Memorials of old Durham

by Unknown

The Sanctuary Knocker, Durham Cathedral.

Flambard probably began to build soon after he became Bishop, and though that part of the church which is due to him might not have been finished until near the time of his death, no material alteration seems to have been made in the plan. With regard to the upper part of the western towers, and the time when they were built, we are entirely left to the evidence of the architecture itself, for nothing has been recorded which has reference to their erection. The upper stages belong to a time when the style called the Early English was being developed, and they may have been constructed during the episcopate of Richard de Marisco (1217-26), or even of Philip de Pictavia (1197-1208). Although the towers have suffered much from weathering, and more from the paring process, which, however, to some extent, has been remedied by the late reparation, they are well designed and very effective additions to the church as originally planned. In combination with the end of the nave and the bold mouldings of Pudsey’s Galilee, they form a termination which will not suffer even when compared with some of our finest west fronts. The upper part of both is enriched by four arcades, two open and two blank, of alternately round-headed and pointed arches. The towers were, until the time of the Commonwealth, surmounted by spires of wood covered with lead. At present they are finished by a parapet with turrets, placed there at the beginning of the present century, which, though faulty in detail, are, nevertheless, by no means unworthy of the towers they crown, and add materially to the picturesque outline of the cathedral when viewed from a distance.

Bishop Cosin, in his articles of inquiry at his first visitation in 1662, asks: "What is become of the wood and lead of the two great broaches that stood upon the square towers at the west end of the church?" (Miscellanea, Surtees Society, vol. xxxvii., p. 257). This inquiry was repeated in Cosin’s second visitation, July 17, 1665, and the reply made in the presentment of the minor canons, etc., was as follows: "And as for the lead and timber of the two great broaches at the west end of the church, Mr. Gilbert Marshall can give the best account how they were employed" (Hunter MSS., vol. xi., No. 94). To

The Western Towers of Durham Cathedral, from the Window of the Monks’ Library.

From a Drawing by R. W. Billings.

this reply James Green, minor canon and sacrist, adds: "Mr. Gilbert Marshall, Mr. Gilpin, and Mr. Anthony Smith, can best tell what became of it" (Hunter MSS., vol. xi., No. 98). Bishop Cosin would remember them as being on the towers when he was Prebendary before the time of the Commonwealth. That they were never rebuilt is shown by Buck’s view, published in 1732, where the towers are without spires.

The most important, as it is not the least striking and beautiful, object in the choir is the large and lofty throne, built by Bishop Thomas de Hatfield (1345-81) during his lifetime, for his tomb beneath and the throne above. It is a structure worthy of the Palatine See of Durham and of the mighty Prince-Bishop who erected it. The alabaster figure of the Bishop still remains, comparatively perfect, clothed in richly decorated pontifical vestments, lying on an altar-tomb under a canopy whose groining is finely ornamented with bosses of boldly sculptured foliage. Upon the wall at each end of the arch, and opposite to the head and feet of the Bishop, are two angels painted in fresco. Those at the feet hold a blank shield, but at the other end the painting is too much damaged to allow the object they hold to be made out. The whole throne has once been richly gilded and coloured, and contains many shields with the Bishop’s and other arms upon them. In the construction of the upper portion of the throne it is not well fitted into the space it occupies between the pillars, and some of its parts do not quite correspond with each other. The impression given by these incongruities is that Hatfield used some pieces of stonework already carved before he planned the throne, and that it possibly was, like the Galilee, not intended from the first to occupy the position in which it was ultimately placed.

Another beautiful piece of work of about the same period as the throne is the screen behind the high-altar, commenced to be built in 1372 and finished before 1380, when the altar was dedicated. It is commonly called the Neville Screen, on account of a great part of the expense of erecting it having been defrayed by John, Lord Neville, of Raby, though Prior Fossor (1341-74), Prior Berrington (1374-91), and others, bore some part of the cost. It was brought from London to Newcastle by sea, and has always been spoken of as made of Caen stone, "French peere" as it is called in the rites of Durham, being really Dorsetshire clunch.