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Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the shrines of the Anglo-Saxons saints Cuthbert and Bede. There are daily Church of England services at the cathedral, and it received 727,367 visitors in 2019. It is a grade I listed building and forms part of the Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site.
The cathedral is the successor to the Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne Priory, which was established but abandoned in 875 in the face of Viking Age raids. The monks settled at Chester-le-Street from 882 until 995, when they moved to Durham. The cathedral remained a monastery until it was dissolved in 1541, since when it has been governed by a dean and chapter. The cathedral precinct formed part of Durham Castle from the eleventh century. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms the cathedral housed 3,000 Scottish prisoners of war, 1,700 of whom died in the building.
The present building was substantially completed between 1093 and 1133, replacing the Anglo-Saxon 'White Church'. It is a significant example of the Romanesque architectural style, and the nave ceiling is the earliest surviving example of a pointed rib vault. The Galilee chapel was added to the west end of the cathedral in the 1170s, and the western towers built in approximately 1200. The east end was expanded in the Early English Gothic style in the 1230s, and the Perpendicular Gothic central tower was built in two stages in the fifteenth century. Important furnishings include the medieval bishop's throne and Neville family screen, Prior Castell's Clock, and the seventeenth-century choir stalls and font cover installed by Bishop John Cosin. Many of the monastic buildings survive; the monks' refectory now contains part of the cathedral library, which holds significant collections dating back to the sixth century.
After repeated Viking raids, the monks fled from Lindisfarne in 875, carrying Saint Cuthbert's relics with them. The diocese of Lindisfarne remained itinerant until 882, when the monks resettled at Chester-le-Street, 60 miles south of Lindisfarne and 6 miles north of Durham. The see remained at Chester-le-Street until 995, when further Viking incursions once again caused the monks to move with their relics. According to the local legend of the Dun Cow and the saint's hagiography, the monks followed two who were searching for a Dun gene-coloured cow and found themselves on a peninsula formed by a loop in the River Wear. Thereupon, Cuthbert's coffin became immovable, which was taken as a sign that the new shrine should be built on that spot, which became the City of Durham. A more prosaic set of reasons for the selection of the peninsula is its highly defensible position, and that a community established there would enjoy the protection of the Earl of Northumbria, with whom the bishop at this time, Aldhun, had strong family connections. Today the street leading from The Bailey past the cathedral's eastern towers up to Palace Green is named Dun Cow Lane due to the miniature dun cows which used to graze in the pastures nearby.
Initially, a very simple temporary structure was built from local timber to house the relics of Saint Cuthbert. The shrine was then transferred to a sturdier, probably still wooden, building known as the White Church. This church was itself replaced three years later in 998 by a stone building also known as the White Church, which in 1018 was complete except for its tower. Durham soon became a site of pilgrimage, encouraged by the growing cult of Saint Cuthbert. King Canute was one of the early pilgrims, and granted many privileges and estates to the Durham monks.http://www.englandsnortheast.co.uk/DurhamCity.html England's Great Northeast, Durham City History, Accessed 21 July 2015 The defensible position, flow of money from pilgrims and power embodied in the church at Durham all encouraged the formation of a town around the cathedral, which established the core of the city.
Bishop William of St. Calais demolished the old Saxon church, and on 11 August 1093, together with Prior Turgot of Durham (Aldwin's successor), he laid the foundation stone of the great new cathedral.Victoria County History, Durham The monks continued at their own expense to build the monastic buildings while the bishop took the responsibility for completing the building of the cathedral. Stone for the new buildings was cut from the cliffs below the walls and moved up using winches. The primary reason for the cathedral was to house the bodies of St. Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede.
Since that time many major additions and reconstructions of parts of the building have been made, but the greater part of the structure remains the original Norman structure. Construction of the cathedral began in 1093, at the eastern end. The choir was completed by 1096. At the death of Bishop William of St. Calais on 2 January 1096, the Chapter House was ready enough to be used as his burial place. In 1104 the remains of St. Cuthbert were transferred with great ceremony to the new shrine in the new cathedral. The monks continued to look after the Shrine of St Cuthbert until the dissolution of the monasteries.
Work proceeded on the nave, the walls of which were finished by 1128, and the high vault by 1135. The chapter house was built between 1133 and 1140John Harvey, English Cathedrals, p. 129. (partially demolished in the 18th century). William of St. Carilef died in 1096 before the building was complete and passed responsibility to his successor, Ranulf Flambard, who also built Framwellgate Bridge, the earliest crossing of the River Wear from the town. Three bishops, William of St. Carilef, Ranulf Flambard and Hugh de Puiset, are all buried in the now rebuilt chapter house.
In the 1170s Hugh de Puiset, after a false start at the eastern end where subsidence and cracking prevented work from continuing, added the Galilee Chapel at the west end of the cathedral.Stranks, Durham Cathedral The five-aisled building occupies the position of a porch and functioned as a Lady chapel with the great west door being blocked during the Medieval period by an altar to the Virgin Mary. The door is now blocked by the tomb of Bishop Thomas Langley. The Galilee Chapel also holds the remains of the Venerable Bede. The main entrance to the cathedral is on the northern side, facing the castle.
In 1228 Richard le Poore, Bishop of Salisbury, was translated to Durham, having just rebuilt Salisbury Cathedral in the Gothic style. At that moment the eastern end of Durham Cathedral was in urgent need of repair and the proposed eastern extension had failed. Le Poore employed the architect Richard Farnham to design an eastern terminal for the building in which many monks could say the Daily Office simultaneously. The resulting building was the Chapel of the Nine Altars. In 1250, the original roof of the cathedral was replaced by a vault which is still in place.
The towers also date from the early 13th century, but the central tower was damaged by lightning and replaced in two stages in the 15th century, the master masons being Thomas Barton and John Bell.
The bishop of Durham was the temporal lord of the County Palatine of Durham. The bishop competed for power with the Durham Priory, a great landowner who held his own courts for his free tenants. An agreement dated about 1229, known as Le Convenit was entered into to regulate the relationship between the two magnates.Abstract from: Cynthia J. Neville, The Courts of the Prior and the Bishop of Durham in the Later Middle Ages, 2002 [2]
The Shrine of Saint Cuthbert was located in the eastern apsidal end of the cathedral. The location of the inner wall of the apse is marked on the pavement and Saint Cuthbert's tomb is covered by a simple slab. However, an unknown monk wrote in 1593:
Bishop John Cosin (in office 1660–1672), previously a canon of the cathedral, set about restoring the damage and refurnishing the building with new stalls, the litany desk, and the towering canopy over the font. An oak screen to carry the organ was added at this time to replace a stone screen pulled down in the 16th century. On the remains of the old refectory, Dean John Sudbury founded a library of early printed books.
In 1829 the Dean and Chapter authorised the engraving of a meridian line upon the floor and wall of the north cloister. A circular aperture about in the tracery of the adjoining window about above the level of the floor directs a beam of sunlight to fall upon the line at the precise time when the Sundial. It was constructed by William Lloyd Wharton, of Dryburn in the city, and Mr Carr, then Head Master of Durham School. In 1847 the architect Anthony Salvin removed Cosin's wooden organ screen, opening up the view of the east end from the nave, and in 1858 he restored the . The Victorian restoration of the cathedral's tower in 1859–60 was by the architect George Gilbert Scott, working with Edward Robert Robson (who went on to serve as Clerk of Works at the cathedral for six years). Who Was Who, online edition, ROBSON, Edward Robert (subscription required), accessed 13 December 2008 In 1874 Scott was responsible for the marble choir screen and pulpit in the Crossing. In 1892 Scott's pupil Charles Hodgson Fowler rebuilt the Chapter House as a memorial to Bishop Joseph Barber Lightfoot. The great west window, depicting the Tree of Jesse, was the gift of Dean George Waddington in 1867. It is the work of Clayton and Bell, who were also responsible for the Te Deum window in the south transept (1869), the Four Doctors window in the north transept (1875), and the Rose Window of Christ in Majesty (). There is also a statue of William Van Mildert (1826–1836), the last bishop with palatine powers, and driving force behind the foundation of Durham University.
In 1986, the cathedral, together with the nearby Castle, became a World Heritage Site. The UNESCO committee classified the cathedral under criteria C (ii) (iv) (vi), reporting, " Durham Cathedral is the largest and most perfect monument of 'Norman' style architecture in England". In its discussion of the significance of the cathedral, Historic England provided this summary in their 1986 report:
The relics and material culture of the three saints buried at the site. The continuity of use and ownership of the site over the past 1000 years as a place of religious worship, learning and residence; The site's role as a political statement of Norman power imposed upon a subjugate nation, as one of the country's most powerful symbols of the Norman Conquest of Britain; The importance of the site's archaeological remains, which are directly related to the site's history and continuity of use over the past 1000 years; The cultural and religious traditions and historical memories associated with the relics of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, and with the continuity of use and ownership of the site over the past millennium.
In 2016 former monastic buildings around the cloister, including the Monks' Dormitory and Prior's Kitchen, were re-opened to the public as Open Treasure, an extensive exhibition displaying the cathedral's history and possessions. In the same year, a scale model of the cathedral, made up of 300,000 Lego bricks and standing tall and long, was completed. The model is no longer displayed. In November 2009 the cathedral featured in the light festival Lumiere whose highlight was the "Crown of Light" illumination of the North Front of the cathedral with a 15-minute presentation that told the story of Lindisfarne and the foundation of cathedral, using illustrations and text from the Lindisfarne Gospels. Lumiere has been repeated biennially since–most recently in 2023. Durham Priory held many manuscripts; in the 21st century, steps were under way to digitise the books, originating from the 6th to the 16th century. The project was being undertaken in a partnership by Durham University and Durham Cathedral. The cathedral church and the cloister is open to visitors during certain hours each day, unless it is closed for a special event. In 2017 a new "Open Treasure" exhibition area was opened which included a display of Saint Cuthbert's coffin and various relics; in 2019 a new exhibit was added, Mapping the World, featuring geographical items from the cathedral's archive.
The building is notable for the rib vault of the nave, with some of the earliest transverse pointed arches supported on relatively slender composite piers alternated with massive drum columns, and lateral abutments concealed within the triforium over the aisles. These features appear to be precursors of the Gothic architecture of Northern France, possibly due to the Norman stonemasons responsible, although the building is considered Romanesque overall. The skilled use of the pointed arch and ribbed vault made it possible to cover far more elaborate and complicated ground plans than before. Buttressing made it possible to build taller buildings and open up the intervening wall spaces to create larger windows.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site description makes this comment about the architectural style:
Though some wrongly considered Durham Cathedral to be the first 'Gothic' monument (the relationship between it and the churches built in the Île-de-France region in the 12th century is not obvious), this building, owing to the innovative audacity of its vaulting, constitutes, as do Spire Speyer and Cluny, a type of experimental model which was far ahead of its time.Another United Nations web site states that
"the use of stone 'ribs' forming pointed arches to support the ceiling of the nave was an important achievement, and Durham Cathedral is the earliest known example" and The nave vault of Durham Cathedral is the most significant architectural element ... because it marks a turning point in the history of architecture. The pointed arch was successfully used as a structural element for the first time here in this building. Semi-circular arches were the type used prior to the adoption of the structural pointed arch—the limitations of which is that their height must be proportionate to their width".
Saint Cuthbert's tomb lies at the east in the Feretory and was once an elaborate monument of cream marble and gold. It remains a place of pilgrimage. The fragments of St Cuthbert's coffin are exhibited at the cathedral.
Memorials include those to Bishop Joseph Butler, Bishop Edward Maltby, John Robert Davison QC MP and Brigadier General Herbert Conyers Surtees.
The current Master of the Choristers and Organist is Daniel Cook, having succeeded James Lancelot in 2017. The Sub-Organist is Joseph Beech.
Television programmes shot at the cathedral include: Treasurehunt (1988); Songs of Praise; The Antiques Roadshow Britain's Best Buildings (2002) Climbing Great Buildings (2010); Great British Railway Journeys (2011); Richard Wilson: On the Road; ; Britain's Great Cathedrals; and two Catherine Cookson adaptations, The Tide of Life and The Wingless Bird.
"Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe to the eyes of those who appreciate architecture, and to the minds of those who understand architecture. The group of Cathedral, Castle, and Monastery on the rock can only be compared to Avignon and Prague." – Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England
"A dream, I'm bowled over...Imagine a river valley cut into the landscape with wooded sides. The river bends, and in the bend, on the hillside, lies the old town—first the residential town, then separate from it, and higher up, the castle—and then, out on its own, in the midst of tall trees, the enormous cathedral with its twin end towers. From the bridge it is a Romantic dream, a fantasy by Schinkel. This morning in the mist it was wonderful...the first thing that has made my heart pound...the cathedral in itself, just like the Matterhorn in itself—gigantic, grey, on its own." – Pevsner in a letter to his wife, Lola, on his first English tour in 1930.
"I paused upon the bridge, and admired and wondered at the beauty and glory of this scene...it was grand, venerable, and sweet, all at once; I never saw so lovely and magnificent a scene, nor, being content with this, do I care to see a better." – Nathaniel Hawthorne on Durham Cathedral, The English Notebooks
'With the cathedral at Durham we reach the incomparable masterpiece of Romanesque architecture not only in England but anywhere. The moment of entering provides for an architectural experience never to be forgotten, one of the greatest England has to offer.' – Alec Clifton-Taylor, 'English Towns' series on BBC television.
"I unhesitatingly gave Durham my vote for best cathedral on planet Earth." – Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island.
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