The Friends of Durham Cathedral: Safeguarding the Rich Heritage of the North East for almost 90 years

In this blog post for #HeritageOpenDays 2020, Nanette Tiplady, the Officer Manager of the Friends of Durham Cathedral, details some of her favourite projects that the Friends have supported the cathedral with over the years. We hope you enjoy!

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Power and Remembrance: the surroundings of Durham Cathedral

As part of our celebrations for the 2020 #HeritageOpenDays festival, our Head of Collections, Alison Cullingford, explores some of the spaces and sights just outside the Cathedral. We hope you enjoy!

In the footprints of the monks: the Durham Cathedral cloisters

The cloisters of Durham Cathedral are once again open to the public, offering a chance to rest and reflect, and a way through to our re-opened shop, restaurant and toilets.

The cloisters are much more than a set of walkways though. When you walk through them, you are truly following in the footsteps of the medieval monks of Durham Priory. For this year’s Heritage Open Days festival, we explore some of the stories behind the medieval cloisters.

Meet the marvellous manuscripts of Durham Priory

For the Heritage Open Days festival 2020, we explore some of the marvellous manuscripts which belonged to the monks of Durham Priory.

CREATURES AND CROSSES – THE CARVINGS OF DURHAM CATHEDRAL (PART two)

In the second part of his blog, Volunteer guide Peter Lowis points out carvings of interest in the Quire, the Chapter House and the Galilee Chapel

If you missed part 1, click here before reading on.

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The Quire in Durham is a treasure trove for those seeking mythical beasts in stone. Above the Sanctuary, around 20 feet above the marble floor and particularly on the northside, countless creatures have been carved in the ethos of architectural design. Higher still, birds that bear the heads of men or others with tails four feet in length are depicted being chased or chewed by an aggressor.  Above the north Parclose door a lengthy capital depicts a feeding frenzy as this carving has upwards of half a score of birds within.  

On the south side, the reciprocal carving is more subdued. Possibly a hundred small bird-like creatures give way to floral design.

The 13^th century Chapel of the Nine Altars continues in this vogue with carvings head high of countless Bishops and Kings whilst many other carvings are 60 feet above ground. A mason is near the Joseph window. Contrast that with those hard to find such as the bird towards the junction of the southern face of the south Quire Aisle at its junction with Eastern Transept. On the contrary John Gibson’s carving of Bishop Van Mildert is not difficult, sighted beneath the Joseph window.

The vault of the Quire displays 5 bosses, three of which are in the 13^th century English style and two in the French style. These include a carving of Abraham catching the souls of the saved in a net, and a green man with a lion and two humans.

Beneath the vault, on the north side, is the marble carving of the Lightfoot memorial – designed by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890) and finished after his death by his assistant, Alfred Gilbert.

Picture credit: DAVID WOOD

Wood carvings in the South Transept however are a gem. The DLI Chapel was created in 1923, and the pews a few years later by Cornish and Gaymer. Each pew end bears superb carvings of griffin, snakes, armadillo, and wild boar. The result – that each carving lives.

The carving of Shute Barrington by Francis Leggatt Chantrey (1781-1841), one of several memorial carvings he did of Anglican Bishops may catch our eye, opposite.

Picture: credit DAVID WOOD

So far, the Galilee Chapel has escaped examination. Around the walls, there are innumerable faces, but the master carving must be the Christie Cross in memory of Canon Cruikshank, based on the style of the 11^th century.

The 1414 tomb of Cardinal Thomas Langley abuts into the chapel by the west door. Relatively plain, it still however commands respect for it was Langley who paid for massive buttressing which keeps this part of the church stable.

The Chapter House has a marvellous display of carvings. Sadly, due to the vandalism by our forebears, the east end is confined to late 19^th century carvings, some copies of earlier ones of 12^th century. However, at the west side of the door leading to the Cloister, a capital still displays a beautiful offering of a 12^th century mermaid. This has been lauded as possibly the best of its kind in the United Kingdom. On the opposite capital there is also a centaur with a bow similar to one on a capital at the Nave south door. Three 12^th century caryatids rescued from earlier destruction adorn the north wall.

The Cloister vault has benefitted from much carving. Green men already alluded too are interposed with carvings of the Passion. Most are about 600 years in age; therefore, colouring is dark.

The ceiling of the Dean’s dining room has a plethora of carving which includes another Green man, but that is as they say, for tomorrow.

All in all, there are plenty of carvings for us all to feast our eyes on, and we hope you enjoy marvelling at them when you next visit us here at Durham.  

CREATURES AND CROSSES – The carvings of durham cathedral (Part One)

Our wonderful building has a plethora of magnificent carvings in both wood and stone. Volunteer guide Peter Lowis has made it one of his special subjects on the cathedral tour, and in the first of a two part blog he takes us round with him on a virtual tour, pointing out some of the carvings that he finds particularly interesting.

Annotating Aristotle: Exploring a 13th century Library Book

Today we explore a remarkable book which tells us about the people and intellectual life of Durham Priory, the community of Benedictine monks that inhabited the cathedral site during the medieval period. Durham Priory was dissolved in 1539, but this book remains in Durham Cathedral Library’s collections to this day. It has been digitised through the Durham Priory Library project, a joint project with Durham University to facilitate access to remarkable volumes from the cathedral’s collections from anywhere. Find the link to view this book yourself at the end of this article.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE GREAT NORTHERN SAINTS

As you may know, we had to postpone many of our plans for our Year of Pilgrimage and the launch of the Northern Saints Trails which were scheduled for the Spring. We’re happy to announce that our partners at This is Durham have now made the walking routes lives online and in celebration of this, our Head of Collections, Alison Cullingford, has chosen to dedicate a blog post to the enormous impact of the great northern saints.

“No man is an island’ – Worship in the Pandemic

In our latest blog post, one of our regular cathedral worshippers, Pat Francis, shares in her own words, how she has found worship during the COVID-19 pandemic.

REFLECTIONS FROM THE CANON PASTOR ON REOPENING FOR PRIVATE PRAYER

Michael Everitt is Canon Pastor of Durham Cathedral and has been leading some of the online worship we’ve been providing throughout lockdown. Since the cathedral reopened for private prayer and quiet reflection on 22 June, he has spent some time inside the cathedral, speaking to those who have visited for this purpose. In this blog he reflects on the first phase of reopening and what it was like to welcome back members of the community for private prayer.