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| Object Title: | Durham Cathedral, England | |
| Creation Date: | beg. c. 1093 | |
| Period/Style: | English Romanesque | |
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| Repository/Location: | Durham, England | |
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| In c. ad 995 Bishop Aldhun of Chester-le-Street and his clergy took refuge on a craggy rock almost surrounded by the River Wear, together with their principal treasure, the incorrupt body of their patron saint, Cuthbert. Durham thus became both a bishop’s seat and a place of pilgrimage. Traditionally the site had previously been unoccupied, but its natural defences probably already contained a major secular stronghold, and stray finds of Roman pottery hint at earlier occupation. The fortunes of Durham Cathedral were closely tied to the cult of St Cuthbert (d 687). By the time the remains of the saint were brought to Durham, the congregation that served his shrine was no longer monastic, and the 11th-century monastic revival did not reach the north of England until after the Norman Conquest (1066). In 1083 a Benedictine community was finally established at Durham, but the cathedral itself was not started until 1093 when Bishop William of St Calais (reg 1081–96) returned from exile in Normandy. Progress seems to have been rapid. St Cuthbert’s remains were translated into the new choir in 1104, which was presumably vaulted and ready to receive him. The nave vaults were started in 1128 and finished by 1133. By then the church must have been complete apart from the upper parts of the west towers. Work continued on the monastic apartments until well into the second half of the 12th century. The Galilee Chapel attached to the west front was the contribution of Bishop Hugh of Le Puiset. By 1235 the choir vaults were threatening to collapse on to St Cuthbert’s shrine, and they had to be replaced. At the same time a second transept, the chapel of the Nine Altars, was added at the east end. The nature of the site prevented any further extension eastward, so the transept became in effect a retrochoir and reliquary chapel for St Cuthbert as well as a setting for subsidiary altars. These works, which continued until c. 1278, were the only major additions to the Norman church. The central tower, which was destroyed during a storm in 1429, was replaced between 1470 and 1476. The belfry stage, the only part of the cathedral that can be seen above the surrounding hills, dates from 1484–94. The internal length of the existing building is 140.5 m, and it is built of sandstone. Grove Dictionary of Art | ||
