 4 The 
 screen is continued along both sides of the sacrarium form- 
 ing sedilia of four s^ats on each side. Immediately to the 
 west of these sedilia, you will observe a small closet or aumbry 
 in the wall on each side of the choir, where before the Dis- 
 
 1 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 135. 
 a Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 136. 
 
 3 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 136. Inventories of Jarrow and 
 Wearmouth, Surtees Society. Vol. xxix.. pp. 60. 169, 237. 
 
 4 Rites of Durham, p. 6.
 
 62 DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 solution various articles connected with the High Altar and 
 its services were deposited. 1 The present doors are modern. 
 The matrix of a very large brass, but without any portion 
 of the metal work which once occupied it, still remains in 
 the centre of the choir in front of the altar steps. It 
 covered the grave of Bishop Lewis Beaumont (1318- 
 1333). 2 You will observe upon the second pier from the 
 great choir arch on each side of the choir that some holes 
 have been cut in the stonework. These probably mark 
 where a beam of wood crossed the choir upon which were 
 placed a cross and lights, and from which the Lenten veil 
 may have hung. To the east of this the Paschal, "estimated 
 to be one of the rarest monuments in England," was set up 
 "from the Thursday, called Maunday Thursday, before 
 Easter, until Wednesday after the Ascension Day." For 
 a description of it I must refer you to the Rites of Durham, 
 where a full account is given. 3 It was ordered to be 
 defaced in 1579, 4 but could not have been then destroyed, 
 for there are payments made at various subsequent times for 
 cleansing the Paschal. The altar consists of a slab of red 
 marble, carried on six supports of the same material inlaid 
 with marble of a greenish colour. It has been attributed 
 to Bishop Cosin, but is certainly that put up in Dean Hunt's 
 time (1620-1638). 5 The various vessels used at the 
 
 1 In the north side of the quire there is an almerye near to the 
 high altar, fastened in the wall, for to lay anything in pertaining to 
 the high altar. Likewise there is another almerye in the south side 
 of the quire nigh the high altar, enclosed in the wall, to set the 
 chalices, the basins and the cruets in, that they did minister withal 
 at the high mass, with locks and keys for tfte said almeryes. Rites 
 of Durham, p. 11. 
 
 2 Rites of Durham, p. 12, where a description of the monument 
 with the inscriptions upon it is to be found. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 8. 
 
 4 By an Act of Chapter, Dec. 1, 1579, "Also it is decreed likewise 
 that the Paschal shall be defaced by the officers, and such as they 
 appoint for that purpose, before the next Chapter Day." 
 
 5 There are holes on the face of the supporting pillars no doubt
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 63 
 
 administration of the Holy Communion, the alms dishes and 
 candlesticks, of silver gilt, have been usually regarded as 
 having- been given by Bishop Cosin, whose arms they bear. 
 With the exception of the vessel used for holding the bread 
 before consecration and its cover, which are original, they 
 were all recast in 1767, the inscriptions and arms being 
 retained. 1 Before the Dissolution there were hung in front 
 of the high altar three silver basins containing wax candles 
 " which did burn continually both day and night, in token 
 that the house was always watching to God." 2 The stalls, 
 with the tabernacle work over them, were erected after the 
 Restoration, during the episcopate of Bishop Cosin (1660- 
 1672), and though now deprived of the returns on each side, 
 which are wanting to complete the design, are remarkable 
 pieces of carving if we remember the time when they were 
 designed. It is not impossible that some remains of the old 
 wood work may have escaped the destruction caused by 
 the Scotch prisoners, confined in the church after the battle 
 of Dunbar in 1650, 3 and may have to some extent served as 
 a model for the new work. You will notice at the west 
 end of the nave a very good example of the same style of 
 carving, also put up by Bishop Cosin the canopy over the 
 font. It is now placed above a most contemptible piece of 
 pseudo- Norman sculpture in the shape of a font, which 
 replaces the handsome white marble basin erected in 1663. 4 
 
 for attaching- " upon every black pillar three cherubim faces as 
 white as snow" of which Peter Smart complains. Cosin's Corres- 
 pondence (Surtees Society), Vol. i., pp. xxvi., 169, 179. Two panels 
 of blue limestone, now placed one on each side of the present altar, 
 may possibly have formed part of the pre-Reformation one. 
 
 1 Minute of Chapter, Dec. 8, 1766. Agreed that all the plate be sent 
 to London to be exchanged or gilt by the direction of Mr. Dean. 
 
 - Rites of Durham, p. 12. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, pp. 12, 34. 
 
 4 In an account of necessary repairs in -the Cathedral, June 12, 
 16(53. " To the building of a new font, somewhat suitable to that 
 which the Scotts destroyed."
 
 DURHAM CATHEDEAL. 
 
 This was recklessly removed not many years ago. 1 with 
 many other treasures, by those who ought to have had 
 more regard for possessions which had been handed down 
 to their care by the pious liberality and taste of great men 
 of old.' 2 Two of the handsome chandeliers in the choir, 
 
 THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST. 
 
 1 It now serves as the font in Pittington Church near Durham. 
 
 2 It is impossible not to regret the destruction of the choir screen 
 erected by Bishop Cosin. It was a very magnificent work of 
 elaborately and richly carved oak most characteristic of the time 
 when it was executed. There was no attempt to imitate the 
 architectural features of an earlier time, though it was evident that 
 the artist who designed it was actuated by the reasonable desire to 
 make it, by a bold and vigorous treatment, harmonise in its general 
 effect with the building in which it was placed.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 65 
 
 after having- been cast out of the church, have happily been 
 restored to their old place, the central and largest one, 
 which for a time served to light Ryton Church, and was 
 then sold to a Music Hall in Newcastle, was ultimately 
 melted. 1 
 
 In the north aisle of the choir you must not neglect to 
 examine a stone bench which runs along the side wall, 
 having the arms of Bishop Skirlaw (1388-1405) upon it. 
 He was buried close by, in front of the altar of St. Blaise 
 and St. John of Beverley, which he had founded and where 
 he had constructed his own monument. 2 In the piers at 
 the east end of the aisle you will observe that some new 
 stones have been inserted. This marks the place where 
 " was the goodliest fair porch, which was called the 
 Anchorage, having in it a marvellous fair rood, with the 
 most exquisite pictures of Mary and John, with an altar for 
 a monk to say daily mass ; being in ancient time inhabited 
 with an anchorite, whereunto the priors were wont much to 
 frequent, both for the excellency of the place as also to 
 hear the high mass, standing so conveniently unto the high 
 altar and withal so near a neighbour to the sacred shrine 
 of St. Cuthbert, whereunto the priors were most devoutly 
 addicted." 3 A little west of the bench above mentioned is 
 a doorwa} r which opened into the Sacrist's exchequer, 
 afterwards the song school, erected at an expense of 60 
 by Prior Wessington (1416-1446), 4 a building which 
 disappeared above two centuries ago. 5 Several marks are 
 still visible on the piers at the west end of the aisle. They 
 
 1 They were ordered to be made by Act of Chapter, Nov. 20, 1751. 
 
 2 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 144. Testamenta Bboracensia 
 (Surtees Society), Vol. i., p. 307. Rites of Durham, pp. 15, 16. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 15. 
 
 4 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. ccxxviii., p. cclxxii. 
 Rites of Durham, p. 16. 
 
 5 It was taken down by order of Bishop- Morton, when Charles 
 the First visited Durham on his progress to Scotland. Rites of 
 Durham, p. 81. 
 
 F
 
 66 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 represent the place where "there was a porch . . . having 
 in it an altar, and the rood or picture of our Saviour, which 
 altar and rood was much frequented in devotion by Doctor 
 Swallwell, sometime monk of Durham, the said rood having 
 marvellous sumptuous furniture for festival days belonging 
 to it." 1 In the piers at the east end of the south aisle are 
 still to be seen the marks left by holes cut in the stone. 
 Into these were inserted the beams which supported a 
 screen " all adorned with fine wainscot work and curious 
 painting," in front of which was placed the " Black Rood of 
 Scotland " taken from King David at the battle of Neville's 
 Cross in 1346. It was "made of silver, being, as it were, 
 smoked all over, . . . with the picture of our Lady on the 
 one side and St. John's on the other side, very richly 
 wrought in silver, all three having crowns of gold." 2 
 Further west in the wall of the south aisle, you will see a 
 doorway of about the end of the thirteenth century, once 
 forming the entrance into the revestry, removed without 
 any cause in 1802. This building extended almost the 
 entire length of the aisle, and was constructed by Henry de 
 Luceby, when he was sacrist, 3 who afterwards in 1300, 
 during the dissension between Bishop Bek and Prior Hoton, 
 was intruded into the priorate. It was used by the bishop 
 or his suffragan for mass at the consecration of priests or 
 giving of any holy orders, and by the monks who said high 
 mass to put on their vestments. 4 Within it, at the west 
 end, was a chamber to which access was had by a staircase 
 opening out of a fifteenth century doorway situated a little 
 to the west of the greater doorway of the vestry. This 
 chamber was appropriated to two of the four men who rang 
 the bells at midnight and other times, and who kept the 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 16. 
 
 2 Rites of Durham, pp. 16, 22. 
 
 3 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 77. 
 
 4 Rites of Durham, pp. 7, 17.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 6rf 
 
 church clean, filled the holy water stones, and locked the 
 church doors at night. 1 
 
 It is due to Prior Fossor (1342-1374) that the large 
 window in the north transept was inserted, 2 and which was 
 lengthened by Prior Oastell (1494-1519), 3 who filled it with 
 stained glass. From some of the figures therein represented 
 the name of the window of the Four Doctors of the Church 
 was given to it. During the priorate of John Fossor, the 
 great west window of the nave was constructed. 4 The 
 window at the end of the south transept, called, on account 
 of the glass it contained, the Te Deum window, 5 is possibly 
 the work of Prior Wessington (1416-1446), who made a 
 window near the clock at a charge of 71s. lid. 6 This, 
 however, no doubt refers to a smaller window in the west 
 wall, the sum being much below what the large south 
 window must have cost. 
 
 In Cardinal Langley's time (1406-1437) a great amount 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 19. 
 
 2 The cost of the mason work was 100 and of the glass C52. 
 Prior Fossor also made a smaller window on the west side of the 
 same transept, which still exists, and which cost in mason work and 
 glazing 20, and in addition he glazed the three windows on the 
 east side of the transept at the cost of 13, 6s. 8d. Hist. Dunelm. 
 Script. Tres. p. 131. Appendix, No. cxxiv., p. cxlii. 
 
 3 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 153. Rites of Durham, p. 27. 
 
 4 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres. p. 132. It contained "the Root of 
 Jesse, in most fine coloured glass, very finely and artificially pictured 
 and wrought in colours, very goodly and pleasantly to behold, with 
 Mary and Christ in her arms in the top of the said window in most 
 fine coloured glass also." Rites of Durham, p. 36. 
 
 5 Also in the south end of the alley of the Lantern, above the 
 clock, there is a fair large glass window called the Te Deum window, 
 very fair glazed, according as every verse of Te Deum is sung or said, 
 so is it pictured in the window, very finely and curiously wrought in 
 fine coloured glass, with the nine order of angels, viz.. Thrones. 
 Dominations. Cherubims, &c., with the picture of Christ, as he was 
 upon the cross crucified, and the Blessed Virgin Mary with Christ in 
 her arms, as he was born . Rites of Durham, p. 27. 
 
 6 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. ccxxviii., p. cclxxiii.
 
 68 DUEHAM CATHEDEAL. 
 
 of work was done in the Galilee. 1 He found it in a ruinous 
 condition, and put on a new roof, inserting the three 
 windows in the middle of the west wall,- which he 
 strengthened by massive buttresses, between two of them 
 building a small vestry. He also probably blocked up the 
 original west door of the church, making two new ones, one 
 on each side, in place of it, and erected his own tomb in 
 front of the original doorway, behind which he placed the 
 altar of the Blessed Virgin. The wood work of the reredos 
 of that altar, of great interest, containing paintings of the 
 early part of the fifteenth century, 3 was taken away not 
 many years ago, and scarcelj* a vestige of it now remains. 4 
 Why it was thought necessary to destroy this I cannot say, 
 though I have been told it was to obtain an uninterrupted 
 view from one end of the building to the other. It is 
 difficult to speak of the wanton destruction which has taken 
 place in the Cathedral with any degree of patience. There 
 has been almost as much mischief done during the last forty 
 
 1 Iste cantariam ex mamore in G-alilrea f undavit . . . cum armis 
 artificiose in summitate ejusdem ostii in marmore insculptis, cujus 
 sumptibus tota Galilfea reparabatur ad summam 449, 6s. 8d. Hist. 
 Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 146. The work, under the superintendence 
 of Henry Fereby. Sacrist of the Monastery, went on from March, 
 1428, to August, 1435, and according to the bills still remaining in 
 the Treasury (Misc. Chart.. Nos. 5713-5721) amounted to 468, 11s. 
 6id. 
 
 2 The tracery lights of these contain their original painted glass, 
 in a patched condition, as described in Rites of Durham, p. 40. The 
 flight into Egypt may be noticed in the central window. 
 
 3 Within the said Galilee in the chantry, being all of most 
 excellent blue marble, stood our Lady's altar, a very sumptuous 
 monument finely adorned with curious wainscot work, both above 
 the head, at the back, and at either end of the said altar ; the 
 wainscot being devised and furnished with most heavenly pictures, 
 so lively in colours and gilting, as that they did greatly adorn the 
 said altar. Rites of Durham, p. 37. 
 
 4 A few small panels, filled with delicate tracery, were happily 
 rescued from a joiner's shop and now form part of the pulpit in 
 Croxdale Church.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 69 
 
 years as was done previously during a couple of centuries. 
 Beautiful pieces of work, containing man} 7 interesting 
 features, have been swept away under the ridiculous notion 
 of restoring the building to what was called its original 
 state of Norinan simplicity. All the perpendicular tracery 
 in the windows of the nave has been destroyed, the south 
 front having been at the same time refaced, during which 
 process much Norman detail disappeared. The screen 
 dividing the nave from the choir and those separating the 
 transepts from their aisles, and the clock case, which had 
 been originally erected by Prior Castell and still contained 
 much of his work, with later additions of the time of Dean 
 Hunt, have all been removed. 
 
 Among other reparations made by Cardinal Langley in the 
 Galilee was the addition to the two original disengaged 
 shafts of Purbeck marble of two others of freestone. 1 
 This altered the columns into clustered ones of four shafts, 
 the first design not, however, being interfered with in the 
 shafts at the west end of the chapel. 
 
 Cardinal Langley's architect probably thought that the 
 effect of so many thin shafts was confusing, and gave a 
 feeling of instability to the building, and therefore added 
 the shafts, which are in no sense constructional. The 
 manner in which he copied the older capitals and bases in 
 his added shafts is a by no means common instance 
 of mediaeval builders copying earlier details in their 
 own work. The additional shafts give no support to 
 the arches and are merely applied against the original ones, 
 the capitals of which they do not underlie. They were, 
 therefore, not built on account of any strengthening- 
 purpose, but merely for appearance sake. 
 
 1 That the added shafts are due to Cardinal Langley is shewn by 
 the entry in two of the account rolls, for 1432-3, and 1433-o. 
 Empcio lapidum. Item in xxix f uthers lapidum emptis pro colump- 
 nis Gralileae, 56s. 9^d. Empcio lapidum. Item in xii futhers 
 lapidum emptis pro columpnis Galilee, cum cariagio, 17s. 7d.
 
 70 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 I must now ask you to bring- your thoughts back from 
 the Galilee to the Lantern, under which we are standing 1 . 
 In whatever way the central tower was finished by Bishop 
 Carilef, though probably it was comparatively low, with a 
 short roof-like spire, but very little of the original work 
 appears to be left above the lower of the two interior 
 galleries, itself an erection of the fifteenth century. Hugh 
 de Derlington, prior from 1258 to 1272 and again from 
 1285 to 1289, we are told, added a belfry to it. 1 We know 
 of nothing more in connection with the tower for nearly 
 two centuries, when, during 1 the night before Corpus Christi 
 day (Thursday after Trinity Sunday) in the year 1249, it 
 was set on fire by lightning and great damage ensued. 2 A 
 graphic account of the catastrophe is given in a letter from 
 Prior Wessington to the bishop, Cardinal Langley. 3 The 
 reparation commenced at once and cost the convent 
 233, 6s. 8d., 4 but, whatever was then done, the tower was 
 as soon after as 1455 in a very unsafe state, for a letter from 
 the prior, William Ebchester, to Bishop Neville, tells a 
 lamentable story of its ruinous condition. 5 The entire 
 
 1 Hist Dunelm. Script. Tres. p. 46. According to Leland this was 
 in 1264. Itiner.. Vol. viii., Ft. 2, p. 12. Ed. 1770. 
 
 2 The account of the fire seems to imply that a considerable part 
 of the bell tower was constructed of wood, having at the top some- 
 thing of the nature of a cupola (tolus), called " le poll," and made 
 of copper or brass. 
 
 8 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres. Appendix, No. cxciii., p. ccxvii. 
 
 * Hist.Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. ccxxviii., p. cclxxiii. The 
 stone," sexies viginti f other, " for this work appears to have been bought 
 of John Claxton of Burn in 1430, and came from his quarry '' juxta 
 heremetorium de Burn." 1. c., No. cxcv., p. ccxiv. A letter, dated 
 1432, authorising John Walkere, the proctor of the convent, to 
 collect alms for the fabric of the church, probably has reference to 
 the same repairs. He carried with him a silver gilt cross with our 
 Lord's image and those of the Blessed Virgin and St. John, a piece 
 of the white cloth in which the body of St. Cuthbert had been 
 wrapped for four hundred years, and divers indulgences of Popes. 
 Archbishops and Bishops. 1. c., No. cci., p. ccxxiv. 
 
 5 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. ccl., p. cccxxxiv.
 
 DUEHAM GATHEDEAL. 71 
 
 rebuilding of the upper part of the tower, if we may judge 
 from the architectural features of the present structure, 
 then commenced, the new work beginning at the lower 
 gallery which runs round the inside of the tower. The 
 gallery 1 itself seems to have been built during the priorate 
 of Richard Bell (1464-1478), afterwards bishop of Carlisle. 2 
 If any of you will undertake the ascent, you will see among 
 the corbels, all worth careful inspection, one with a mermaid 
 holding a comb and a mirror, 3 another with a bell in relief 
 upon it, and a third with a bell and R. The result of these 
 various works has been the construction of a lantern of bold 
 and grand proportions and of striking effect. The tower 
 was not finished in 1474, for in that year Prior Bell writes to 
 Dr. Morton about the " re-edificacion of our steple, begun 
 but nogt fynyshed in defaulte of goods, as God knaweth." 4 
 The upper stage, the belfry, may perhaps be attributed to 
 a time still later and one not long before the end of that 
 century. The exterior has been entirely refaced and much 
 altered in detail in the year 1859. 
 
 It will not be a difficult task for you to bring your eyes 
 down from the lantern, which has so well deserved 
 examination, to the nave and its aisles, to some of whose 
 subordinate features I wish to draw your attention. I am 
 not going to speak of its general appearance and effect, 
 nor to describe its several parts and their architectural 
 
 1 In the parapet which encloses the gallery, at the centre of each 
 of its sides and in each angle are the beginnings of what have been 
 or were intended to be, pinnacles. 
 
 2 Three shields of arms occur upon the brackets on the west side. 
 One. three boars' heads erased within a bordure engrailed (Bp. 
 Booth). A second, Paly of six, and in dexter chief a mullet 
 (Cardinal Langley), and the third a lion passant. 
 
 3 Upon one of the Misereres of the stalls in the choir of Carlisle 
 Cathedral, which are of the time of Bishop Bell, is a mermaid with 
 a comb and mirror. It was probably a badge of Richard Bell. 
 
 4 Registrum Parvum, iii., folio 160.
 
 72 DUKHAM CATHEDKAL. 
 
 characteristics. 1 It tells its own story, and more affectingly 
 than any words of mine can do. Indeed, to describe a 
 picture when it is before the spectator is, at the best, but a 
 waste of words. What I have to tell you is in explanation 
 of some existing, and other departed, structures in this, 
 which may be called the people's, 2 as opposed to the choir, 
 the monastic, section of the church. Before the Dissolution 
 there was a solid screen of stone constituting the division 
 between these two separate parts, and which crossed the 
 nave between the western piers of the lantern. In front of 
 it was the Jesus' altar " where Jesus mass was sung every 
 Friday throughout the whole year." 3 Upon the top of the 
 screen, which formed the rood loft, was " the most goodly 
 and famous rood that was in all this land, with the picture 
 of Mary on the one side and the picture of John on the 
 other, with two splendent and glistering Archangels, one 
 on the one side of Mary and the other on the other side of 
 John. So what for the fairness of the wall, the stateliness 
 of the pictures, and the livelyhood of the painting, it was 
 thought to be one of the goodliest monuments in that 
 
 1 There are many features at Durham, and especially in the nave, 
 which recall Waltham Abbey to our recollection. Mr. Freeman has 
 ably argued that Waltham was built by Harold, other authorities, 
 however, place it later and after the time of the building 1 of Durham, 
 to which time the existing remains at Waltham would seem to 
 attach it. Waltham, which had belong-ed to Harold, was given to 
 Bishop Walcher after he was appointed to Durham, and was after- 
 wards continued to William of St. Carilef. There was, therefore, 
 such a connection between the places as would account for the 
 similarity of the two churches, but this connection only took place 
 after the death of Harold. 
 
 2 In many monastic churches the nave formed the church of the 
 people whilst the choir served for that of the monks. This will 
 account for those cases where the nave of a monastic church has 
 been preserved as a parish church, when the choir has been allowed 
 to fall into decay or has been used for building material and so 
 destroyed. The very beautiful nave of Bridlington Priory may be 
 adduced as an instance. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 28.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 73 
 
 church." 1 Immediately to the south of Jesus' altar, in the 
 aisle, two of whose bays it occupied, was the Neville 
 chantry, in which was an altar where mass was daily said 
 for the souls of the members of that great house. 2 In it 
 were ultimately buried Ralph, Lord Neville, who died in 
 1367, and Alice de Audley, his wife, who died in 1374. 3 It 
 may interest you to know that this Lord Neville, who 
 commanded the English army at the battle of Neville's 
 Cross in 1346, was the first layman who obtained burial 
 within the church. 4 His son, John, Lord Neville, and 
 Matilda Percy, his wife, were also buried in the chantry, 5 
 as, according to the Rites of Durham, was Robert Neville, 
 bishop of Durham, who died in 1457. 6 The altar-tombs of 
 Ralph, Lord Neville, that now the furthest to the east, and 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 29. 
 
 - This altar is called by John, Lord Neville, in a defeazance, 
 connected with the chantry priest, dated May 6th, 1378, " altare 
 magnaj crucis." Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. cxxvii., 
 p. cxliv. 
 
 3 Ralph, Lord Neville, and his wife, Alice, had originally been 
 buried in the nave and were removed into the chantry in the south 
 aisle in 1416, by license of Cardinal Langley. Hist. Dunelm. Script. 
 Tres, Appendix, No. clxxxi., p. ccvi. 
 
 4 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres. p. 134. Rites of Durham, p. 50. 
 
 5 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres. p. 137. Rites of Durham, p. 50. 
 
 8 Rites of Durham, p. 34 ; and Chambre says " humatus jacet cum 
 antecessoribus suis in parte australi ascclesiaj Cathedralis Dunelm." 
 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 147. Bishop Neville, however, in his 
 will directs that he shall be buried in the Galilee, "juxta feretrum 
 sive tumbam venerabilis patris Sancti Bedas, ante altare ad honorem 
 ejusdemSancti construe turn." Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, 
 No. cclv., p. cccxli. Leland also (Itinerary, Vol. viii., Pt. 2, p. 8, ed. 
 1770) makes the following statement, "Robert Neville, Bishope of 
 Durham, lyithe in a highe playne marble tumbe in the Galile. . . . 
 There liethe at the hedde of this Neville Richard de Castro Bernardi 
 nndar a flat stone. There liethe at his hed one of the Nevilles. 
 There is also a tumbe of Bede the noble monke." It is difficult to 
 reconcile these conflicting accounts, but the stone which once 
 covered Bishop Neville's grave is at present placed close to the 
 tombs of his relatives in the nave.
 
 74 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 of John, his son, tog-ether with the raajtrix of the brass of 
 the bishop, all of which formerly stood within the chantry, 
 are now placed between the piers of the nave arcade. They 
 are sadly mutilated, due, it is said, to the Scotch prisoners 
 confined in the church in 1650, but enough is left of that of 
 John Neville, with the shields of arms of himself and his 
 wife, and its array of small figures, 1 in niches round the 
 sides, to show how fine an example it has been of the 
 sepulchral memorials of its days. The remains of the painted 
 glass which once occupied the windows lighting the 
 chantry, containing amongst others the Neville shield of 
 arms, have entirely disappeared within my own recollection. 
 To the east of the Neville chantry "was a chamber 
 where one that kept the church and rung the bells at mid- 
 night did lie in." 2 Close by the south door, and fixed to the 
 pillar opposite, was a holy water stoup, another being in the 
 corresponding part in the north aisle, both " of fine marble 
 very artificially made and graven, and bost with hollow 
 bosses upon the outer side of the stones, very finely and 
 curiously wrought." They were taken down by Dean 
 Whittingham (1563-1579), " and carried into his kitchen, and 
 put into profane uses," such as steeping beef and saltfish. 3 
 
 1 These small figures which have hitherto been spoken of as the 
 children of John Neville, no doubt represent funereal mourners. 
 There have originally been eighteen of them, and John Neville had 
 only nine children. Similar representations occur on many tombs. 
 
 - Rites of Durham, p. 34. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 52. " The fairest of them stood within the 
 north church door, . . . being wrought in the corner of the pillar, . . . 
 having a very fair screen of wainscot overhead, finely painted with 
 blue and little gilted stars, being kept very clean, and always fresh 
 water was provided against every Sunday morning by two of the 
 bell-ringers or servitors of the church, wherein one of the monks 
 did hallow the said water very early in the morning before divine 
 service." 1. c., p. 32. " The one of them, viz.. that at the south 
 door, serving the Prior and all the convent with the whole house. 
 The other at the north door . . . serving all those that came that 
 way to hear divine service." 1. c., p. 33.
 
 DUEHAM CATHEDBAL. 75 
 
 A third was placed near the prior's door, 1 and a piece 
 of Frosterley marble let into the corner where the south 
 transept and south aisle of the nave join may possibly 
 mark its site. At the west end of the south aisle, near the 
 Galilee door, " was a grate whither the sanctuary men did 
 fly to when they came for refuge to St. Cuthbert," and where 
 " they had meat, drink and bedding and other necessaries 
 of the house cost and charge, for thirty-seven days." 2 
 
 We will now pass outside the church and examine the 
 cloister, about some of whose surrounding buildings I have 
 already spoken. It occupies a considerable space of ground 
 left open at the centre, where the lavatory was placed, in 
 reference to which I shall presently have to say a few words, 
 and was enclosed on the north side by the church, and on 
 the other sides by those various structures which had relation 
 to the household economy of the monastery and to its 
 domestic and political life. Around it, in the dormitory and 
 refectory, the monks slept, lived and ate. They studied in 
 the library and in the small wooden chambers carrells, as 
 they were called one of which was placed in front of each 
 compartment of the windows of the north alley, 3 which, 
 like the east one, was glazed, the latter containing in its 
 windows the history of St. Cuthbert. 4 In the west alley 
 the novices had their school where they were taught by 
 the master of the novices, " one of the oldest monks that 
 was learned," who had opposite to them " a pretty seat of 
 wainscot, adjoining to the south side of the treasury door." 5 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 35. 
 
 2 Rites of Durham, pp. 35, 36. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 70. 
 
 4 Rites of Durham, p. 65. 
 
 6 Rites of Durham, pp. 71, 81. In the north-west corner of the 
 cloister the buttress there is perforated by a "squint." This has 
 been usually regarded as a provision to allow the master of the 
 novices to overlook his pupils when at work. We have seen that his 
 stall was opposite to them in the same alley, and this explanation is
 
 76 DUKHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 In the treasury, 1 situated at the north end of the crypt under 
 the dormitory and which is still divided by its ancient iron 
 grating-, were kept the title deeds and other muniments of 
 the church in themselves no small treasure. At the 
 other end of the same crypt was the common house, 2 the 
 only place where there was a fire for ordinary use, and 
 which was frequented by the monks as their room for con- 
 verse and recreation, and which had in connection with it 
 a garden and a bowling alley. 3 In the chapter-house on the 
 east side the monks met the prior between five o'clock and 
 six "every night there to remain in prayer and devotion" 
 during that time. 4 Here also at other times they assembled 
 in chapter to regulate all matters connected with the life 
 within the body, and to order the many transactions which 
 as a great corporation the convent necessarily had with the 
 world without. Close by, on the one side of the chapter 
 house, out of which it opened, was the prison, where for 
 minor offences a monk was confined ; and on the other side 
 was the passage through which his body was conveyed to 
 his last home in the cemetery beyond. 5 
 
 There was a cloister in the earliest days of the monastery, 
 but of this nothing remains ; and we are told 6 that Pudsey 
 erected one, with which some marks on the north and east 
 walls, indicating that a lean-to roof existed there, may be 
 
 therefore inadequate. I am unable to offer any suggestion as to its 
 use. 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, p. 71. 
 
 2 Within this house did the master thereof keep his Snpientia, 
 once in the year, viz., betwixt Martinmas and Christmas, a solemn 
 banquet that the Prior and convent did use at that time of the year 
 only, when their banquet was of figs and raisins, ale and cakes, and 
 thereof no superfluity or excess, but a scholastical and moderate 
 congratulation among themselves. Rites of Durham, p. 75. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, pp. 75, 84. 
 
 4 Rites of Durham, p. 73. 
 
 5 Rites of Durham, p. 44. 
 
 6 Leland. Collectanea, Vol. i., p. 122. Ed. 1774.
 
 N DUEHAM CATHEDRAL. 77 
 
 connected. The present cloister was begun in his episcopate 
 and owes much to Bishop Skirlaw (1388-1406), who both in 
 his lifetime and by will contributed a large sum of money 
 towards the work. 1 Cardinal Langley, his successor (1406- 
 1437), followed in his steps, 2 but the building was not 
 completed before 141 8. 3 It has been so much altered in 
 modern times, that little except the ceiling, the wood of 
 which is of a very beautiful kind, is left of the structure in 
 anything like its original state. 4 The dormitory, which 
 occupies the whole of the western side, has some remains of 
 a twelfth century building still left in the doorway which 
 leads into it from the cloister and in part of a window or 
 other opening 5 on the west side fronting into the monks' 
 garden, where are considerable remains of the substructure 
 and north wall of the great latrines, described in the Rites 
 of Durham, p. 72. The crypt underneath, which extends 
 the whole length of the dormitory, is a very good example 
 of plain work of the earliest part of the thirteenth century, 
 and remains in its entirety, though now divided, as it was to 
 some extent in older days, into several compartments. 
 Nothing is left of the building which must have taken the 
 place of the Norman one at the time when the crypt was 
 constructed, unless a doorway at the north end is part of it. 
 
 1 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 145. Wills and Inventories, 
 Surtees Society, Vol. ii., p. 44. 
 
 2 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 146. 
 
 3 By an Indenture made Michaelmas, 1416. Thomas Hyndeley, 
 mason, and others were bound to complete a fourth part of the 
 cloister by the same day, 1418. Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, 
 Appendix, No. clxxix., p. cciv. 
 
 4 Even the roof has been much damaged, as a piece of heraldic 
 evidence, by the introduction during the present century of coats of 
 arms which were not there formerly. 
 
 5 Close by this opening are some stones in juxtaposition having a 
 zig-zag moulding upon them. Although they are probably not in 
 situ they may be portions of the earlier building to which the 
 adjoining doorway or window belonged.
 
 78 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 This opened into the church under the south-west tower, and 
 led probably by a wooden gallery through another doorway 
 in the tower staircase into the church itself. The dormitory, 
 as it now exists, was begun in 1398 and completed in 1404, 
 Bishop Skirlaw being a considerable contributor to the 
 expense. 1 The contracts for the work with two masons, 
 John Middleton and Peter Dryng, still exist in the treasury. 2 
 It was fitted with small wooden chambers for the use of the 
 monks and novices for sleeping and study, 3 and was under 
 the charge of the sub-prior, who had his chamber at the 
 north end near the door. These chambers (every monk 
 having one to himself) were formed by a wooden partition 
 midway between each window and by another down the 
 centre of the window, thus giving half a window to light 
 each cell. The chambers of the novices were at the south 
 end, " eight on each side, every novice his chamber to 
 himself, not so close nor so warm as the other chambers, 
 nor having any light but what came in at the foreside of 
 their chambers, being all close else both above and on either 
 side." 4 The room is 194 feet long and 41 feet wide, and is 
 still covered with its original solid and massive roof of oak 
 trunks barely touched by the axe. In monastic days " the 
 mydest of the dorter was all paved with fine tyled stone, 
 from the one end to the other," which in part remained 
 until not many years ago. 5 Opening out of the dormitory 
 to the east, at its south end, where a modern doorway 
 has replaced the earlier one, is a room which was called by 
 the monks " the loft," 6 and which forms, in connection with 
 
 1 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 145. Wills and Inventories, 
 Surtees Society, Vol. ii., p. 43. 
 
 2 The two contracts, dated respectively 1398 and 1401, are printed 
 in the Appendix to Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Xo. clx., clxiv., pp. 
 clxxx., clxxxvii. 
 
 3 Rites of Durham, p. 72. 
 
 4 Rites of Durham, p. 72. 
 
 5 Rites of Durham, p. 73. 
 
 6 Rites of Durham, pp. 73, 78.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 79 
 
 the refectory, the south side of the cloister. It was the 
 place where the monks, with the sub-prior presiding, 
 ordinarily dined, having 1 beneath it what was once the cellar 
 of the convent. Beyond this, to the east, was the refectory 
 or frater-house, standing above the early crypt which I 
 have already described to you, where the prior and monks 
 dined together on the twentieth of March, St. Cuthbert's 
 day. 1 Whatever it was before then, though possibly the 
 original building still remained in part at least unaltered, it 
 was entirely reconstructed by Dean Sudbury (1661-1684), 2 
 who made it into the library, transferring the books from 
 the old library adjoining to the chapter-house and filling it 
 with the handsome and commodious oak cases which now 
 furnish it. 3 Near to it, on the south-west, is the kitchen of 
 the monastery, now attached to the deanery, an octagonal 
 building which well deserves your examination. I will, 
 when we visit it, draw your particular attention to the 
 peculiar and picturesque treatment of its groined roof. It 
 had at one time a communication with the cellarer's office 
 on the west a building but lately destroyed and with the 
 loft and refectory on the north side. It was begun and to 
 a great extent completed during the priorate of John Fossor 4 
 (1341-1374), but was not finished until the episcopate of 
 Cardinal Langley (1406-1437), who contributed largely to 
 the work. 5 The roll of expenses, commencing in 1368, still 
 remains in the treasury. Before leaving the subject of the 
 cloister and its adjacent buildings, I must tell you that you 
 will be able to see at the centre of the garth what is left of 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, pp. 4, 68. 
 
 '- 1 The east wall does not appear to have been taken down, and 
 there are still left upon it, behind the book-cases, some remains of 
 fresco painting. The present windows are modern and are not even 
 copies of the characteristic ones of Dean Sudbury's time. 
 
 3 A full length portrait of Dean Sudbury hangs at the east end of 
 the room. 
 
 4 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. 132. 
 
 5 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, p. U6.
 
 80 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 the lavatory. It was originally an octagonal structure, the 
 upper part being 1 occupied as a dovecot. 1 Begun in 1432, 
 it was completed the next year. Some of the stones, 
 including the basin which still exists, were brought from 
 Eggleston on the Tees, of the abbot of which monastery 
 they were bought. 2 
 
 Before concluding the description of the church, it is 
 necessary that I should say a few words to you about the 
 exterior. We have already delighted in its natural position 
 and the surrounding features of the scene, but beyond this 
 it has charms of its own, which, in spite of the disasters 
 it has undergone in the shape of paring down and refacing, 
 still make it one of our noblest churches. It must be 
 admitted that, on account of the removal of some inches 
 from the surface of the stone. 3 and the consequent curtail- 
 ment of mouldings in their projections and hollows, there 
 is a want of light and shade which much detracts from its 
 effect when seen near at hand. Indeed, the same impression 
 
 1 Within the cloister garth over against the Frater house door was 
 a fair laver or conduit, for the monks to wash their hands and faces 
 at, being made in form round, covered with lead, and all of marble, 
 saving the outermost walls. Within the which walls you may walk 
 round about the laver of marble, having many little conduits or 
 spouts of brass, with twenty-four cocks of brass round about it, 
 having in it seven fair windows of stonework, and in the top of it a 
 fair dovecot, covered finely over above with lead, the workmanship 
 both fine and costly. Rites of Durham, p. 70. 
 
 2 Hist. Dunelm. Script. Tres, Appendix, No. cccxlvi., p. ccccxliii. 
 
 ;{ About the commencement of the present century, the whole 
 Cathedral underwent a process of chiselling, in order to render the 
 surface uniform. This was done under the superintendence of 
 Wyatt. and in some parts four inches in depth were removed by the 
 operation. The evidence of this is apparent in several places on the 
 north side of the choir and nave, where, in consequence of the soil 
 having accumulated several feet in height, that part of the building- 
 has escaped being pared down. What has been the result is shown 
 there in the pilasters of the arcade, which have been reduced from 
 a due proportion to one most inadequate.
 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 81 
 
 made is perhaps one of disappointment. The east end 
 is especially flat and bald, and with its ill-designed modern 
 pinnacles forms but a poor clothing to the wondrous beauty 
 which is to be seen within the Nine Altars. But with all 
 these drawbacks, when viewed as a whole and when distance 
 has lent its compensating power, the Cathedral, its lofty 
 central tower rising in harmonious combination with the two 
 western ones, stands sublime in its grand outline and fitly 
 crowns the hill of Durham. 
 
 It has been conjectured that the triforium on each side of 
 the nave was originally roofed over by a series of gables. 
 Certain appearances on the north wall and which, before its 
 refacing, were still more evident on that of the south, have 
 been thought to favour this conjecture. There are, however, 
 no corresponding marks on the opposite walls of the cleres- 
 tory, which ought to have existed had the roof been of the 
 kind suggested. It is most probable that the roof of the 
 triforium was an ordinary sloping one but having in it a 
 series of dormer windows, an arrangement which, equally 
 with the supposed gables, would have given rise to the 
 appearances above referred to. 
 
 You must not neglect to see the Dun Cow, whose history 
 is so well known in connection with the church of Durham. 1 
 
 1 Rites of Durham, pp. 27, 61, 63. The story is that having fled 
 from Chester-le-Street and rested with the body of the saint for 
 some time at Ripon, the monks were desirous of returning to Chester, 
 " coming with him (St. Cuthbert) on the east side of Durham, to a 
 place called Ward Law, they could not with all their force remove 
 his body from thence, which seemed to be fastened to the ground, 
 which strange and unexpected accident wrought great admiration 
 in the heart of the bishop's monks and their associates, and ergo, 
 they fasted and prayed three days with great reverence and devotion, 
 desiring to know by revelation what they should do with the holy 
 body of St. Cuthbert, which thing was granted unto them, and 
 therein they were directed to carry him to Dunholme (Durham). 
 But being distressed because they were ignorant where Dunholme 
 was. see their good fortune, as they were going a woman that lacked
 
 82 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 The present short-horn and milk-maids of the period, placed 
 on the north end of the^Nine Altars, represent a last century 
 substitution of the original sculpture. Hutchinson and 
 Surtees, the historians of the County, are of opinion that 
 the subject is representative of the riches of St. Cuthbert's 
 church, in accordance with the old saying, "The Dun Cow's 
 milk makes the Prebends' wives go all in silk," and that 
 the legend has arisen out of the sculpture. I confess, 
 and I think you will agree with me, that I prefer the old 
 legend as being certainly more picturesque and quite as 
 likely to be true as the more prosaic explanation of the two 
 historians. 
 
 I have now, I believe, brought under your notice every 
 part of the Cathedral, including the domestic buildings 
 immediately in connection with it. I cannot, however, 
 bring my address to a close without making some remarks 
 upon the general effect and relation of the church as a 
 whole. I assert, and with confidence, that no grander 
 Norman building exists. Peterborough, Ely, Norwich and 
 Gloucester, in our own country, and the great church of 
 St. Stephen at Caen, magnificent as they are in their earlier 
 portions, shine with a diminished lustre when compared 
 with the greater glories of Durham. I will even make a 
 still bolder assertion and say that no more impressive and 
 inspiring church is to be found in England, nay I would 
 almost say in Europe. You may go where you will, you 
 may tell me of the vastness of York, the beauties of 
 Lincoln, the varied and noble architectural features of 
 Canterbury, Winchester and Lichfield, and the grace of 
 Salisbury, but I say the Cathedral Church of Durham is the 
 grandest structure of them all. I do not say that other of 
 
 her cow did call aloud to her companion to know if she did not see 
 her, who answered with a loud voice that her cow was in Dunholme, 
 a happy and heavenly echo to the distressed monks, who by that 
 means were at the end of their journey, where they should find a 
 resting place for the body of their honoured saint."
 
 DUKHAM CATHEDRAL. 83 
 
 our great churches may not more than equal it in size or 
 possess in individual parts as striking- examples of the 
 builder's art, but where will you find such a whole as the 
 majestic church in which we stand? I again assert and 
 without hesitation that taken in all its parts, and looking at 
 its wondrous solemnity I can use no other word at its 
 beautiful proportion, and the admirable way in which a 
 great design has been carried out to perfection, Durham 
 Cathedral stands unrivalled. Look at the perfect symmetry 
 of the great arcades of choir and nave; the pillars are 
 neither too short and broad, nor are they again too lofty 
 and slender, but are admirably adapted to carry out the 
 proportions of the whole. Look how the triforium and 
 clerestorj-, neither dwarfed into insignificance, nor made 
 too asserting by their importance, unite with the arcade 
 which supports them, and form together a design of perfect 
 and consistent excellence. And if, again, we consider those 
 parts which have been added to the original church, where 
 will you find anything to compare with the Galilee ? It is 
 nowhere equalled in its unique beauty and elegance, and 
 charms us as much by its lightness as the choir and nave 
 impress us by their imposing massiveness. And the Nine 
 Altars, so exquisite in all its details, so perfect when taken 
 altogether, the vaulting so boldly designed, so skilfully 
 carried out, the shafts of divers colours, the graceful arcade, 
 the capitals where foliage and animal forms unite in loving 
 harmony, all combine to produce a building which has 
 never been surpassed. 
 
 This church, our splendid inheritance, we owe to William 
 of St. Carilef. The whole plan must have been elaborated 
 and the main lines laid down by that Bishop. The choir 
 and the adjacent parts are of his own building, and the 
 nave, though built by his successor, Flambard, carries out 
 in all its principal features the original design. The only 
 difference between the two parts is that in the later nave a 
 richer effect has been given by the use of zig-zag, and the
 
 84 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 varied patterns on the pillars. The work throughout i* 
 harmonious in the highest degree, and that harmony is made 
 more apparent by the variation. Two men have, it is 
 evident, worked upon the church with the same motive and 
 upon the same plan, and the slight difference in the 
 character of their work but adds an additional interest and 
 charm to the whole. Nor must we forget in the blaze of 
 glory which surrounds the memory of William of St. 
 Carilef, that there were also such bishops of the great 
 Palatine See as Hugh Pudsey and Richard Poore, and that 
 alongside his mighty church the Galilee and the Nine Altars 
 have arisen. 
 
 In conclusion let me give expression to a thought which 
 has been present to you whilst we have been standing 
 within these time-hallowed walls. As we have stood and 
 in our memory have travelled back to the days of old, and 
 have recalled how many a great and noble aspiration, how 
 many a pious and holy intention has been carried out in the 
 building of this glorious temple, we have said with deepest 
 emotion may it have been built for ever, may it be like 
 the everlasting hills.

 
 de 
 
 20 
 19 
 
 - 19 
 
 - 26 
 de 
 
 - 26 
 de 
 
 - 26 
 
 REFERENCES TO THE PLAN OF 
 DURHAM CATHEDRAL. 
 
 (The pages refer to ' A description of the Ancient Monuments, $c., 
 of the Church of Durham ," Vol. xv., Surtees Society. ~) 
 
 Tomb of Thomas de Hatfield, 
 Bishop of Durham, and the 
 Bishop's Throne page 16 
 
 Choir Screen - 
 Tomb of Prior John Fossor 
 oinb of Prior Bobert 
 Berrington - - - 
 omb of Prior John de 
 Wessington - - - 
 Tomb of Prior John de 
 
 Hemingburgh 
 Tomb of Prior William 
 
 Ebchester 
 Tomb of Prior Bobert 
 
 Ebchester - 
 Trellis door 
 
 Tomb of Prior Thomas Castell 29 
 A chamber for one that kept 
 
 the church and rung the bells 34 
 Tomb of Prior John de 
 
 Auckland - - - - 30 
 Tomb of John Lord Neville 
 
 and his wife - - - 50 
 
 Tomb of Bishop Neville - - 34 
 Tomb of Balph Lord Neville 
 
 and his wife - - - - 50 
 The North Porch with two 
 
 Chambers above - - - 35 
 A Holy Water Stone for the 
 
 people - - - - - 32 
 Cross of blue marble beyond 
 
 which no woman could pass 30 
 Holy water Stone for the use of 
 
 Convent- - - - - 32 
 Tomb of Prior John Burnaby - 30 
 Font 
 
 The Sanctuary - - - - 35 
 Tomb of Cardinal Thomas 
 
 Langley. Bishop of Durham - 38 
 Shrine of the Venerable Bede 38 
 Iron Pulpit - - - 40 
 
 Font - 40 
 
 Graves of Bishops - 
 
 Aumbrys of Wainscot for Books 71 
 
 Carrels or Pews wherein the 
 
 Monks did Study - - - 70 
 Lavatory - - - - - 70 
 Stall of Wainscot where the 
 
 novices were taught - - 71 
 Seat for Master of novices - 71 
 Bishop's Seat - - - 48 
 
 A High Altar - - - page 6 
 
 8 To 
 
 B Altar of S. Cuthbert and S. Bede 1 
 
 
 C , of the Archangel Michael 2 
 
 
 D . of S. Aidan and S. Helen 2 
 
 9 Cl 
 
 E , of S. Peter and S. Paul - 2 
 
 10 Tc 
 
 F of S. Martin - - - 2 
 
 11 Tc 
 
 G , of S. Oswald and S. Lau- 
 
 
 rence - - - - 1 
 
 12 T( 
 
 H .. of S. Thomas of Canter- 
 
 
 bury and S. Catherine - 1 
 I of S. John the Baptist 
 
 13 T< 
 
 and S. Margaret - - 1 
 
 14 T 
 
 K of S. Andrew and S. Mary 
 
 
 Magdelen - - - 1 
 
 15 T 
 
 L ., in the Anchorage - - 15 
 M ., adjoining to S. Cuthbert's 
 
 16 T 
 
 shrine - - - - 3 
 
 17 T 
 
 N , in the Bevestry - - 17 
 
 18 A 
 
 O of S. Blaise - - - 15 
 
 
 P , in Bishop Hatfield's 
 
 19 T 
 
 Chantry - - - - 17 
 
 
 Q , of S. Nicholas and S. 
 
 20 T 
 
 Giles - - 20 
 
 
 B of S. Gregory - - - 19 
 
 21 T 
 
 S of S. Benedict - - - 19 
 
 22 T 
 
 T ,, at the Entrance of North 
 
 
 Aisle of Choir - - 16 
 
 23 1 
 
 Tj of our Lady of Houghall 26 
 
 
 W of our Lady of Bolton - 36 
 
 24 / 
 
 X ' of S. Faith and S. Thomas 
 
 
 the Apostle - - - 26 
 
 25 C 
 
 Y Jesus Altar 
 
 
 Z Altar in the Neville Chantry - 34 
 
 26 I 
 
 a of our Lady of Pity - 33 
 
 
 b of the Bound Bood - 35 
 
 27 1 
 
 b* of S. Saviour - - - 33 
 
 28 1 
 
 e of the Blessed Virgin - 37 
 
 29 " 
 
 d of our Lady of Pity - - 38 
 
 30 r 
 
 e . of S. Bede - - - - 39 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 1 Tomb of Anthony Bek, Bishop 
 
 32 ] 
 
 of Durham and Patriarch of 
 
 33 
 
 Jerusalem - - - - 2 
 
 34 l 
 
 2 Tomb of Bichard de Bury, 
 
 35 
 
 Bishop of Durham - - - 2 
 3 Banner of King of Scotland, the 
 
 36 
 
 Lord Neville, &c. - - - 5 
 
 37 
 
 4 S. Cuthbert's Feretory and Shrine 3 
 
 38 
 
 5 Black Bood of Scotland - - 16 
 
 
 6 Brass of Lewis Beaumont, Bishop 
 
 39 
 
 of Durham - - - - 12 
 
 40 
 
 7 Tomb of Walter de Skirlaw, 
 
 
 Bishop of Durham - - - 15 

 
 
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 BISHOPS. 
 
 990-1018 Aldhun. 
 
 1507-1508 
 
 1020-1040 Edmund. 
 
 
 1042-1056 Egelric. 
 1056-1071 Egelwin. 
 1071-1080 Walcher. 
 
 1509-1522 
 1522-1528 
 1530-1559 
 
 1081-1096 William of S. Carilef. 
 
 1560-1575 
 
 1099-1128 Ranulph Flambard. 
 1133-1140 Galfrid Rufus. 
 
 1575-1587 
 1589-1594 
 
 1143-1152 William de S.Barbara. 
 
 1595-1606 
 
 1153-1195 Hugo de Puiset. 
 1197-1208 Philip de Pictavia. 
 1217-1226 Richard de Marisco. 
 
 1606-1617 
 1617-1627 
 1628 
 
 1228-1237 Richard Poore. 
 
 1628-1631 
 
 1241-1248 Nicholas de Farnham. 
 
 1632-1659 
 
 1249-1260 Walter de Kirkham. 
 
 1660-1671 
 
 1261-1274 Robert de Stichill. 
 
 1674-1721 
 
 1274-1283 Robert de Insula. 
 
 
 1283-1310 Anthony Bek. 
 1311-1316 Richard de Kellawe. 
 
 1721-1730 
 1730-1750 
 
 1318-1333 Lewis Beaumont. 
 
 1750-1752 
 
 1333-1345 Richard de Bury. 
 1345-1381 Thomas de Hatfield. 
 
 1752-1771 
 1771-1787 
 
 1381-1388 John de Fordham. 
 
 1787-1791 
 
 1388-1405 Walter de Skirlaw. 
 
 1791-1826 
 
 1406-1437 Thomas de Langley. 
 1437-1457 Robert de Neville. 
 
 1826-1836 
 1836-1856 
 
 1457-1476 Laurence Booth. 
 
 1856-1860 
 
 1476-1483 William Dudley. 
 1483-1494 John Sherwood. 
 
 1860-1861 
 1861-1879 
 
 1494-1501 Richard Fox. 
 
 1879 
 
 1502-1505 William Severs. 
 
 
 PRIORS. 
 
 1083-1087 Aldwin. 
 
 1289-1308 
 
 1087-1109 Turgot. 
 1109-1137 Algar. 
 1137-1149 Roger. 
 1149-1153 Laurence. 
 
 1308-1313 
 1314-1322 
 1322-1342 
 1342-1374 
 
 1154-1158 Absolon. 
 
 1374-1391 
 
 1158-1162 Thomas. 
 
 1391-1416 
 
 1163-1186 German. 
 
 
 1188-1208 Bertram. 
 
 1416-1446 
 
 1209-1214 William. 
 
 1446-1456 
 
 1214-1233 Ralph Kerneth. 
 1233-1244 Thomas de Melsanby. 
 1244-1258 Bertram de Middleton 
 
 1456-1464 
 1464-1478 
 1478-1484 
 
 1258-1272 Hugh de Derlington. 
 1272-1285 Richard de Claxton. 
 
 1484-1494 
 1494-1519 
 
 1285-1289 Hugh de Derlington. 
 
 1524-1540 
 
 Christopher Bain- 
 bridge. 
 
 Thomas Ruthall. 
 
 Thomas Wolsey. 
 
 Cuthbert Tunstall. 
 
 James Pilkington. 
 
 Richard Barnes. 
 
 Matthew Hutton. 
 
 Tobias Matthew. 
 
 William James. 
 
 Richard Neile. 
 
 George Monteigne. 
 
 John Howson. 
 
 Thomas Morton. 
 
 John Cosin. 
 
 Nathaniel, Lord 
 Crewe. 
 
 William Talbot. 
 
 Edward Chandler. 
 
 Joseph Butler. 
 
 Richard Trevor. 
 
 John Egerton. 
 
 Thomas Thurlow. 
 
 Shute Barrington. 
 
 William Van Mildert. 
 
 Edward Maltby. 
 
 Charles T. Longley. 
 
 Henry M. Villiers. 
 
 Charles Baring. 
 
 Joseph B. Lightfoot. 
 
 Richard de Hoton. 
 William de Tanfield. 
 Galfrid de Burdon. 
 William de Cowton. 
 John Fossor. 
 Robert de Berrington. 
 John de Heming- 
 
 burgh. 
 
 John de Wessington. 
 William de Ebchester. 
 John Burnaby. 
 Richard Bell. 
 Robert de Ebchester. 
 John de Auckland. 
 Thomas Castell. 
 Hugh Whitehead.
 
 DEANS. 
 
 1541-1548 Hu.rh Whitehead. 
 1551-1553 Robert Home. 
 
 1662-1684 John Sndbury. 
 1684-1691 Denis Granville. 
 
 1553-1557 Thomas Watson. 
 
 1991-1699 Thomas Comber. 
 
 1557-1559 Thomas Robertson. 
 1559-1560 Robert Home. 
 1560-1563 Ralph Skinner. 
 1563-1579 William Whitting- 
 ham. 
 1579-1581 Thomas Wilson. 
 
 1699-1728 John Montague. 
 1728-1746. Henry Bland. 
 1746-1774 Spencer Cowper. 
 1774-1777 Thomas Dampier. 
 1777-1788 William Digby. 
 1788-1794 John Hinchliffe. 
 
 1583-1595 Tobias Matthew. 
 
 1794-1824 Lord Cornwallis. 
 
 1596-1606 William James. 
 1606-1620 Sir Adam Newton. 
 
 1824-1827 Charles Henry Hall. 
 1827-1840 John Banks Jenkin- 
 
 1620-1638 Richard Hunt. 
 
 son. 
 
 1639-1645 Walter Balcanqual. 
 1645-1659 William Fuller. 
 
 1840-1869 George Waddington. 
 1869 William Charles Lake. 
 
 1660-1661 John Barwick. 
 
 
 DIMENSIONS OF THE CATHEDEAL. 
 
 FT. 
 
 Length of Nine Altars- 131 
 Width of Nine Altars - 38 
 
 IN. 
 
 
 6 
 
 Length of Choir - - 132 
 Width of Choir - - 39 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 Width of Choir Aisles - 19 
 
 
 
 Length of north Transept 66 
 Length of south Transept 66 
 Width of Transepts - 37 
 Width of Aisle of Tran- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 septs 21 
 Width of Lantern, east 
 and west - - 40 
 
 
 6 
 
 Width of Lantern, north 
 and south - , - 39 
 
 
 
 Length of ^ave - - 201 
 Width of Nave - - 39 
 
 
 
 
 Width of Aisles of Nave 21 
 
 
 
 Thickness of wall between 
 
 Nave and Galilee - 80 
 Length of Galilee- - 77 
 Width of Galilee - - 49 
 Total length of church 
 
 (interior) - - 469 6 
 Height of central Tower 218 
 Height of western Towers 144 6 
 Height of vaulting of 
 
 Nine Altars - 77 
 
 Height of vaulting of 
 
 Choir - - - 74 6 
 Height of Tower Arches 68 6 
 Height of vaulting of 
 
 Lantern- - - 155 
 Height of vaulting of 
 
 Nave - - - 72 9
 
 INDEX. 
 
 N, Saint, 4, 7. 8, 11. 
 Aldhun, Bishopjll, 13. 
 
 church of, at Durham, 
 
 13, 18, 21. 
 
 Aldred, the priest, Gn. 
 Aldwine settles at Jarrow and 
 
 Wearmouth, 17, 18. 
 Alnmouth, possibly Tuifirdi. Sn. 
 Altar, High, 62. 
 
 ,, Magnae Crncis, 73w. 
 of Blessed Virgin in Gali- 
 lee, 68, 68. 
 of our Lady of Bolton, 
 
 46, 46w. 
 of our Lady of Houghall, 
 
 46, 46. 
 of our Lady of Pity, in 
 
 Galilee, 45, 45. 
 the present, 62, 62w. 
 Altar-stone, 46w. 
 Altars, Nine. 31, 47, /., 83. 
 Anchorage, the, 65. 
 Angels, figures of , in choir, 57, 58. 
 in fresco painting on 
 
 Hatfield's tomb, 60. 
 Apse of Choir, 24, 49, 49. 53, 55. 
 Arcade of Nine Altars, 51, 51%. 
 on walls of Aisles of 
 
 Church, 25, 32. 
 Architect of the Nine Altars, 48, 
 
 48w. 
 Architects (mediaeval) not 
 
 imitators, 30. 
 Art, Irish, 5. 
 
 Aumbrys near High Altar, 61, 
 62*. 
 
 Bamborough, Church of St. 
 
 Peter at, an. 
 
 King Oswald's 
 
 arms and hands 
 at, on. 
 
 seat of Northum- 
 
 brian Kings, 11. 
 
 Barbara. Bishop William de 
 Saint. 40. 
 
 Barbara, grave of. 14. 
 
 ,, ring of, 14. 
 Barrington, Bishop, 33. 
 Beaumont, Bishop Lewis, grave 
 
 of, 62, 62w. 
 Beda, Saint, 4 , 9, 10. 
 altar of, 43, 43w. 
 shrine of, 43, 43w. 
 ,, tomb of, 44. 
 Bek, Bishop Anthony, 31, 52, 
 
 52w. 
 
 tomb of, 52. 
 Belfry, 70, 71. 
 
 Bell, Prior Richard, 71, 7ln. 
 Benedict Biscop, 17. 
 Benedictine monks, established 
 at Durham, 15, 17, 18. 
 at Jarrow and Wear- 
 mouth, 17. 
 Berrington, Prior Richard de, 
 
 61. 
 
 Billfrith, the anchorite, 6n. 
 Bishop's seat in Chapter House, 
 
 34. 
 
 throne, 60. 
 Bishops' graves in Chapter 
 
 House, 14. 
 heads of, 14. 
 Black Rood of Scotland, 66. 
 Blessed Virgin, Chapel of, 41. 
 Bolton, altar of our Lady of, 46, 
 
 46. 
 Bosseg in roof of Choir and Nine 
 
 Altars, 59. 
 Brackets for statu"s, 58n. 
 
 in Transepts and Nave, 
 
 58*. 
 
 Bridlington Priory, 72n. 
 Buttery, the, 20. 
 
 Cadwalla. a British King, 2, 3, 4. 
 
 Canopy over Font. 63. 
 
 Carilef , Bishop William of Saint, 
 
 15, 18, 21. 72. 
 exile in Normandy 
 18.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Carilef , parts of church built by 
 
 him, 22, 24, 27. 
 Carlisle Cathedral, misereres in, 
 
 71. 
 
 Carrels in Cloister for study, 75. 
 Carter, John, 33. 33ra. 
 Castell, Prior. 67, 69. 
 Castle of Durham, doorway of 
 Bishop Pudsey's hall, 
 47. 
 
 outer gateway of, 39. 
 Castro Bernard!, Richard de, 43w, 
 
 73. 
 
 Ceiling of Cloister, 77, 11 n. 
 Ceilings of wood. 28, 31. 
 Cellar, the great, 20n. 
 Centaur, a badge of King 
 
 Stephen. 34, 37re. 
 Centering of vaulting at east 
 
 end of Choir, 32. 
 Chamber for keeper of church, 
 
 74. 
 for men who rang the 
 
 bells, Sic., 65. 
 
 Chambers for men who admitted 
 suppliants to sanctu- 
 ary, 39. 
 
 for monks in Dormi- 
 tory. 78. 
 
 for novices in Dormi- 
 tory, 78. 
 
 Chambre, William de, 21. 
 Chandeliers in Choir, 64, 65n. 
 Chapter House, 14, 32, 76. 
 corbels in 32, 84. 
 destroyed, 32, 32. 
 graves of Bishops in, 14. 
 seat of Bishop in, 34. 
 vaulting of, 33. 
 Charles the First, visit to 
 
 Durham. 65. 
 Chester-le-Street, 11. 
 Choir, clerestory of. 22. 
 
 junction of, with Nine 
 
 Altars, 56. 
 Norman vaulting of, 31, 
 
 58. 
 
 present vaulting of, 58. 
 screen. 64. 
 termination of Carilef's, 
 23, 49. 
 
 Christianity in Roman Britain, 1. 
 Church, built by Bishop Aldhun, 
 
 13, 18. 
 
 exterior of. 80. 
 site of, 12. 
 Church of Durham, authorities 
 
 for history of, 21. 
 Claxton, John, of Burn, 70n. 
 Clerestory of Choir, 22. 
 of Nave, 22. 
 of South Transept, 29. 
 Clock, the, 69. 
 Cloister, 75, geq. 
 Coldingham, Geoffrey de, 21. 
 Columba, Saint, 3. 
 Common House. 76. 
 Communion plate. 63. 63 n. 
 Congregation of St. Cnthbert, 
 
 11. 13. 15. 
 
 Consistory Court in Galilee, 45n. 
 Corbels in Lantern, 71. 
 
 in Nave and Transepts, 
 
 28. 
 of Chapter House, 33/t, 
 
 34. 
 Corbridge. cross on dish found 
 
 at, 2n. 
 
 Gorman, 4, 4. 
 Cornwallis, Dean, 33. 
 Cosin, Bishop, 27 n. 63, Gin. 
 Covey, the, 2Qn. 
 Crayke, 11. 
 Cross of Marble at west end of 
 
 Nave, 42. 
 Crosses. " Anglo-Saxon," 6, 6n, 
 
 11. 
 
 Crypt, under Dormitory, 77. 
 ' under Prior s Hall, 19, 20. 
 under Refectory, 19. 
 Cuthbert, Saint, 8, seq. 
 
 body of, transferred 
 
 from Cloister to Choir, 
 
 32. 
 churches dedicated to, 
 
 11. 
 
 coffin of, 9. 
 
 congregation of , 11, 13, 
 
 15. 
 
 image of, 32n. 
 
 made Bishop, 8. 
 
 picture of, 44.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Cuthbert, shrine of, 48, 52, 52. 
 
 Danish invasions. 10. 
 Denisesburna, now Rowley 
 
 Water, 3. 
 
 Derlington, Prior Hugh de, 70. 
 Destruction of parts of church, 
 
 32, 35, 53ra, 64, 64, 68, 
 
 74, 80, 80ra. 
 
 Domestic buildings of Monas- 
 tery, 27. 
 
 Doorway, of Chapter House, 34 . 
 great west, 38, 38. 
 north and south of 
 
 Nave, 37, 37. 
 Dormer windows in roof i of Nave 
 
 Triforium, 81. 
 Dormitory, later, 77. 
 
 original, 16, 20, 37. 
 crypt under, 77. 
 
 Dovecot in Cloister Garth, 80, 
 
 80. 
 
 Dun Cow, the, 81, 81. 
 Dnnfermline Abbey, 24. 
 Durham, site of, 12, 12n. 
 Durham Church, authorities for 
 
 history of, 21. 
 
 Eadfrith, Bishop, 6n. 
 Eata, Bishop at Lindisfarne, 8. 
 Ebchester, Prior William de, 70' 
 Edwin, King of Northumbria, 2. 
 Egelwin, Bishop, 17n. 
 Eggleston, Abbot of, 80. 
 Elfred Westou. 10. 
 Episcopal throne, 60. 
 Ethelbert, King of Kent, 2. 
 Ethelburga, Queen. 2. 
 Ethelfrith, King, 3. 
 Evesham, 17. 
 Exterior of Church, 80. 
 
 Fame, island of. 9. 
 islands, In. 
 Farnham, Bishop Nicholas de, 
 
 30, 30, 48. 
 
 ,, Master Richard de, 
 architect of the Nine 
 Altars, 48, 48. 
 
 Flambard, Bishop Ranulph, 25, 
 seq. 
 
 Flambard, grave of, 14. 
 
 grave cover of, 34. 
 ., ring of, 14. 
 
 Font. 63, 
 
 Canopy over, 63. 
 
 Fossor, Prior John. 61. 67, 67n, 
 79. 
 
 Foundation stone of Cathedral 
 laid, 21. 
 
 Fountains Abbey, Nine Altars 
 at, 48, 52. 
 
 Four doctors, window of, 67. 
 
 Fowler, Rev. J.T.,F.S.A., account 
 of excavations in Chap- 
 ter House, 15n. 
 
 Frater House, 79. 
 
 Freeman, Mr., on Waltham 
 Abbey, 72n. 
 
 Fresco paintings in church, 44, 
 44n, 45, 46, 60. 
 
 Gables in roof of Nave Triforium, 
 
 81. 
 
 Galfrid Rufus. Bishop, 29, 32, 
 32,34, 37,38,39,39. 
 grave of, 14. 
 
 grave-cover of. 34. 
 
 ring of, 14. 
 
 Galilee, 26, 40, seq., 68, seq. 
 
 additional shafts in, 69. 
 Gateshead, Bishop Walcher killed 
 
 at, 16, Un. 
 
 Gospels, Book of, 6, 6n. 
 Graystanes, Robert de, 21, 31 n. 
 Guthred. King, 11. 
 
 Habitacula monachorum, built 
 
 by Bishop Walcher, 
 
 15, 16, 37. 
 Harold, King, 72n. 
 Hatfield, tomb of Bishop, 60. 
 Hefenfelth (Heavenfield), battle 
 
 at, 3. 
 Hereditary Priesthood in Saxon 
 
 Church, 14. 
 Herefrith, Abbot, 9. 
 Hethfelth (Hatfield), battle at, 2. 
 Hexham, Hereditary Sacerdotage 
 
 at, 14. 14ra. 
 High Altar. 62, 62rc. 
 Hills, Mr. Gordon, 20.
 
 IV 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hodgson, Rev. J. F., ou Kirkby 
 Stephen Church, 48. 
 
 Holy Island, 7. 
 
 Holystone. Paulinus' well there, 
 2. 
 
 Holy Water stones, 74, 7in. 
 Home, Dean, 32. 
 Hoton. Prior Richard de, Bin, 66. 
 Houghall, Altar of our Lady of, 
 
 46, 46. 
 Hunt, Dean, 62, 69. 
 
 lona, 3, 4, 7. 
 
 Ireland, a centre of art, 5. 
 
 ., a centre of missionary 
 
 work, 5. 
 Iron- work on doors of Nave, 39. 
 
 Jarrow, 10, 17, I7n, 18. 
 church at, 17. 
 Jesus Altar, 72. 
 Joseph window, 50. 
 Junction between Nine Altars 
 and Choir, 56. 
 
 Kitchen of Monastery, 79. 
 Knocker (Sanctuary) on North 
 Door, 39. 
 
 Lady Chapel, 40, 41. 
 
 Langley, Bishop Thomas de, 42, 
 
 67, geq., 71n, 77, 79. 
 arms of, Tin. 
 
 tomb of, 68. 
 Lantern, the, 70. 
 
 gallery in, 71. 
 Latrines, 77. 
 
 Laurence, Prior of Durham, 25n. 
 Lavatory, the, 75, 80, SQn. 
 Leland ascribes " testudinem 
 templi " to Bishop 
 Farnham, 30ra. 
 date of Belfry, 70 n. 
 says that Bishop Pudsey 
 built a cloister, 76, 76n. 
 Lenten Veil, 62. 
 Library (Dean Sudbnry), 79. 
 
 (Monastic), 36. 
 
 Lindisfarne. 5, 7, 7n, 9, 10, 11, 
 17n. 
 church at, 24, 24. 
 
 Lindisfarne Gospels, 6, <>. 
 
 Loft, the, 78. 
 
 Longstaffe, Mr. W. H. D., Paper 
 
 on Bishop Pudsey's 
 
 buildings, 40w, 41. 
 on Hereditary Saoer- 
 
 dotage of Hexham, 14, 
 
 Un. 
 Luceby, Henry de, 31, 64. 
 
 Malcolm, King of Scotland, 21. 
 Malmesbury Abbey, nave arcade 
 
 of, 29. 
 Marisco, Bishop Richard de, 26. 
 
 26. 
 
 Maserfelth, battle at, 5. 
 Master of the novices, his seat. 
 
 75. 
 
 Melrose, 8. 
 Melsanby, Prior Thomas de, 30, 
 
 47, 47ra. 
 
 elected Bishop, 47. 
 Mermaid, 71, 7 In. 
 Moises, Thomas, 4 8 TO. 
 Monastical Church of Durham. 
 
 a description of, 21. 
 Morton, Bishop, 65 n. 
 Morton, Dr., 71. 
 
 Nave, 22, 25. 
 
 clerestory of, 23. 
 completed by Flambard, 
 
 25, 29. 
 
 north doorway of, 37, 37. 
 south doorway of. 37. 37n. 
 vaulting of, 29, 29ra, 30. 
 west doorway of, 38, 38ft. 
 Neville, Bishop, tomb of, 73, 73 n. 
 Chantry, 73. 
 John Lord, 61, 73 n. 
 his tomb, 73. 
 Ralph Lord, his tomb, 
 
 73, 73ft. 
 Robert de, his wood at 
 
 Aldwood, 60. 
 Screen. 61. 
 
 Neville's Cross, Battle of, 66, 73. 
 Nine Altars, 31, 47, seq., 83. 
 
 arcade in, 51, 51. 
 
 bosses in roof of, 59. 
 
 ,, doorways of, 52.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Nine Altars, lower than Choir, 49. 
 
 vaulting of, 58. 
 Normandy, churches of, 18. 
 Xorthumbria, Kingdom of, 2, 8. 
 Novices, chambers of, in Dormi- 
 tory, 78. 
 
 ,, school for, in Clois- 
 ter, 75. 
 
 Oswald, King, 3, 4, 5, 7. 
 
 arms and hands of, 5, 5n. 
 
 head of, 5. 
 
 picture of, 44. 
 Oven for baking altar breads, 36. 
 
 Painted glass. 50, 67, 67, 68, 
 
 74, 75. 
 
 Paintings on reredos of altar of 
 the Blessed Virgin in 
 Galilee, 68, 68n. 
 Pallinsburn, 2. 
 
 Pallium, figure vested with, 46. 
 Parlour, the, 35, 36. 
 Paschal, the, 62, 62n. 
 Paulinus, Saint, 2, 4. 
 Penda, King of Mercia, 2. 5. 
 People's church in Cathedral, 72, 
 
 7'2n. 
 Pickering, Eichard, rector of 
 
 Hemingburgh, 51. 
 Pictavia, Bishop Philip de, 26, 
 
 26w. 
 
 Piscina, 46. 
 Pity, altar of our Lady of, in 
 
 Galilee, 44w, 45, 45. 
 Platform of St. Cuthbert's shrine, 
 
 52. 
 
 Poore, Bishop Richard, 26n, 47. 
 Porch, north of Nave, 39. 
 Portrait of Architect, 48, 48. 
 Prte-Conquest clergy at Durham 
 
 14. 
 Prior's door from cloister into 
 
 church, 46. 
 
 Prior's seat in Chapter House, 34. 
 Prison for minor offences of 
 
 Monks, 35. 35, 76. 
 Pudsey, Bishop Hugh, 26, 40. 
 Pudsey, Bishop, account of his 
 buildings by Mr. 
 Longstaffe, 40w, 41. 
 
 Pudsey, grave of, 34. 
 Quarry of stone at Burn, 70n. 
 
 Raine, Dr., account of Cathedral, 
 
 49. 
 Refectory, 19, 75, 79. 
 
 crypt under, 16, 19. 
 Reginald, a Monk at Durham, 9. 
 Reredos of altar of Blessed Virgin 
 
 in Galilee, 68. 
 Revestry, 66. 
 Ricardus ingeniator, 40. 
 Rings of Bishops, 14. 
 Ripon, 12. 
 Rood Loft, 72. 
 Rufus, Bishop, see Galfrid. 
 
 Sacrist's exchequer, 65. 
 
 Saint Oswald's, near Hexham. 3. 
 
 Sanctuary, 75. 
 
 knocker, 39. 
 
 persons claiming, 39. 
 
 39rc. 
 Saxon clergy, 14. 
 
 ., graves of, in Chapter 
 
 House, 14, Hn. 
 Scotch prisoners confined in 
 
 church, 63, 74. 
 Scotland, Black Rood of, 66. 
 source of Christianity in, 
 
 Screen at east end of South Choir- 
 aisles, 66. 
 
 behind High Altar, 61. 
 behind Jesus Altar, 72. 
 Choir, 64. 
 Neville, 61. 
 round St. Cuthbert's 
 
 shrine, 53n. 
 Sculpture in Choir, 56, 57n. 
 
 in Nine Altars. 59. 
 Sedilia, 61. 
 Shrine of Beda, 43, 43ra. 
 
 of St. Cuthbert, 52, 52. 
 Shrinking of walls of east end of 
 
 church, 40, 41. 
 Site of Monasteries, 13, 13w. 
 Skirlaw, Bishop Walter de, 77. 
 
 tomb of, 65. 
 Slype, the, 36.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Spiral grooving on columns, 23. 
 Spires surmounting Western 
 
 towers, 27. 27ra. 
 Squint in cloister. Ton. 
 Stalls in Choir, 63. 
 Statues in choir, 58, 61. 
 Stephen. King, 40. 
 
 ' ,. badge of, 34, 37/t. 
 Sudbury. Dean, 79, 79ra. 
 Surtees, the historian of Durham, i 
 
 40. 
 Symeoii of Durham, his history 
 
 of Church, 19, 20. 
 
 Te Deum window, 67, 67. 
 Tower, central, 70. 
 Towers, western, 26, 26. 
 Transepts, 27, 28. 
 Treasury, the, 76. 
 Tuifirdi, synod at, 8w. 
 Turgot, Prior, 21. 
 
 Vaulting of Chapter House, 33. 
 ,. of Choir (Norman). 31, 
 
 58. 
 of Choir (present), 58. 
 
 of Nave, 29, 29w, 30. 
 
 Vaulting of Nine Altars. 57. 
 of Transepts. 27. 2" 
 Virgin, Altar of Blessed. 68. > 
 ., chapel of. 41. 
 
 Walcher. Bishop. 15. !">. I' 
 
 17, 37. 72 w. 
 Waltham Abbey. 72n. 
 Wearmouth (Monk). 17. 1*. 
 
 church at, 17. 
 Wessington, Prior Jolm de. 3(/ 
 
 36, ?>&n. 51.51. f)5. iy\ 
 
 70. 
 
 Western towers. 26. 26//. 
 Westminster Abbey, 31 //. 
 Westou, Elf red. 10. 
 Whittingham, 8n. 
 Whittingham, Dean. 74. 
 Willelmus ingeniator. K>. 
 William the Conqueror, 15. 17/ 
 
 Rufus, 18, 25. 
 Women not allowed beyom 
 
 marble cross. 42. 
 Wooden ceilings, 28. 31 . 
 Wyatt, his destructive work. HKw 
 
 35w, 8().
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 L9-42m-8,'49 (85573)444 
 
 Music Bound. Account Books, Memorandum and Exercise Bo. 
 
 Prints cleaned, stains and mildew marks extracted. Old Prints 
 remounted. 
 
 Card Plates engraw,!, l)u* out, and Letter Paper stamped. 
 
 
 \
 
 90 Durham cathe- 
 96G8 draTT" 
 
 A 
 
 DA 
 690 
 D96G8 
 1889 
 
 A 001 1 000 730 1 o