CITY OF DURHAM 



stage being of classic, and the upper stages of 

 pronounced Gothic design."^ 



The present pulpit dates from the restoration 

 of 1876 and is of Devonshire alabaster and marble 

 inlay, standing on columns of Siena marble 

 inlaid with mosaic.'* 



The pelican lectern was designed by Sir 



Gilbert Scott from the description of the ancient 



■ lectern at the north end of the high altar in 



Rites. It is of brass,'^ enriched with filigree 



work and adorned with crystals and amethysts. 



THE GALILEE CHAPEL, built by Bishop 

 Pudsey, consists of five aisles,** separated by 

 four arcades, each of four depressed semicircular 

 arches resting on pairs of separate Purbeck 

 marble shafts with joined moulded bases and 

 square waterlcaf capitals having high moulded 

 abaci. These columns are now converted into 

 clustered shafts, quatrefoil on plan, by the 

 addition of stone shafts on the east and west 

 sides of each pair, with capitals and bases in 

 close imitation of the old work. This addition 

 was made by Bishop Langley, who put a new 

 roof on the chapel, and raised the wall above 

 the two middle arcades. These extra shafts 

 may have been added out of timidity, or for 

 ajsthctic reasons. The arches of the arcades 

 are very richly decorated with three rows of 



'^ Of the prc-Rcformation font no proper record 

 seems to have been preserved. Peter Smart described 

 the font in use in Elizabethan times as ' comely, like 

 to that of St. Paul's at London and in other cathe- 

 drals.' Tliis was replaced by one of marble about 

 1621, which was described thirteen years later as ' not 

 to be paralleled in the land.' It was ' eight square, 

 with an iron grate raised two yards every square,' and 

 all about it was ' artificially wrought and carved with 

 such variety of joiners work as makes all the beholders 

 thereof to admire.' Raine, Durh. Cath. 15. Smart 

 called it ' a mausoleum, towering up to the roof of the 

 church, a most sumptuous fabric and costly, partly of 

 wood and partly of stone.' This font and cover were 

 destroyed by the Scotch prisoners in 1650. 



'* In 1845 a new pulpit, designed by Salvin, was 

 erected in the quire opposite the Bishop's throne. It 

 took the place of one of wood, which was presented to 

 the University. Raine in 1833 described the pulpit 

 then in use as of ' comparatively modern date.' It 

 stood originally in the middle of the quire, with a 

 sounding board over it. It was probably the pulpit 

 erected in 1726, recorded in the chapter minutes. 

 Salvin's pulpit was removed in 1876. 



'^ The brass is described as ' a new composition, 

 the result of an analysis of the ancient gray brass.' 

 The ancient lectern is described in Rites, 13. 



"* The aisles vary slightly in width between the 

 arcades, the northernmost measuring 12 ft. H in., 

 and the others from north to south 13 ft. 11 in., 13 ft. 

 9 in., 13 ft. 7 in., and 13 ft. 8 in. respectively. The 

 thickness of the arcade wall is in each case 2 ft. 2 in., 

 making up the tot.il width of 76 ft. 6 in. from north to 

 south. The floor of the chapel is 20 in. below that of 

 the nave. 



double cheveron moulding separated by rolls. 

 The responds on the east and west walls have 

 not the additional shafts. Those abutting upon 

 the jambs of the west door of the nave are some- 

 what clumsily adjusted in relation to the older 

 work. The east side of the chapel has in the 

 centre the great black marble platform of the 

 Lady Altar*' erected by Bishop Langley, of 

 which his tomb forms part, steps rising on either 

 side of it to the altar platform itself. The 

 opening of the west doorway was at one time 

 filled hy a painted wooden reredos of 15th- 

 century date, unfortunately destroyed in 1845. 

 It is described in Rites as having been ' devised 

 and furnished with most heavenly pictures . . . 

 lively in colours and gilting,' and is shown in 

 drawings made by Carter in 1795.** The 

 altar stood within the doorway opening, in 

 the south jamb of which is a large recess which 

 originally formed part of one of the ' two fine 

 and close aumeryes ' of wainscot at either side 

 behind the portal.** The mensa is now placed 

 in the floor of the platform where the altar 

 formerly stood. Langley's tomb is of blue 

 marble and its top is quite plain, but round its 

 moulded edge is a chase for an inscription in 

 brass, now lost. The tomb projects some 6 ft. 

 westward into the chapel, and at its west end 

 are three panels each containing a large shield 

 with the bishop's arms. The chantry chapel, 

 or Canterie, in which the tomb and altar stood, 

 occupied two bays of the middle aisle, a space 

 of about 24 ft. by 13 ft., its floor raised a step 

 above that of the Galilee, and enclosed each side 

 by an open screen. ^ 



On either side of the west doorway of the nave 

 is a wide round-headed altar recess, quite plain 

 in section but having a double cheveron ornament 

 on the face of the arch ; that on the north 

 contained the altar of Our Lady of Pity and that 

 on the south Bede's altar. These recesses are 

 formedin the original west wall of the church, and 

 cut away the foot of the buttresses flanking the 

 west window of the nave. The east end of the 

 northernmost aisle, now pierced by one of 

 Langley's doorways, has a 13th-century inner 

 pointed arch of two moulded orders and dog- 

 tooth label, supported on short shafts with 



*' The chantry of the Blessed Virgin and St. Cuth- 

 bert was founded by Langley in 1414 ; the deed of 

 dedication is dated 18 June. Greenwell, op. cit. 89. 



** Three drawings of the east side of the Gahlee, 

 reproduced in Trans. Archit. and Arch. Soc. Durh. 

 W Northumh. v, 29 (1907). The back of the reredos was 

 divided into five panels, each of which contained a 

 large standing figure with a smaller figure above. There 

 were also side wings and a ceiling of wood divided into 

 oblong panels. 



** Rites of Durh. 44. Fowler's Notes, 232. 



1 It appears to have been made between 1433 and 

 1435. Greenwell, op. cit. 89. 



119 



