A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



destroyed building have been re-used. The bed 

 joints are fairly even and close, but many of the 

 upright joints are wide. On the east wall is a 

 15th-century shield much decayed, but ap- 

 parently bearing a lion rampant, impaling the 

 see, supporting a helmet and mitre. 



The north-east angle of Bishop Pudsey's 

 building possesses an irregular-shaped turret of 

 13th-century work, probably masking in the 

 lower part a portion of Bishop Walcher's 

 (1071-80) earlier building. It contains an 

 irregular-shaped chamber in the upper portion, 

 with two narrow windows facing east and west. 

 The base of this tower is built upon the remains 

 of a massive vault of early date, a portion of which 

 is exposed. 



The greater part of the north front of the 



connected by a large circular internal staircase, 

 still in existence. Bishop Pudsey also incor- 

 porated, at its south-east angle, the lower por- 

 tion of the newel stair of Waltheof's earlier 

 buildings; there were also newel stairs at the 

 south-west and north-west angles of the build- 

 ing. The north-west staircase has entirely 

 disappeared, and only the lower portion of the 

 south-west remains. A close inspection indi- 

 cates that Pudsey's range of buildings began 

 to show signs of failure at an early date, and only 

 constant attention, aided by the thickness of the 

 walls, has enabled it to continue its chequered 

 existence up to the present time. 



The south wall of the lower hall is built 

 partially upon another wall, but not in alignment 

 with it. The outer base of Bishop Pudsey's 



Durham Castle : The Norman Gallery 



castle between the two turrets just described 

 was occupied by the block containing the 

 Constable's Hall or armoury now known as the 

 Norman Gallery. This building was originally 

 erected by Bishop Pudsey (1153-95) ^' ^^d when 

 completed must have presented an imposing 

 appearance with its double range of circular- 

 headed windows and magnificent doorway. It 

 stands largely upon the site of previous build- 

 ings which were probably destroyed about 1155 

 or 1 166 by the fire referred to by Reginald. 

 The building forms a prolonged rectangle on 

 plan and would appear to have been a large 

 example of the ' hall house,' but with two halls, 

 the upper one known as the Constable's Hall, 

 now the Norman Gallery. The two halls were 



** Hist. Dunelm. Scrip. Tres (Surt. Soc), 12. 

 Although not specially mentioned among his works, 

 the Constable's Hall must be attributed to Pudsey. 



wall is carried on a series of pointed arches, 

 which are interesting as proving the use of the 

 pointed arch at this date. The small piers 

 between the arches were built without any 

 spread of foundation and only 18 in. below the 

 level of the Norman courtyard. On account of 

 threatened failure, these arches were built up, 

 and the wall was later strengthened by small 

 buttresses ; the erection of Tunstall's turret and 

 flying buttresses, and also Cosin's staircase 

 doubtless arrested the movement. The central 

 portion of this range, however, still crept out- 

 wards, causing the replacement of the Tunstall 

 Gallery roof on several occasions on account of 

 the pressure on its outer walls. By the time of 

 Bishop Trevor, about 1754, the overhang 

 amounted to about 18 in. towards the south, and 

 an endeavour was then made to straighten the 

 outer face of the wall. The upper part of the 

 shallow Norman buttresses, together with the 



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