CITY OF DURHAM 



the tower on Framwellgate Bridge round the 

 Market Square to the tower on Elvet Bridge, 

 with gates on the northern line of the wall 

 opening on to Claygate and Walkergate. This 

 later wall probably did not possess any great 

 military value, but was merely of sufficient 

 strength to keep off raiders. The city walls 

 became neglected in the i6th century and were 

 allowed to fall into disrepair and so have gradu- 

 ally disappeared. 



Durham Cathedral 

 CATHEDRAL stands on a rockyheight 



CHURCH bounded on the east, 



I. HISTORICAL south, and west by a 



bend of the river Wear. 

 To the north and south of the cathedral the 

 level space is considerable, but the buUding 

 occupies the whole extent of the level ground 

 from east to west, the buttresses of the western- 

 most portion actually descending the face of 

 the cliff some forty feet, whence the thickly 

 wooded slope descends rapidly to the river. The 

 position is one of the most commanding of any 

 in England, and the view of the cathedral from 

 the west and south-west is extremely impressive. 



The site has been continuously occupied by a 

 church from 995, when the body of St. Cuthbert 

 was brought hither after many wanderings, and 

 a temporary structure was erected over it. This 

 was superseded by a church of stone begun by 

 Bishop Aldhun in 996, and known as the White 

 Church. Aldhun's church was standing at the 

 time of the Conquest, but excavation has failed 

 to reveal any trace of it. That it had a western 

 tower is evident from the account^ of Reginald 

 the monk, and that, after the fashion of the larger 

 churches of the time, it was cruciform with a 

 second tower over the crossing. 



Certain crossheads of late style, taken from 

 below the chapter house, must be relics of the 

 period between 995 and the Norman Conquest 

 and may have commemorated members of the 

 community of secular priests who served the 

 church from the time of Aldhun to that of 

 William of St. Calais. The discovery in 1874, 

 below the graves of the bishops Ranulf Flam- 

 bard, Geoffrey Rufus and William of St. Barbe, 

 of the skeletons of men, women and children, and 

 of an iron spear head with a gold-plated socket, 

 believed by some to be attributable to this period, 

 probably points to a pre-Christian settlement 

 of considerably earlier datc.^ 



The church which stands to-day was begun, 

 as Simeon of Durham tells us, in 1093 by Bishop 

 William of St. Calais (1080-1096). During his 

 lifetime an agreement was in force between the 



* Reginaldi Mon. Dunelm. (Surtees Soc), cap. ivi, 



P- 29- . 



* The evidence of the cranial indices, though incon- 

 clusive, is on the whole unfavourable to such a 

 hypothesis. 



bishop and the monks, by which the former 

 undertook to bear the cost of building the church, 

 and the latter that of the monastic buildings. 

 There are indications that the replacement of 

 the Saxon buildings other than the church had 

 already been taken in hand before this time, the 

 east and south ranges of the cloister having been 

 worked upon during the time of Walcher (1071- 

 1080), and doubtless in the first thirteen years 

 of William's episcopate, before he was in a 

 position to start work on the new church. It is 

 possible that the site of the earlier church was a 

 little to the south of the present building and 

 that Walcher's work, of which mention will be 

 made in the description of the monastic build- 

 ings, was joined directly to the south side of 

 Aldhun's church. 



With regard to the church of William of St. 

 Calais, it may be said that if the Chapel of the 

 Nine Altars at the east and the Galilee Chapel 

 at the west end be imagined absent, and if for 

 the former be substituted a termination con- 

 sisting of a great central apse semicircular both 

 inside and out, and two side apses with a square 

 external termination, one at each of the ends of 

 the quire aisles, the present building follows the 

 lines of the plan laid down in 1093. 



Comparatively little, however, of this great 

 design was actually completed in the lifetime of 

 its originator ; yet, even so, the rapidity of the 

 work must have been remarkable. 



The death of Bishop William in 1096 did not 

 interrupt the work, which was carried on con- 

 tinuously but more slowly, and we are told that 

 the monks devoted themselves to the church, 

 leaving for the time their work on the monastic 

 buildings. The see was vacant till 1099, and in 

 this time the work of the church was carried on 

 usque navem. Ranulf Flambard, on his appoint- 

 ment as bishop in that year, did not continue 

 the arrangement made by his predecessor, but 

 used the funds arising from the oblations 

 altaris et cemiurii, and carried on the building 

 of the church as the money came in, ' so that at 

 one time little was done and at another much.'^* 

 This went on till Flambard's death in 11 28, 

 when the see again remained vacant, this time 

 for five years. The nave, we are told, was com- 

 plete up to the vault in 11 28, and by 11 33 the 

 monks had finished the nave vault. 



Although the building of the fabric was one 

 continuous work, occupying a period of forty 

 years from 1093, there was a slight break about 

 mo when the work had been carried from the 

 east end of the church usgug navem. The 

 whole was brought to completion, except for the 

 upper stories of the western towers, in ii33- 

 The scale and magnificence of the design would 



'" ' Circa opus ecclesiae modo intentius, mode re- 

 missius agebatur.' Simeon of ZJuriam (Rolls Ser.),i, 139. 



93 



