CITY OF DURHAM 



machicolation and parapet, were removed and 

 stout beams were thrown under the shelter of 

 the roof of Tunstall's Gallery from buttress to 

 buttress. With the extra 7 in. thus gained a 

 commencement was made to build the outer 

 face perpendicular by robbing the old wall 

 deeper and deeper the higher the work pro- 

 ceeded. Immediately above the windows was 

 placed a plain string-course, and a second 

 moulded string at the base of the parapet wall. 

 The parapet is crenellated and finished with 

 moulded and weathered coping. The date of 

 the work was commemorated by the insertion 

 of the arms of Bishop Trevor impaled with the 

 arms of the see and surmounted by a mitre 

 arising out of a coronet. The refacing was carried 

 out in Kepier stone in courses of irregular depth, 

 finely dressed with close joints. 



A further movement of about 13 in. after- 

 wards took place, and in 1902 the building was 

 tied across with three rows of steel ties having 

 outer steel bands. What permanent effect this 

 may have remains to be seen. The wall, when 

 opened, was found to consist of an outer skin 

 of masonry, filled in with loose rubble and ' soil 

 mortar.' 



The west wall, with its boldly projecting base, 

 has fared little better than the south ; indeed, 

 at one lime it must have threatened complete 

 coUapse. The north-west angle appears to have 

 given way, and a great rent ran from top to 

 bottom of the building; the effect of this can 

 be seen in the great difference in width and 

 distortion of the arches of the west windows. 

 Under the floor of the ' still ' room recent 

 excavation has revealed a portion of the founda- 

 tion of the west wall, of which there remains a 

 short length of about 5 ft. with a square off-set 

 prepared for a wallplate. The depth of the wall 

 visible is about 4 ft. 8 in. where it appears to 

 end, but as the base of the wall on the outside is 

 at least 6 ft. below this level, the foundations 

 of the wall must be stepped back and down from 

 the inner face. It is a rough rubble wall with 

 clay joints; the single existing course of faced 

 walling forms the side of the set-off ; this latter 

 is set in lime and denotes the original inside line 

 of Pudsey's west wall. Fissures exist at the 

 joint of the west and south walls and a smaller 

 one about midway. Here also may be seen the 

 ' great gash ' which extended, ever increasing, to 

 the very top of the building, causing the distor- 

 tion and widening of the south window in the 

 west wall of the Norman Gallery. 



North of the ' gash ' the character of the 

 foundations changes; on plan the top appears 

 to be almost semicircular, and at the first glance 

 the general section gives the impression that it 

 is a gathering over of an angle formed by two 

 walls at right angles. An inspection, however, 

 shows that this is not so, for when the adhering 



soil was removed it was found to have no 

 particular face, no courses, and no regular 

 overhang of the stones, and the impression given 

 is that it is the rough rubble backing of a wall 

 built upon a sloping sandy surface. At a depth 

 of 3 ft. 6 in. it apparently stops and a step back 

 of large size is probably formed. Whether this 

 sandy bank is a portion of the outer defences 

 before Pudsey's time, and upon which Pudsey 

 built, must be left to conjecture. It is to be 

 noted that this building never possessed an 

 undercroft and that it is filled solid with a sandy 

 soil from the level of the courtyard up to the 

 underside of the joists of the Common Room 

 a depth of some 10 ft. ; also that in the Common 

 Room an excavation at the back of the north 

 wall revealed the fact that the foundations are 

 stepped, rising from the outside towards the 

 inside in a somewhat similar manner. All these 

 facts point to the conclusion that Pudsey built 

 upon the sides of a sloping bank, and to the 

 probability that this bank formed a portion of 

 the original earthwork defending the north face. 

 Unfortunately the north wall had to be largely 

 rebuilt by Bishops Butler and Trevor about 1751 

 to 1756. This was the occasion of a bitter 

 controversy between Mr. Course of London 

 and Mr. Shirley of Durham, two surveyors 

 employed to settle the dilapidations on the 

 succession of Bishop Butler.^' It would appear 

 that about 41 ft. of the north wall, presumably at 

 the west end, overhung some 3 ft. in the worst 

 part, the whole being in a dilapidated condition. 

 About 1 741, in the time of Bishop Chandler, a 

 London surveyor had caused ' chain bars ' to be 

 inserted from the north to the south wall, and 

 timbers were added to prevent the roof from 

 thrusting out the walls. The whole building, 

 however, had evidently been a cause of anxiety 

 for many years.*" Mr. Course condemned the 

 north wall, and recommended that it be rebuilt, 

 which Mr. Shirley considered unnecessary, as 

 it had not moved for 80 years. The repairs were 

 apparently made by Mr. Sanderson Miller. At 

 any rate he was employed in the decoration of 

 the present Common Room, then the Bishop's 

 dining room,** and is responsible for the lowering 

 of the floor, the insertion of the large stone 

 chimney piece, a window in ' Gothic taste' and 

 the plaster decoration including the extra- 

 ordinary gilt ' buttercups ' on the otherwise fine 

 oak ceiling. The work then executed included 

 the insertion of the two windows of the Common 



*' Correspondence and reports of Mr. Shirley, a 

 local surveyor, and Mr. Kenton Course, a London 

 surveyor, as to dilapidations between the late Bishop 

 Chandler and Bishop Butler. 



«<> Ibid. 



" Correspondence between Bishop Butler and 

 Mr. Sanderson Miller, and Mr. Talbot, dated 1751. 

 (Found and copied by the Very Rev. Henry Gee, D.D.) 



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