A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



1576.'''- Part of Wolviston nas sold by the trustees 

 for church lands in 1654.'''' Since i 872 the cathedral 

 land in the township has been divided between the 

 dean and chapter an J the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.*' 

 The Marquess of Londonderry also has land here. 



The church of ST. CUTHBERT 

 CHURCHES consistsofachancel4oft. by 15 ft. 8in., 

 with organ chamber on the north side, 

 clearstoried nave 63 ft. 4 in. by I 3 ft., north and south 

 aisles each 10 ft. wide, south porch, and west tower 

 I 2 ft. square," all these measurements being internal. 

 The earliest parts of the building are the tower 

 and the greater part of the nave walls, which are of 

 the pre-Conquest period, probably about the middle 

 of the 1 1 th century, though an earlier date is quite 

 possible. There are several pieces of sculptured cross- 

 shafts built into the walls of the tower.'^ Six of these 

 fragments are on the south side of the tower at different 

 levels, some near the ground and some in the upper 

 st.ages, which seems to indicate that the stone crosses 

 then standing on the site were collected and used 



i 



the chancel arch built, a new arch similar to the old 

 being erected at the east end of the north arcade. The 

 addition of a new chancel followed, tl.e Transitional 

 character of the south arcade giving way to the fully 

 developed style of the 13th century. No further 

 alterations to the plan have since been made, with the 

 exception of the addition of the organ chamber in 

 modern times, though the building has undergone 

 many alterations and reconstructions. No evidence 

 remains as to the date of the original porch, and it 

 may therefore have been of late date. In the 15th 

 century the top of the tower was reconstructed, and 

 probably the north aisle wall raised and the buttresses 

 added. The nave roof and the south clearstory 

 windows were also apparently of 15th-century date, 

 but the latter have been restored. The building 

 underwent some changes in the 1 8th century, sash 

 windows being inserted in the south aisle, but no 

 structural alterations of importance appear to have 

 been made. Sir Stephen Glynne, who visited the 

 church in 1843, describes the chancel as of ' excellent 



OWER 



illi: 



I 



MMliUJ 



North Aisle 



Nave 



South Aisle 





liiil liil 





10 5 o 



10 



20 



30 



ScAL£ OF Feet 



Plan of Billingham Church 



mn Pk I ■-Conquest 

 ■ c.1193 



[nic.1200 

 J^ ^15111 Century 

 EH Modern 



when the tower was erected.*' The extreme narrow- 

 ness of the nave in comparison with its height marks 

 it as contemporary with the tower. Some pre-Con- 

 quest fragments have been found here also, one, now 

 at Durham, ' exhibiting two seated figures in which 

 the knees are treated in a conspicuous and unusual 

 manner.'"' The original nave, however, does not ap- 

 pear to have extended so far eastward as at present, the 

 long masonry pier at the east end of the north arcade, 

 marking its extent in that direction, showing it to have 

 been about 48 ft. in length. The original square- 

 ended chancel would therefore occupy approximately 

 the easternmost bay of the existing nave. 



The first change in the plan occurred at the end of 

 the 12th century, when a north aisle was added, the 

 arcade being broken through the wall, leaving large 

 masses of the early masonry between the arches, with 

 ' responds ' on either side, the piers thus being on plan 

 a short-limbed cross. About 1200 the south arcade 

 was added, the nave extended eastward one bay, and 



plain Early English work,' having 'four plain lancets 

 with rather obtuse heads ' on either side. The clear- 

 story windows were then closed and the exterior of 

 the building was ' patched and ragged.' ' The chancel,' 

 he proceeds, ' is long and of fine proportions, the 

 parapet moulded, with a corbel table below and a 

 string under the windows. The east end has the 

 parapet in an uncommon form : a kind of ellipse with 

 toothed ornaments. . . . The chancel is rather neat 

 within, and fitted up with stalls and desks before them, 

 and the wainscoting is not quite in character with the 

 ancient church. The roof of the chancel has plain 

 timbers, the rest of the church is ceiled within.'*' 

 In 1846 the chancel (which is described as 'having 

 shrunk ' ) ^^ was taken down and rebuilt in the follow- 

 ing year on the old foundations. The plaster ceiling 

 of the nave, which had only been put up a few years 

 before, was removed at the same time, and a fine old 

 oak roof revealed. The arches and piers of the nave 

 arcades were chiselled over.^^ There were restorations 



»-' Halmoit R. (Surt. Soc), 246. 



^^ Close, 1654, pt. xxxi, no. 8. 



''* LanJ. Gnx. lo Dec. 1872, p. 6199 

 et seq. 



^^ Externally the tower is 17 ft. 6 in. 

 square. Compare other pre-Conquest 



towers : Norton, 20 ft. 9 in.; Ovingham, 

 I 8 ft. 6 In.; Monkwearmouth, 11 ft. 9 in. 

 " C. C. Hodges, in T/ie Rrhj. (New 

 Ser.), viii, 11-12. For fragments sec 

 Stuart, Sculpt, Stones of Scot/and, ii, 64 

 (plate cxi). 



200 



" Hodges, op. cit. viii, 12. '* Ibid. 



*' Proc. Soc. Antiq. NeivcastU (Ser. 3), 

 iii, 179. 



«» Fordyce, Hhi. of Co. Palm, of Dur. 

 (1857), ii, 308. 



" Ibid. Fordyce «ay», 'in the south 



