Durham Cathedral

Paradoxplace BRITISH ABBEYS AND CATHEDRALS

Durham Cathedral

CUTHBERT, BEDE AND OTHER EARLY ENGLISH SAINTS AND KINGS

"Durham Cathedral is amongst the greatest churches ever built. Planned and begun by Bishop Carileph (1081 - 1096) most of the cathedral was built in the Norman (Romanesque) style. The Rose Window is a later addition and was remodelled in the the late eighteenth century. The Nave, Quire and two transepts, north and south, were all built between 1093 and 1133. The Galilee Chapel was added in 1175. The two western towers were built between 1217 and 1226. Finally, the Chapel of the Nine Alters was completed in the Gothic style between 1242 and 1280. Until 1540, the Cathedral was also the church of the Benedictine Monastery where the monks worked and worshiped." A short guide to Durham Cathedral

The Cathedral, cloisters and other monastic buildings make this, along with Worcester and Canterbury, the most complete "medieval cathedral monastery ensembles" (to coin a Spanish expression) in Britain.

Durham Cathedral Cloisters

North west corner of the cloisters surmounted by the monks' dormitory, and the twin western towers (1217 - 1226). Monks' dormitories are more usually found on the other side of the cloister as this was closest to the transept and choir for the late night and early morning services

North east corner of the cloisters (above and and below), central tower, transept and (inaccessible) chapter house.

The beautiful Norman nave (above) and choir / apse (below). The masons who built Durham were the first in Europe to have the courage to throw a full stone roof over a large choir and nave (1093 - 1133), and to do so they invented ribbed vaulting (and also concealed flying buttresses). The testing nature of such developments was underlined later by the collapse of the choir roof (the earliest section to be built).

By moving away from the barrel to the ribbed vault, the Durham masons had effectively pioneered basic Gothic some decades before it manifested itself in the large cathedrals of northern France. Prior to this large span roofs had been wooden.

The building activities of the early 1100s moved from east to west, and it is interesting to look at the arch decorations along this "timeline", which become more and more detailed as you move west. The rose window now in the east was a much later addition.

Shrine of Saint Cuthbert - Cathedral Postcard

Cross of Saint Cuthbert - Cathedral Postcard

The abbey cathedral's Shrine of Saint Cuthbert (from Landisfarne) was the most visited in England until Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in Canterbury and his shrine took over the popularity (and accessibility) stakes.

Some early English Saints, Kings and Queens

including Cuthbert, Oswald and Bede

This panel has now been moved to its own page

Looking back down the nave from the quire (choir)

The Galilee Chapel (aka Lady Chapel) dates from the late 1100s and the 1200s, and is located where the West porch or narthex would normally be so that women could come and worship without setting the monks' hearts racing. That's Bede's tomb with the candles behind the modern carving, and there are also a few paintings on the upper walls. Although the chapel was only built a few decades after the nave, the design patterns have already become noticeably slimmer.

The tomb of another great Northumberland Saint and historian - the Venerable Bede (from Jarrow) (aka Saint Bede the Venerable) - is also in the cathedral's Galilee chapel (right). He wrote "The Ecclesiastical History of the English Peoples"

Link to Durham Cathedral Website