A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Beneath the organ loft facing east is a fine 

 oak screen of Bishop Cosin's time. It has two 

 half doors in the centre; the lower parts of both 

 doors and of the screen are filled in with solid 

 panelling, while the upper part has octagonal 

 balusters with moulded capitals, bands and 

 bases, square stopped at the bottom. The space 

 at the top between the balusters is filled with 

 flowing cusped tracery. On each side of the 

 doorway are two square projections forming 

 canopies to two stalls. The cornice, which 

 returns round the canopies, is of deal dentilled. 

 The canopies are surmounted with pediments 

 with shields bearing the arms of the see. Over 

 the doorway are three moulded panels with the 

 inscription : nath dnvs crewe | episc : dvnelm : 

 posvit|a° transl 25° 1698, surmounted by a 

 scroll pediment bearing Cosin's arms. The panel- 

 ling of the upper part of the screen forming the 

 front of the organ gallery was brought from the 

 cathedral about 1840. 



The organ is the old quire organ from 

 the cathedral, and some of the pipes are the 

 original pipes of ' Father ' Smith, the celebrated 

 builder who erected the cathedral organ. It was 

 repaired and erected in the chapel in 1873. The 

 panelling on the west wall under the gallery is of 

 similar date, but the pediments are of the time of 

 Bishop Barrington (1791-1826), the centre one 

 bearing his arms. 



On the south wall of the chapel are two very 

 fine lead rain-water heads; the one in the west 

 angle is rectangular in form with large diminish- 

 ing outlet under. It possesses an embattled and 

 cusped cornice, and the face is divided into three 

 parts by rounded, looped columns finished at the 

 top with a form of vase ornament, and at the 

 bottom with a ball pendant. Centrally placed is 

 a shield bearing the arms of the see. One-third 

 of the head has been cut away to fit into the angle 

 of the building. The ears attached to the head 

 bear the Tudor rose surmounted by a mitre. 

 The second head has a body of similar form, with 

 a large almost circular outlet decorated with a 

 circular shield bearing a lion rampant, impaling the 

 arms of the see. The members of the projecting 

 moulded cornice are enriched with beading and 

 leaf ornament, and the angles have looped 

 columns with ball pendants. Two pear-shaped 

 pendants with ball termination, one on either 

 side of the outlet, carry the date 1699, the time 

 of Bishop Crewe. The main face is decorated 

 with an earl's coronet and a mitre. 



On the lower floor to the north of Tunstall's 

 chapel is the original Norman Chapel of the 

 castle. This forms a part of the work generally 

 supposed to have been commenced in 1072 '^ by 

 Wahheof, Earl of Northumbria, and continued 

 by Walcher, Bishop of Durham, who succeeded 



'2 Simeon of Durham (Surt. Soc), ii, 199. 



him in the earldom, and is the only portion of 

 the castle of that date now remaining complete. 

 It was for many years disused, and even now is 

 only a passage-way to the keep. 



The original entrance to the chapel was in the 

 west bay of the south wall and was approached 

 by a short vaulted passage from a circular newel 

 stair in the still existing south-east turret of 

 Waltheof's building. The lower part of this 

 stair was diverted about 1840 into Bishop 

 Tunstall's lower gallery, from which a tunnel 

 was made to the chapel, which was reached by 

 an archway formed in the south bay of the west 

 wall. The window in the corresponding bay 

 of the east wall was destroyed and the present 

 staircase leading to the keep was made through 

 the opening. In tunnelling through the ancient 

 masonry under Pudsey's building a massive vault 

 and a stone staircase were revealed." 



The chapel is rectangular in plan, 32 ft. 3 in. 

 long, by 23 ft. 9 in. wide, its height from the 

 floor to the crown of the vault being about 

 15 ft. 9 in. It is divided into a nave and two 

 aisles by arcades of four bays. The vaulting is 

 supported by three round pillars on each side 

 of the nave, with half-round responds on the 

 east wall, corbels on the west wall, and rectangu- 

 lar pilasters on the north and south walls and 

 in the angles. This method of construction 

 renders the building independent of the support 

 of the north wall, and suggests perhaps that the 

 north wall belongs to an earlier building. This 

 suggestion is strengthened by a close examin- 

 ation of the wall itself, which is rudely built 

 with large and irregular joints containing stones 

 of extraordinary form and dimensions, and coarse 

 and irregular dressings. A comparison may be 

 made with the lower portion of the wall in the 

 east bay, where it has been cut away for the 

 insertion of an aumbry, 2 ft. deep, 2 ft. 6 in. 

 wide, and 3 ft. high, around which the walling 

 is carefully coursed, more like the east wall. 

 In further evidence of the antiquity of this 

 wall it may be noticed that the rectangular piers, 

 about 2 ft. 6 in. square, are not bonded into the 

 wall, but have a straight joint at the back of the 

 piers and of the arches carried by them. This 

 joint at the floor level is small, but increases as 

 it ascends, until at the crown of the arches it 

 is from 5 in. to 7 in. in width, and has been 



" The late Mr. W. Parker, for many years Clerk of 

 Works to the Chapter, stated that he remembered 

 working at the tunnel as a boy, and that when the 

 chapel was entered it was found half full of masons' 

 rubbish, dust, and refuse of all descriptions. The chapel 

 had presumably been closed up for many years. Mr. 

 Parker was a joiner and states that he helped to make 

 the windows and doors existing in the present south 

 wall, the openings in which were at that time closed 

 up with masonry, there being no means of access to the 

 chapel. 



86 



