Crossing the court to the left, the first building approached is partly of early Norman date, with additions by Bishop Fox, and a later restoration by Bishop Cosin, whose arms, impaling the see, are upon the front. It is now used entirely as students’ quarters.
A portico farther along the court leads into the great hall, erected by Bishop Anthony Bek. The hall measures 101 feet long by 35 feet wide, and was restored somewhere about 1850.
The window at the north end was filled with stained glass in 1882 to commemorate the jubilee of the University.
The walls are hung with paintings, and include:
1. A collection of thirteen portraits of English Archbishops and Bishops, said to have been made by Bishop Cosin.
2. Ten pictures of the Apostles, which were taken at St. Mary’s, in Spain, in the expedition under the Duke of Ormond, and purchased by the Dean and Chapter in 1753.
3. A number of portraits of prebendaries and professors.
4. Portraits of Charles I., Bishop Cosin, and Charles II.
On the same wall as the last-mentioned portraits the banners of the Durham local volunteer companies, raised to defend the country at the time of Napoleon’s threatened invasion, are suspended.
A door at the north end of the hall leads to Bishop Cosin’s great staircase, which is most handsomely carved.