A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



course of the substructure of the shrine was 

 recovered from the grave at the latter date and 

 is now placed on the platform around the blue 

 marble slab that marks the position of the 

 saint's burial place.-* The feretory is thus 

 described in Rita : — ' Next to theise 9 altars 

 was the goodly monument of St. Cuthbert 

 adioyninge to the quire and the high altar on 

 the west end, reachinge toward the 9 altars on 

 the east, and toward the north and south con- 

 taininge the breadth of the quire in quadrant-* 

 form, in the midst whereof his sacred shrine was 

 exalted with most curious workmanshipp of fine 

 and costly marble all limned and guilted with 

 gold, hauinge foure seates or places conuenient 

 under the shrine for the pilgrims . . . sittinge 

 on theire knees to leane and rest on, in time of 

 their deuout ofleringes and feruent prayers to 

 God and holy St. Cuthbert.' The shrine had 

 an elaborate cover ' of Wainescott ' which besides 

 other enrichments was ' all gilded over, and of 

 eyther side was painted fower lively Images 

 curious to -f beholders, and on the East End 

 was painted the picture of o"^ Savio"^ sitting' on 

 a Rainebowe to give Judgm' . . . and on the 

 West end of itt was y" picture of o"^ Lady & 

 Savio"^ on her knee . . .' Elaborate arrange- 

 ments were made for lifting the cover, and the 

 main suspension rope was hung with silver bells. 

 The hole into which the pulley was fixed is still 

 visible in the shell of the vault just to the east 

 of the transverse arch between quire and chapel. 

 The magnificent stone reredos, known as the 

 NEVILLE SCREEN, divides the sanctuary from 

 the feretory. It is placed a little to the east of 

 the centre of the easternmost bay of the quire 

 and is described in Rites as being ' all of 

 french peere uerye curiously wrought both of 

 the inside and the outside (i.e. on the east and 

 west faces) with faire images of Alabaster . . . 

 the s** curious workmanshipp of french peere or 

 Laordose reachinge in height almost to the middle 

 vault (i.e. the aisle vaults) and containinge the 

 breadth of the quire in lengthe.' The ' french 

 peere ' or free-stone of which it is constructed 

 is a variety of clunch, but where quarried it is 

 difficult to say. The ' faire images of Alabaster ' 

 have long disappeared, but otherwise the struc- 

 ture remains practically intact, with the four 

 contemporary sedilia on either side, which are 

 placed under the adjacent arches of the quire 

 arcades, and separate the sanctuary from the 

 aisles. The screen is divided into nine bays by 

 slender uprights of rectangular plan with but- 

 tressed angles, and the lower part, which is 



^* The slab is of blue marble 6i in. thick. It measures 

 9 ft. by 4 ft. 4 in. It has been lettered ctrrHBERTVs since 

 the last opening of the grave. The marble ground- 

 course formed part of the new work of John Lord 

 Neville in 1 372. It was used in the new grave in 1542. 



*• I.e. quadrate, or quadrilateral. 



solid, is pierced by two doorways opening into 

 the feretory, while the whole of the upper por- 

 tion, extending from a little above the heads of 

 the doorways to the ' middle vault,' is occupied 

 by open tabernacles for images placed between 

 the uprights. The tabernacles in the central 

 bay and the alternate bays on either side are 

 arranged in two diminishing stages with octa- 

 gonal canopies to each stage, those of the upper 

 stage, which rise clear of the uprights between 

 the bays, being surmounted in addition by open 

 octagonal lanterns with crocketed spirelets. 

 The tabernacles in the intermediate bays are of 

 one stage only, and have hexagonal canopies 

 crowned by hexagonal lanterns of the same 

 character as those of the octagonal tabernacles. 

 The western projecting angles of the canopies 

 are unsupported, leaving the tabernacles entirely 

 open towards the quire, but on the side towards 

 the feretory they are supported by slender 

 buttressed uprights or mullions, those of the 

 octagonal tabernacles rising from the buttressed 

 angles of three-sided pedestals projecting from 

 the lower portion of the screen. The canopies 

 and lanterns throughout have cinquefoiled 

 arches, gabled and crocketed, in each face, and 

 each tabernacle contains a richly panelled 

 pedestal for an image, while all the minute 

 buttress work is elaborately finished with 

 gables, crockets and pinnacles. The dividing 

 uprights, which, as will be clear from the 

 foregoing description, do not rise higher than 

 the lower tier of tabernacles, each contain four 

 tiers of small niches with pedestals and cinque- 

 foiled heads on both faces, and are crowned by 

 crocketed and finialled pinnacles. On the 

 quire side the three middle bays of the solid 

 lower portion of the screen are without projec- 

 tions, to allow for the High Altar to be placed 

 against it. Below the two octagonal tabernacles 

 on either side of the three altar bays are richly 

 panelled three-sided pedestals rising from the 

 floor to the base of the tabernacles, while below 

 the intermediate hexagonal tabernacles are the 

 two doorways to the feretory, which have cinque- 

 foiled and subfoliated two-centred heads with 

 spandrels containing shields with the Neville 

 saltire in quatrefoils. On the side towards the 

 feretory the heads of the doorways are of the same 

 form, but are uncusped. Beneath each of the other 

 hexagonal tabernacles on this side are two small 

 niches with pedestals and cinquefoiled heads, 

 ranging with the lowermost of the niches in the 

 uprights, and the pedestals beneath the octa- 

 gonal tabernacles have similar niches in their 

 east faces. The sedilia are treated in the same 

 style. The four seats in each range are sepa- 

 rated from each other by slender buttressed 

 piers supporting octagonal canopies with gabled- 

 cinquefoiled arches in each face, and the canopies 

 are surmounted by tall open tabernacles of the 



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