Downing College is the oldest of the new colleges and the newest of the old colleges in Cambridge

The Porter’s Lodge and First Court at Downing College, Cambridge, facing onto Regent Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

There are posters all over Cambridge this week and last for the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, which began on 13 July and continues until 29 August. The festival is celebrating 39 years, and this year’s programme includes The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice in Downing College Gardens; Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet in Saint John’s College Gardens; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Trinity College Gardens.

The festival was founded in 1987, and runs for eight weeks in July and August. In the past, when the festival coincided with IOCS summer schools in Sidney Sussex College, I have been were invited to a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Saint John’s College Gardens.

While I was walking around in Cambridge last week with a friend from Ireland, there were posters for the festival everywhere, and at the end of the day I decided to call into Downing College, where The Tempest (13 July to 1 August) and The Merchant of Venice (3 to 29 August ) are being staged.

The Maitland Robinson Library was designed by Quinlan Terry and opened in 1993 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Downing College was founded in 1800 and is often described as the oldest of the new colleges and the newest of the old colleges in Cambridge. It is on Regent Street, in the heart of Cambridge, and the entrance is opposite the front of the University Arms Hotel and the entrance to Parker’s Piece.

It was the only college to be added to the university between 1596 and 1869, and was formed ‘for the encouragement of the study of Law and Medicine and of the cognate subjects of Moral and Natural Science’. Downing has been named as one of the two most eco-friendly colleges in Cambridge and it has developed a reputation in both law and medicine.

It almost goes without saying that the names of Downing Street and Downing College share a common origin. Sir George Downing (1623-1684) was born in Dublin and was a Parliamentarian turned Royalist, who had been a Puritan chaplain and a Cromwellian diplomat, and later the ambassador at the Hague during the reign of Charles II.

Samuel Pepys once said Downing’s conduct was odious if useful to the king, called him a ‘perfidious rogue’ and reported that ‘all the world took notice of him for a most ungrateful villain for his pains’.

Trees lining one side of the Quadrangle at Downing College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

George Downing built Downing Street in Whitehall in the 1680s, including 10 Downing Street, later the official residence of the Prime Minister. When his grandson Sir George Downing (1685-1749) died, the family fortune and title passed to his cousin, Sir Jacob Downing (1717-1764). But the estates were to be used to found a college at Cambridge and when Sir Jacob died Downing College was supposed to come into existence.

However, Jacob’s widow Margaret refused to give up the estates and lengthy court cases followed. When she died in 1778 both her second husband, Admiral Sir George Bowyer (1740-1800), and her sister’s son continued to resist the terms of the original will until 1800, when the court decided in favour of Sir George Downing’s will. George III then granted Downing a royal charter, marking the official foundation of the college.

The trustees of the Downing estate included the Master of Clare College and Saint John’s College and the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. In 1806, they commissioned the architect William Wilkins (1778-1839) to design their new college.

Wilkins, who worked in the neo-classical architectural style, designed the first wholly campus-based college plan in the world, based on a magnificent entrance on Downing Street reaching back to form the largest court in Cambridge, extending to Lensfield Road. But this was not to be: the court cases greatly reduced the estate and the grand plans failed.

The Dining Hall and the Paddock at Downing College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Much of the north side of what was then the Pembroke Leys was sold to the university and is now home to scientific buildings at the Downing Site. Initially, only limited east and west ranges were built, and the plans for a library and a chapel on the south face of the college were shelved.

The third side of the square was only completed in 1951 when the college chapel was built. Where the fourth side would have been is now a large paddock known simply as ‘The Paddock’, with many trees. Although not fully enclosed, the court formed before Downing College is perhaps the largest in Cambridge or Oxford – a boast that is contested by Trinity College’s Great Court.

The most recent building additions are the Howard Lodge, the Howard Building and the Howard Theatre which opened in 2010. The Heong Gallery, a modern art gallery, opened in 2016, is named after Alwyn Heong, an alumnus who is a supporter of the visual arts. The conversion of a stables building by Caruso St John won an RIBA award.

The college fields teams in a range of sports, including men’s football, men’s and women’s rugby and tennis, and Downing College Boat Club is successful too.

Downing students remain prominent in the academic world and Downing has a particular reputation as the ‘Law College’. The college is renowned for its strong legal tradition, being built up by Clive Parry, his pupil and successor John Hopkins and Graham Virgo.

Legal notables associated with Downing College include the late Sir John Smith, the pre-eminent criminal lawyer of his generation; Lord Collins of Mapesbury, the first solicitor to be appointed to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords; and Sir Robert Jennings, former president of the International Court of Justice.

Downing College Chapel, behind the portico, was built in 1951 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Dean of Chapel and chaplain, the Revd Dr Keith Eyeons, is a Fellow of Downing College and the Director of Studies for Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion. He was a teacher in Buckinghamshire before training for ordination.

He returned to Cambridge to work part-time as chaplain at Downing College, while also working part-time on a PhD on Karl Barth and Saint John’s Gospel, supervised by Professor David Ford. He is the author of The Theology of Everything and The View from the Centre.

His current research is on the potential interactions between physics and theology, especially the ontological significance of quantum field theory and general relativity, and the fine-tuning of the cosmos.

Downing College chapel is a focus for spirituality, prayer, worship, preaching, hospitality and friendship. The services include choral services on Sundays at 6 pm and on occasional Thursdays at 9 pm, daily prayers, compline and occasional talks and discussions.

The Cambridge Shakespeare Festival began on 13 July and continues until 29 August … a poster in Downing College (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Jesus College Chapel is the oldest in Cambridge and was once part of a Benedictine convent

Jesus College Chapel in Cambridge was originally a church that served the 12th century Benedictine Convent of Saint Mary and Saint Radegund (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

When I was introducing a friends from Ireland to the Cambridge I have known for almost 20 years, one of the places we received a warm welcome earlier this week was the chapel in Jesus College, where I found myself once again on what I have come to call the ‘Pugin Trail’.

Jesus College Chapel was restored by Pugin in the 1840s, and has a number of Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts treasures, including works by William Morris, Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown. It is the oldest college chapel in Cambridge, and its is unique in that it was not originally designed as a college chapel. It dates back to a time 350 years before the foundation of the college, and to half a century before the creation of the university.

The chapel was originally a large Norman church dedicated to Saint Mary and that served the 12th century Benedictine Convent of Saint Mary and Saint Radegund.

The church took about a century to build. It was begun in 1157 and was completed around 1245. At that time it was the largest church in Cambridge, about 58 metres in length and with proportions similar to those of a cathedral. It was built in the form of a cross, with aisles to the north and south of chancel and nave, and it had a high pitched roof with a belfry or steeple which was visible for miles around.

It served as the church of the parish of Saint Radegund which grew up around the convent, then a semi-rural area just outside the city of Cambridge. The belfry collapsed in 1277, and again in 1313. A fire destroyed much of the surrounding convent in 1376 but largely spared the church itself, causing only some light damage to the tower.

Jesus College, Cambridge, was founded by Bishop John Alcock in 1496 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

John Alcock, Bishop of Ely, founded Jesus College in 1496, with the formal name of the College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. He carried out extensive building work to adapt the former convent church. Parts of the church were demolished, the rest was drastically modified, and it was then reconsecrated in the Name of Jesus. The church was previously dedicated to Saint Mary, but there may have been an altar dedicated to the Name of Jesus in the people's part of the church.

Alcock was an architect as well as a bishop and he designed many of the alterations. The changes were intended to create a chapel that was a more suitable size for a small community of scholars.

The first stages were overseen by his friend and a fellow of the college, William Plombe, in 1497-1498. After Alcock died in 1500, his work was continued by Dr William Chubbes, the first master of Jesus College, and the architects Sir John Rysley and Sir Reginald Bray.

Inside the chapel at Jesus College, Cambridge, facing the chancel and the east end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The chancel chapels and the aisles of the nave of the church were pulled down and the cloisters were enlarged. The new cloisters were enclosed by walls that had four windows in the Perpendicular Gothic style. The dilapidated belfry was taken down and the high pitched roof was replaced by a flat roof with an oak ceiling. The lancet windows in the east wall were replaced by a plain Perpendicular style window.

Two-thirds of what had been the nave of the church was replaced by college rooms that later became part of the Master’s Lodge. The chapels on the north and south sides of the choir were pulled down and the north aisles became part of the cloister, with the original columns still embedded in the wall. The screen that once divided the congregation at the west end of the crossing was replaced by a more open screen at the east side.

The 13th century arches that divided the aisles from the nave were pulled down to make way for college rooms or were blocked off with stone and hidden behind plaster. Four arches in the chancel and two in the north transept were all filled in and covered over, and Perpendicular windows were placed in the new walls. The east arch in the south transept was also filled in and covered over, two Perpendicular windows were inserted in the east and west walls, and a large Perpendicular window was inserted in the south wall.

The south transept of the chapel, with the marble and alabaster memorial to Thomas Cranmer beneath the great window (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Thomas Cranmer was the first of four members of Jesus College to become Archbishop of Canterbury. Jesus College was his home for more than a decade, from 1517 to 1528, and as Rysley Reader in Divinity he taught theology. His connection with Jesus College is marked by a white marble and alabaster memorial in the south transept, designed by the architects Richardson and Gill and sculpted by A Bruce-Joy in 1912.

During the reign of Edward VI, six altars in the chapel and some images in the Master’s Lodge were destroyed in 1549. During the Catholic restoration in the reign of Mary I, John Fuller was appointed Master of Jesus College in 1557 and he restored the old ritual and ornaments in the chapel.

Jesus College returned to a more Protestant ethos in the reign of Elizabeth I, and the chapel services were simplified, although the college did not become Puritan. When James I visited Cambridge frequently, he often worshipped in the chapel in Jesus College.

In the chancel of the chapel in Jesus College, looking towards the screen and the west end beyond (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

When Dr Richard Sterne was the master, a new organ was bought in 1634. Two years later new furniture, plate, and candlesticks for the altar were bought in line with the High Church reforms of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. At this time, the college was known as a High Church stronghold in Cambridge and chapel services were renowned for ‘good music, elaborate solemnity and attractive decency’.

During the Civil War, the Parliamentarians ordered all colleges in 1641 ‘to displace the Communion table from the east end of their chapels, to take away the rails and level the chancel, and to remove crucifixes, tapers, and basins from the Communion table’.

Charles I called on the fellows to raise a loan of £100 and to send pieces of the college plate to his camp in York. Part of the plate was seized by the Cromwellians before it could be sent from Cambridge, but most of it was taken to York. The Cromwellians arrested the master and the former master, Richard Sterne and William Beale, during a service in the chapel and they were taken to the Tower of London. The fellows took apart the organ and hid the pieces, and what was left of the plate is said to have been buried in the orchard.

The Puritan William Dowsing arrived at Jesus College at Christmas 1643 and ‘digg’d up the Steps there and brake down Superstitions of Saints and Angels, 120 at the least’. All but two of the fellows were ejected from Jesus College and Richard Sterne was deposed as master.

All the chapel windows were filled with stained glass in the first decades of the 16th century, but every one of them was smashed by the Parliamentarians on 23 December 1643. For the next 200 years there was nothing but clear glass, apart from a few coats of arms.

The choir, chancel and High Altar in the chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

At the Restoration, the chapel was repaired and restored in 1660-1663 by successive new masters, John Pearson and Joseph Beaumont, and the organ was rebuilt and reinstated. In the decades that followed, the chapel was paved with black and white marble, a gallery was built in the chancel, facing towards the altar, and a classical entrance was added in the south wall.

Between 1762 and 1765 the piers and arches of the cloisters were demolished and rebuilt to designs by James Essex, and the organ was dismantled and given to the parish of All Saints.

The Perpendicular east window in the chancel was rebuilt in the 1780s and a major restoration of the chapel was carried out in 1789-1792 to bring it into accord with the popular Classical ideal in architecture.

Major restoration work in the chapel in 1846-1849 was supervised by AWN Pugin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Major restoration work in the chapel in 1846-1849 was inspired by the Gothic revival and largely reversed earlier repairs. The leaders of this new restoration were the Revd John Gibson, then dean of the college, and the Revd Osmond Fisher. Their aims were to restore the architecture and the ritual of the chapel, to restore music to chapel services and to reinstate the choir. A new organ was designed and bought in 1849 by John Sutton, who formed a choir.

These repairs were supervised by AWN Pugin, the towering figure in the Gothic revival in church architecture and a close friend of John Sutton. On Sutton’s recommendation, the college employed Pugin to direct the chapel restoration.

Under the direction of Anthony Salvin, an 18th century partition wall in the chancel arch was removed, along with the gallery on its east side, a new organ chamber and vestry were built on the east side of the north transept, two arches were unblocked, and two arches were opened unto the north transept below the gallery.

The nave and west end of the chapel in Jesus College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Pugin removed both the 18th century plaster ceiling and Alcock’s low-pitched roof, which he replaced with a high pitched roof in a 13th century style. He rebuilt the choir stalls and the east wall. The reconstruction of the windows in 1846-1849 was based on good archaeological evidence and was guided by Robert Willis, working with Anthony Salvin and then with Pugin.

Pugin began in the lancets above the altar and replaced Alcock’s Perpendicular east window with three tall lancet windows in 1850 with scenes of Christ’s passion in the style of Chartres and Canterbury cathedrals, working with Hardman of Birmingham. The other windows were later glazed in the same style in 1850-1858.

The Norman windows in the north wall of the north transept were rediscovered and were preserved as recessed arches, and the whole wall was restored. New stalls and a new pavement were also supplied for the chancel, and a new organ was installed in the organ chamber. The chapel reopened with a full choral service on All Saints’ Day 1849.

Two windows by Edward Burne-Jones depicting the Incarnation (above) and Christ debating with the Doctors in the Temple (below) in the south wall of the choir (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Further repairs were carried out in 1864-1867 by George F Bodley, who was working at the time on All Saints’ Church in Jesus Lane, facing the entrance to the college, and the tower was refaced and restored.

William Morris designed decorations for the panelled ceilings of the nave and the tower and they were painted under his direction in 1867. The windows in the outer chapel were glazed in 1867-1878 with glass designed by William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown. The windows in the nave and transepts were glazed in 1873-1877 by Morris and Company to designs by Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown.

The glass in the two Perpendicular windows on the south wall of the chancel had weathered badly and were replaced in 1912 with designs by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, one depicting the Nativity and the other Christ debating with the Doctors in the Temple. Although their colour is brilliant, they broke a rule of both Pugin and Morris that the subject of each light should be complete in itself.

Two windows by Edward Burne-Jones depicting Faith (centre), Hope and Charity (above) and Patience, Obedience and Gentleness (belowy) in the north transept (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The windows in the north wall’s lancets depict scenes from the New Testament and Saint Radegund’s life, and those on the south show scenes from the life of Saint John.

Two windows in the north transept have figures representing the three theological virtues, Faith (standing on unbelief), Hope (standing on despair) and Charity (standing on envy); and the social virtues: Patience (standing on impatience); Obedience (standing on disobedience); and Gentleness (standing on ferocity).

The adjoining nave window symbolise the natural virtues and their corresponding vices. The other three nave windows have figures and scenes from the Old Testament.

In the four smaller south transept windows are the four evangelists and scenes from their Gospels, while the Great South window represents the Church in Heaven and on Earth.

The chapel has one of the finest collections of windows by Burne-Jones. But shortly after completing these windows he announced that he would no longer make stained glass for mediaeval churches.

The mid 19th century organ, given to Jesus College by Sir John Sutton, with panels designed by AWN Pugin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A larger organ was bought in 1887 to complement Sutton’s organ and was installed in a new gallery at the west end of the nave. But the organ and gallery were removed from the west end in the early 20th century and the gallery may now be seen across the street at Westcott House.

Several restorations in the 20th century have revealed more of the building. A new organ by Orgelbau Kuhn of Switzerland was installed in 2006 to replace the organ by Noel Mander installed in 1971.

The chapel has a number of works of art and fine carvings. ‘The Presentation of the Christ child in the Temple’, by Jean Baptiste Jouvenet (ca 1700) in the North Transept was once used as the chapel altar-piece from 1796 to1846. In the inner chapel a large depiction of ‘The Last Supper’ is an example of the work of the Venetian School in the late 16th century and is attributed to Leandro Bassano.

The majority of the richly carved choir stalls and screen are 19th century reconstructions of the 16th century chapel furnishings, although three carved figures have survived from the 1500s. Another remnant of the chapel’s woodwork can be seen at the end of the master's stall in the inner chapel, showing Bishop Alcock at prayer.

The bronze Pietà in the north transept is by the sculptor Gillian Kaufman and was added to the chapel in 2014.

The bronze Pietà in the north transept is by Gillian Kaufman (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The chapel, Cloister Court, and the names of some rooms, such as the Prioress’s Room, are reminders of the links between Jesus College and the 12th century Benedictine Convent of Saint Mary and Saint Radegund.

As we emerged from Cloister Court to First Court it seemed like Barry Flangan’s ‘Bronze Horse’ was waiting in the late afternoon sunshine to greet us.

Some years ago, one of my photographs of the boathouse of Jesus College Boat Club was used in a funraising appeal brochure launched by the club in 2014. It was good to reacquaint myself with Jesus College once again on a summer afternoon.

Barry Flangan’s ‘Bronze Horse’ in First Court seen from Cloister Court (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

• The Revd Dr James Crockford has been the Dean of Chapel since 2019. During term time the Sunday services are: 10 am, Choral Eucharist, 6 pm, Choral Evensong with address from a guest speaker; Saturday services, 6 pm, Choral Evensong; weekday services, 9 am, Morning Prayer, Monday to Friday, 6:30 pm, Choral Evensong, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Cloister Court in Jesus College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Finding a Pugin link with Buckingham in a former Franciscan college and chapel on London Road

The former Franciscan seminary and church on London Road, Buckingham, are now part of the University of Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I spent time in both Ireland – mainly in Co Wexford – and in Staffordshire visiting and tying to catalogue churches and college chapels designed by AWN Pugin (1812-1852), the towering figure in the Gothic Revival in English and Irish church architecture.

The Pugin trail resumed recently in Buckingham, when I had a brief visit to the Verney Park campus of the University of Buckingham on London Road to see a collection of Gothic-style buildings designed by the Pugin family. They were built in 1892-1894 by the Franciscans, and include a former chapel, bell turret and college designed by Pugin & Pugin as a junior seminary for the Franciscans.

Aside from being notable buildings in the Victorian Gothic style, they are part of the social history of the development and expansion of Buckingham at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and are part of the history of educational provision in the town.

At the end of the 19th century, Father Thaddeus Hermans, a Belgian Franciscan friar, wanted to open a college for young men wishing to become Franciscans. He arrived in Buckingham in 1892 and rented a cottage in Elm Street, where he said the first Mass, finally settling on 9 Chandos Road to set up his first chapel.

Hermans then obtained a site on London Road and the ractice of Pugin & Pugin was commissioned to design a new chapel and college.

The former seminary and church on London Road, Buckingham, were designed by Pugin & Pugin and built in 1892-1894 and 1912 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Pugin & Pugin was a London-based family firm of church architects that worked from about 1873 until about 1958. The origins of the partnership lay with the practice of Edward Welby Pugin (1834-1875). He had worked in the London office of his father, AWN Pugin, who died when Edward was 18. Following his father’s death in 1852, EW Pugin was involved in completing some of his works in Ireland, including the cathedral in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Edward Welby Pugin formed two successive partnerships with Irish architects: the first with James Murray, as Pugin & Murray from 1857 to 1858; and Pugin & Ashlin in 1860 with George Coppinger Ashlin, who married his sister Mary in 1867. The partnership of Pugin & Ashlin was dissolved in late 1868.

EW Pugin’s works in Ireland include Saint John’s Covent, Birr, Co Offaly; the Presentation Convent, Waterford; the chapels for the Cliffe family at Bellevue, Co Wexford, and the Power family at Edermine, Co Wexford; Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Cork; the Convent of Mercy, Nenagh, Co Tipperary; Saint Brigid’s Church, Crosshaven, Co Cork; and a convent in Fethard, Co Lane.

Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, the Church of Saint Augustine and Saint John, Thomas Street, Dublin, often known as John’s Lane Church, and Saint Kevin’s Church, Harrington Street, Dublin, are among the many works by Pugin & Ashlin.

After EW Pugin was bankrupted by a business venture in 1873, his firm’s work in England and Scotland was continued by his brother Cuthbert Welby Pugin (1840-1928) and their half-brother Peter Paul Pugin (1851-1904), and the practice became known as Pugin & Pugin.

The foundation stone of the seminary was laid by Bishop Arthur George Riddell of Northampton in 1894 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Pugin & Pugin worked exclusively in the Gothic Revival style, and produced many buildings, alterations and furnishings for the Catholic Church. They include the sanctuary of the Sacred Heart Church, Liverpool; Sacred Heart Church, Kilburn; the English Martyrs Church, Tower Hill; Saint Mary’s Church, Morecambe; the presbytery of the Sacred Heart Church, Bridgeton, Glasgow; and Saint Mary’s Church, Stirling. The firm designed the high altar of Saint John Cantius and Saint Nicholas Catholic Church in Broxburn, West Lothian, in Caen stone and marble.

There are reputedly about 100 buildings by the firm in Australia, built from the mid-1850s onwards, and one building in New Zealand, the Bishop’s Palace (1894) in Saint Mary’s Bay, Auckland, commissioned by Dom John Edmund Luck (1840-1896), Bishop of Auckland.

The foundation stone of the new seminary in Buckingham, under the patronage of Saint Bernardine, a Franciscan saint, was laid by Bishop Arthur George Riddell of Northampton in June 1894. When the Franciscan college opened, there were few Catholics living in Buckingham, and the registers record 12 baptisms in 1900. The parish of Saint Bernardine was set around the college, and the college chapel designed by Pugin & Pugin was blessed and opened for public worship in 1912.

The college chapel was blessed and opened for public worship in 1912 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The parish grew quickly after World War II, and the college continued as a boarding and day school. In the post-war years, the friars were asked to open Mass centres in nearby towns and villages, including Brackley.

However, with changing circumstances, the college closed in 1968 and the buildings were sold to Buckingham County Council. However, the friars were allowed to continue to use the chapel until the parish could build its own church. Eventually it was decided to build onto the new friary in Chandos Road where the friars had set up their first chapel.

After the college buildings were bought by Buckinghamshire Country Council, they were used as an annex to the Buckingham School. The buildings were bought in 1977 by the University of Buckingham, the first independent university in the UK. Initially they were used as residential accommodation for both staff and students, and the former chapel is now part of the University of Buckingham library services.

Meanwhile, the Franciscans who had relocated to Chandos Road, built a new church, which I wrote about in a blog posting some months ago (6 November 2025). Many of the internal features and furnishings in Saint Bernardine’s Church came from the earlier college chapel in Buckingham, including statues of Saint Anthony, Saint Francis and Saint Bernardine, the font, the church bell, the organ and the organ pipes, the pews and the octagonal stone font (1946).

Today, Saint Bernardine’s Church is part of the joint Parish of Buckingham and Brackley and continues to serve the Catholic community in the area.

The former college and chapel are now part of the University of Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Old School in Oxford has survived as part of the bus station, and as a pub and restaurants

The Old School on the north side of Gloucester Green in Oxford was designed by the architect Leonard Stokes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

IWe have been in Oxford for much of the day. But a few days ago I found myself stuck at the bus station in Gloucester Green in Oxford for over an hour, waiting for a bus to Buckingham: one bus was cancelled, and the next one was over 20 minutes late. In summary, it meant I missed the last bus from Buckingham to Stony Stratford and had to travel on to Milton Keynes.

Had I realised I was going to eventually lose an hour and a half in such a way last week, I could have planned to stay on and found a college chapel in Oxford to go to Choral Evensong. Bus stations are never sightly places to wait around in, although there are many good coffee shops close to Gloucester Green.

At the north side of Gloucester Green, the Old School until recently housed Sichuan Grand, a Chinese restaurant that closed two months ago. But from 1902 to 1934 this was the Central Boys’ School and it remains an interesting building.

The school was built in 1901 when some picturesque old cottages were demolished in order to make room for the new building designed by the architect Leonard Aloysius Scott Stokes (1858-1925) of Westminster and built by John Wooldridge of Oxford at a cost of about £5,700.

Leonard Stokes trained as an architect in London and travelled in Germany and Italy. Most of his designs were for Roman Catholic buildings, including churches, convents and schools. His first work was Sacred Heart Church, Exeter. He also designed Saint Joseph’s Church, Maidenhead (1884), Saint Clare’s Church, Liverpool (1890) and Saint Peter and All Souls Church, Peterborough (1896). He also designed country houses and telephone exchanges. He was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1910-1912.

The carvings over the main front entrance show Saint Anne on the left reading to four girls, which seems odd, as this was a boys-only school, and King Alfred on the right facing four boys.

The origins of the school go back to 1871, when the Congregationalists opened the first and earlier Central Boys’ School in a building to the east of Gloucester Green behind their church in George Street. It was a nondenominational school with no compulsory religious education, and by 1889 the attendance was 192.

Both this boys’ school and the girls’ school in the former Wesleyan Chapel in New Inn Hall Street were taken over by the Oxford School Board in 1898. Both buildings were condemned immediately, the board agreed to replace them on two new sites in central Oxford, and the Gloucester Green site was bought from Alderman Robert Buckell for a boys’ school in 1899.

The school designed by Leonard Stokes was built on the north side of Gloucester Green between 1899 and 1900. At the same time, a new girls' central school, also designed by Leonard Stokes, was built on New Inn Hall Street.

The school had a central circular lower hall, on to which converged various classrooms, lavatories, cloak rooms, master’s private room, board room and playgrounds. A separate building at the back of the school had an upper floor with a large classroom for manual training in technical education. It was reached by a spiral staircase. The roof had an ornamental bell turret, and the classroom ceilings were uniformly 15 ft in height.

Both the Central Boys’ and the Central Girls’ Schools were formally opened in 1901 by Sir William Anson (1843-1914). He was Vinerian reader in English Law at Oxford, a Fellow of All Souls’ College, and from 1881 Warden of All Souls.

Anson was also Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University in 1898-1899, Chancellor of the Diocese of Oxford in 1899, and MP for Oxford University from 1899. He took an active part in the foundation of a school of law at Oxford, and taught law to undergraduates of Trinity College, Oxford, from 1886 to 1898. He died in 1914.

In all, 54 boys from the school died in World War I, and the school’s war memorial was moved to Oxford Spires Academy. The school closed in 1934, when the former Central Boys’ School merged with the Municipal Secondary School – the former City of Oxford Technical Day School – to form Southfield Grammar School. With further mergers, it became Oxford Boys’ School in 1966, later Oxford Community School and then, in 2011, Oxford Spires Academy.

Meanwhile, after its closure in 1934, the school building on Gloucester Green was used for many years as bus offices and a waiting room. It was given Grade II listed status in 1972.

From 1994 to 2003, the building housed Oxford City’s Information Centre on the west side and the Old School pub on the east side. The pub survived until about 2006, and in 2007 the whole building became a the Spice Valley Bangladeshi and Indian Restaurant, and it has remained a restaurant until about two months ago (April 2026).

The carvings over the main front entrance show Saint Anne (left) and King Alfred (right) each teaching four boys (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Milton Keynes has a new statue to celebrate Jenny Lee and the White Paper in 1966 that set up the Open University

The fibreglass model of Andy Edwards’s bronze statue of Jenny Lee outside Milton Keynes station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

A fibreglass model of a new statue honouring Jennie Lee, the driving force behind the creation of the Open University, has been drawing a lot attention in Station Square in Milton Keynes, since was unveiled two months ago on 24 March.

The full-size fibreglass model was created by the sculptor Andy Edwards and is on display in Station Square to gather public feedback before the final bronze artwork has its permanent installation later this year (2026), celebrating the 60th anniversary of Jennie Lee’s 1966 White Paper that led to the establishment of the Open University in 1969.

The early fibreglass model of the bronze sculpture has been placed in Station Square to ensure it has maximum visibility among residents and visitors to Milton Keynes. The initiative, led by Milton Keynes City Council and the Open University, honours her legacy in transforming education for over 2.3 million students world-wide.

The artist Andy Edwards is using the fibreglass model to collaborate with local people to fix on the final placement of his statue in Station Square. He engaged in similar exercises in the past with other high-profile commissions, such as his Beatles sculpture in Liverpool.

The Open University was established in Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, in 1969. Since then it has taught more than 2.3 million students worldwide, and has around 200,000 students today.

The installation celebrates the 60th anniversary of Jennie Lee’s 1966 White Paper that led to the establishment of the Open University (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Jennie Lee (Baroness Lee of Asheridge) was a trailblazing politician who championed universal access to education and the arts. The statue honours her role in founding the Open University in Milton Keynes and her lifelong commitment to the arts, education and public service.

Jennie Lee was born in Fife, Scotland, in 1904, and was elected MP for North Lanark in 1929. She was one of the first women to be elected to the House of Commons and at the age of 24 was also the youngest member of the House at the time. Later she sat as MP for Cannock in Staffordshire (1945-1970).

In 1934, Jennie Lee married the left-wing Welsh Labour MP Aneurin Bevan, who died in 1960. She became Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson’s government in 1964. Her White Paper for the Arts in 1965 insisted that the arts should be central to everyday life and publicly supported for the benefit of all, cementing the establishment of a national cultural policy through the Arts Council.

She produced the landmark White Paper on the University of the Air in February 1966, laying the groundwork and effectively founding the Open University. She fought for a university that was both open to everyone and that operated to the highest standards. She died in November 1988.

The sculptor Andy Edwards is founding director of Cornovii Edwards. He was selected to make this statue because of his outstanding portfolio of previous commissions, including the Beatles and Bob Marley in Liverpool, former Manchester United football manager Sir Alex Ferguson in Aberdeen, David Bowie and Queen Elizabeth II, as well as his knowledge, passion and enthusiasm for the opportunity to celebrate the life and work of Jennie Lee.

Andy Edwards said that without Baroness Lee and the Open University, he would not have followed a career as a sculptor.

He said his sculpture shows Jenny Lee ‘at the height of her powers’ and added: ‘I had that image of her addressing people in my mind and that is a prime part of this likeness, which also reflects Jenny throughout the ages.’

The leader of Milton City Council at the time, Councillor Pete Marland, unveiled the fibreglass version of the statue at Station Square on 24 March 2026. The final bronze statue will be installed at Station Square later this year, and the fibreglass version will remain on display at the Open University campus.

The Jennie Lee Archive collection is based at the Open University, and the archive team is working closely with Andy Edwards on developing the commission. The project is being funded through contributions from housing and infrastructure developers.

The final bronze statue will be installed at Station Square later this year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The ‘30 million-word-gap’, $30 million for the rich few, 30 million tourists in Greece, and 30 million blog readers

Professor Dana Suskind, the founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative … this blog had an accumulated a total of 30 million hits by late yesterday afternoon

Patrick Comerford

The viewing and reading figures for this blog continue to surprise me, and these figures passed the 30 million mark by lunchtime this afternoon (29 March 2026).

This is the fifth time this month alone that the million figure in readership numbers has been passed: 29 million four days ago (25 March), 28 million on 20 March, 27 million on 12 March, and 26 million at the beginning of the month (1 March). The number of hits on two days this month have been the highest daily figures I have ever recorded: 323,156 on Friday (27 March 2026) and 318,307 on 1 March.

This year so far has seen a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog, reaching a volume of readers that I never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (15 million) have been within little more than eight months, since 25 July 2025. The total hits last month (February 2026) had been the highest monthly total ever (3,386,504), but that figure has already been outpaced this month, with a total of over 4.2 million by early this afternoon.

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 9 million hits or visitors in 2026.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers – a number reached eight times this month alone. Half of the 29.5 million hits have been within the last nine or ten months, since mid-July.

Throughout this year and last, the daily figures have been overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog, six were this month (March), three were in February, one was in January, and two were in January 2025:

• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)

• 280,802 (26 February 2026)
• 273,022 (27 February 2026)
• 270,983 (25 March 2026)
• 261,422 (13 January 2026)
• 234,737 (26 March 2026)
• 228,931 (18 March 2026)

The number of readers continues to be overpowering and the daily averages are currently running at almost 145,000 hits a day so far this month. Ten years ago, the daily average was around 1,000.

The west façade of the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela … Galicia in Spain covers 30 million square metres or 30,000 sq km (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

To put today’s figure of 30 million in context:

In her book Thirty Million Words: Building a Child’s Brain, Professor Dana Suskind, the founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative, explains why the most important yet simple thing a parent can do for a child’s future success in life is to talk to him or her. Her book, first published in 2015, looks at the recent science behind this truth, and outlines how parents can best put it into practice.

She argues that academic achievement begins on the first day of life with the first word said by a mother just after birth.

A study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley in 1995 found that some children heard 30 million fewer words by their fourth birthdays than others. The children who heard more words were better prepared when they entered school. These same children, when followed into third grade, had bigger vocabularies, were stronger readers, and got higher test scores. This disparity in learning is referred to as the achievement gap.

Professor Dana Suskind learned of this 30 million word gap in the course of her work as a cochlear implant surgeon at University of Chicago Medical School and began a new research programme along with her sister-in-law, Beth Suskind, to find the best ways to bridge that gap.

The Thirty Million Word Initiative has developed programmes for parents to show the kind of parent-child communications that enables optimal neural development and has tested the programmes in and around Chicago across demographic groups.

They encourage parents to follow the three Ts:

• Tune in to what the child is doing;

• Talk more to the child using lots of descriptive words;

• Take turns with your child as you engage in conversation.

She shows parents how to make the words they serve up more enriching. For example, instead of telling a child, ‘Put your shoes on,’ one might say instead, ‘It is time to go out. What do we have to do?’ The lab’s five-year longitudinal research programme received funding so they can further corroborate their results.

The neuroscience of brain plasticity could contribute to some of the valuable and revolutionary research in medical science today. It enables us to think and do better and is making a difference in the lives of people both the old and young.

The term ‘30-million-word gap’, often shortened to ‘word gap’, was originally coined by Betty Hart and Todd R Risley in their book Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children and later reprinted in the paper ‘The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Word Gap by Age 3’. In their study of 42 Midwestern families in the US, Hart and Risley recorded an hour’s worth of language in each home once a month over 2½ years.

Prior to the 30-million-word-gap study, extensive research had noted strong institutional variation in student success on standardised tests. Sperry, Sperry, and Miller (2018) replicated Hart and Risley's study and found that the number of word gaps varied within the same backgrounds of socioeconomic status. Garcia and Otheguy (2016) were interested in the origins and validity of the Language Gap, and how the preconceptions of it impact bilingual and bidialectical children, specifically from Latino and Black backgrounds.

Hart and Risley’s research has been criticised by scholars. Paul Nation criticises the methodology, noting that comparing the tokens (words produced) and number of types (number of different words) in unequal samples is not comparing vocabulary sizes. Other critics theorise that the language and achievement gaps are not a result of the amount of words a child is exposed to, but rather alternative theories suggest it could derive from the disconnect of linguistic practices between home and school.

A recent replication of Hart and Risley’s study with more participants has found that the ‘word gap’ may be closer to 4 million words, not the oft-cited 30 million words previously proposed. Hart and Risley’s research has also been criticised for a perceived racial bias, with the majority of the welfare families and working-class families being African American, or that it ignores the fact that language and culture are taught differently.

Nonetheless, the 30-million-word gap has received widespread attention. The Clinton foundation’s ‘Too Small to Fail’ initiative which hosted the White House Word Gap event in 2014, resulted in the US Department of Health and Human services funding remedial efforts to address the Word Gap.

The University of Chicago, School of Medicine's Thirty Million Words Initiative provides intervention for caregivers and teaches to show them how to optimise their talk with their children. The Word Gap theory can be seen as part of a larger development in modern educational reform and movement: the Achievement Gap discourse.

The effects of the Achievement Gap Discourse cause several cultural phenomena – ‘cultural gate-keeping’, in which policy makers and education reformers decide and label students as more or less capable and worthy than others. The achievement gap became an especially strong interest for study at the turn of the century, and the early 2000s when a plethora of studies looked at factors such as standardised test scores, presence in class, GPA, enrolment, and dropout rates in secondary and post-secondary education.

The Oxford Word Gap is used to describe the word gap found between ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes in the UK.

Meanwhile, in other measurements, according to the 2024 Knight Frank Wealth Report, there are about 225,000 individuals in the US with net assets of $30 million or more, just 0.07% of the population. Yet, about a third of Americans cannot cover a $500 emergency, and more than 11% – almost 38 million people – live in poverty in the US. Meanwhile, a tiny fraction of individuals control more wealth than entire nations.

This imbalance destabilises democracy, distorts our economy, and limits human potential. A recent report in Time magazine points out that far from expanding opportunity, this excessive wealth locks millions out of the chance to innovate and build, weakening growth for all. The report says a simple wealth tax of 50% annually on household wealth above $30 million would not dismantle ambition. Instead, it would convert excessive wealth for the very few into opportunity for all.

Countries with populations of about 30 million people include the Ivory Coast and Nepal. Greece is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations – more than 30 million visitors travel there every year. But a report by ABC in Australia last month suggests the population of Greece is in freefall, with predictions it will drop by 20 per cent by 2050.

30 million square metres is 30,000 sq km, or the size of Lesotho, a country that is landlocked in Southern Africa and the largest of only three sovereign enclaves in the world, the others being San Marino and Vatican City, which are surrounded by Italy. It is also the approximate size of Armenia and of Galicia in Spain and Normandy in France.

30 million minutes is 57 years and 14 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take 57 years, from March 1969, to reach this latest figure of 30 million.

It is four years since I retired from active parish ministry on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 100-120 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A similar number have been reading my recent series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham over the past two weeks. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 700-800 or more people each week.

This afternoon, I am very grateful to the real readers among those 30 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I remain thankful to the faithful core group of about 100-120 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each day.

Greece has more than 30 million visitors travel there every year, but an Australian news report suggests the population of Greece will drop by 20 per cent by 2050 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

‘To see Durham is to see the English Sion and by doing so one may save oneself a trip to Jerusalem’

‘To see Durham is to see the English Sion’ (Symeon of Durham) … Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle stand on a peninsula shaped by the River Wear (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025; click on images for full-screen viewing)

Patrick Comerford

My visit to Durham last weekend was all too brief. We were on a family visit to York, I needed to get back to York for a family dinner, and with just a few hours to walk around I wanted to see as much as possible of the mediaeval city, with its cathedral, castle, cobbled streets, riverside walks and the third oldest university in England.

Durham has a population of about 50,000 people, and the cathedral and the castle on Palace Green, high above the River Wear have been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Durham is also the home of the Durham Miners’ Gala and has a rich trade union history: the Durham coalfields developed during the Industrial Revolution, with dozens of collieries around the city. Although the coal pits are long closed, the Durham Miners’ Gala is still a major event each year.

Durham city centre has changed little over 200 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The city is built on a meander of the River Wear that surrounds the centre on three sides and creates a narrow neck on the fourth. The city centre has changed little over 200 years. It is made up of the peninsula containing the cathedral, the castle and Palace Green that give the cathedral a striking position.

Durham dates back over 1,000 years to 995, when a small band of monks from Lindisfarne seeking a place that was safe from Viking raids arrived with the relics of Saint Cuthbert. The church they built eventually evolved into Durham Cathedral, regarded by Unesco as ‘the largest and most perfect monument of Norman style architecture in England.’

The 12th-century chronicler Symeon of Durham wrote: ‘To see Durham is to see the English Sion and by doing so one may save oneself a trip to Jerusalem’.

Sir Walter Scott was so inspired by the view of the cathedral from South Street that he wrote the poem ‘Harold the Dauntless’ (1817), about Saxons and Vikings and set in County Durham. Lines from the poem are carved on a stone tablet on Prebends Bridge:

Grey towers of Durham
Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles
Half church of God, half castle ’gainst the Scot
And long to roam those venerable aisles
With records stored of deeds long since forgot.

Durham Castle above Silver Street and Framwellgate Bridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The name Durham comes from dun, indicating a hill fort, and the Old Norse holme, referring to an island. But, as I recalled on Thursday evening, legends also link the name with the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who guided the monks of Lindisfarne to the strategic high peninsula that became the site of Durham cathedral.

Durham was once a buffer between warring England and Scotland, and until 1836 the city was part of the County Palatine of Durham, a semi-independent jurisdiction ruled by the prince bishops of Durham.

Mediaeval Durham became a place of pilgrimage because of its associations with Saint Cuthbert, Saint Bede the Venerable and Saint Oswald. The shrine of Saint Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral became the most important religious site in England until Saint Thomas Becket was murdered at Canterbury in 1170.

The Bishops of Durham ruled the County Palatine of Durham from Durham Castle until 1836 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham played an important rolw in the mediaeval wars between England and Scotland, and Durham Castle is the only Norman castle keep never to have suffered a breach. The castle on Palace Green was originally built in the 11th century, is an excellent example of early motte and bailey castles built by the Normans.

The Bishops of Durham, who lived in Durham Castle, ruled the County Palatine of Durham from 1071 to 1836 and the bishop was sometimes described as a ‘prince bishop’. The bishops had their own parliament, raised their own armies, appointed their own sheriffs and Justices, administered their own laws, levied taxes and customs duties, created fairs and markets, issued charters, collected revenue, administered the forests and minted their own coins.

The bishops’ powers were so far-reaching that the steward of Bishop Antony Bek said in 1299: ‘There are two kings in England, namely the Lord King of England, wearing a crown in sign of his regality and the Lord Bishop of Durham wearing a mitre in place of a crown’.

Bishop Cosin’s Hall on Palace Green … Bishop John Cosin began a major restoration project in the cathedral, the castle and the city in 1660 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The castle has been in continuous use for over 900 years. It was famed for its vast Great Hall, created by Bishop Bek in the early 14th century. It was the largest great hall in England until Bishop Richard Foxe shortened it at the end of the 15th century. It is still 46 ft high and about 100 ft long.

The city remained loyal to Charles I in the English Civil War, from 1642 until the king’s execution in 1649, and he visited Durham three times during his reign. But the castle suffered considerable damage during the Commonwealth. Cromwell sold the castle to the Lord Mayor of London shortly, and the cathedral was closed in 1650 and used to hold 3,000 Scottish prisoners after the Battle of Dunbar.

John Cosin, one of the great Caroline Divines, became Bishop of Durham (1660-1672) after the restoration and began a major restoration project in the cathedral, the castle and the city.

There were plans in the 18th century to transform Durham into a seaport by digging a canal or altering the course of the river. Nothing came of the plans, however, although the statue of Neptune in the Market Place is a reminder of these maritime ambitions and possibilities.

The statue of Neptune in the Market Place is a reminder of the plans to make Durham a seaport (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 gave governing power of the town to an elected body. All other aspects of the Bishop’s temporal powers were abolished by the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 . The last bishop to rule the palatinate, Bishop William Van Mildert, founded Durham University in 1832. It was one of the first universities to open in England for more than 600 years, and is England’s third oldest, after Oxford and Cambridge.

The bishop moved to Auckland Castle and Durham Castle became University College, the first college in the new university. Durham University was founded in 1832. Bishop Hatfield’s Hall, later Hatfield College, was added in 1846, specifically for the sons of poorer families. Durham University ranks in the top 200 of the world’s universities.

The Industrial Revolution also placed the city at the heart of the coalfields, the county’s main industry until the 1970s. Practically every village around the city had a coal mine and, although these have since disappeared as part of the regional decline in heavy industry, the traditions, heritage and community spirit are still evident. The first Durham Miners' Gala was attended by 5,000 miners in 1871, and it remains the largest socialist trade union event in the world.

Durham was not bombed during World War II, although one raid on the night of 30 May 1942 did give rise to the local legend of ‘Saint Cuthbert’s Mist’. According to the legend, the Luftwaffe tried to target Durham, but was thwarted when Saint Cuthbert created a mist that covered both the castle and cathedral, sparing them from bombing.

Palace Green, in front of the cathedral and the castle … Durham was not bombed during World War II (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham is a hilly city, said to be built on seven hills, like Rome and Constantinople. The steep riverbanks are densely wooded, adding to the picturesque beauty of the city. The cathedral and castle stand on the most central and prominent position high above the Wear and dominate the skyline. The Bailey is almost entirely owned and occupied by the university and the cathedral.

The River Wear forms a peninsula that encloses the centre Durham on three sides. The Market Place at the base of the peninsula remains the venue for regular markets and the Market Place and surrounding streets form the heart of commercial and shopping life in the city.

Three old roads lead off the Market Place: Saddler Street heads south-east, towards Elvet Bridge, the Bailey and Prebends Bridge. Elvet Bridge leads to the Elvet area of the city and the south; Prebends Bridge is smaller and provides access from the Bailey to south Durham. Heading west, Silver Street leads out of the Market Place towards Framwellgate Bridge and North Road, the other main shopping area of the city.

The old commercial heart of the city encompasses the peninsula on three sides, following the River Wear, and much of the original mediaeval street plan remains intact in the area close to the cathedral and the Market Place.

Durham Market Place, with Durham Town Hall, the Guildhall and Saint Nicholas Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham Market Place, with its impressive array of buildings and sculptures, is first mentioned in 1040, the heads of Scottish marauders were displayed on poles around the Market Place. Saint Nicholas Church was built in 1133, and part of its former churchyard lies beneath the Market Place.

Durham Town Hall is on the west side of the Market Place. The earliest part of the complex of buildings is the Guildhall which dates from 1665. The town hall, at the rear, was opened in 1851, at the same time as the indoor market.

The statue of Neptune is the oldest statue in the Market Place. It was made of stone covered in lead in 1729, and is a reminder of the plans to make Durham a port. It had a pant or drinking vessel, but was moved in 1923 when the water was no longer needed. Neptune was returned by popular demand in 1991, but the pant did not come with him.

The equestrian statue of Lord Londonderry by Raphael Monti in the Market Place (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The equestrian statue in the Market Place is of Charles William Vane Tempest Stewart (1778-1854), 3rd Marquis of Londonderry. He was born in Mary Street, Dublin, was involved as a young man in suppressing the 1798 Rising in Ireland, and was later a commander under the Duke of Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars.

He married the very wealthy Lady Frances Anne Vane-Tempest and took her name too, and only inherited his family title after Lord Castlereagh, his half-brother and the childless second marquis, died by suicide. He opposed the Mines and Collieries Act and wanted women, girls and boys under 10 to continue working in his pits.

He was one of the 10 richest people in the United Kingdom, yet during the Irish Famine evicted many of his tenants. He advised his tenants ‘to help themselves and heaven will help them’, and suggested only the most ‘supine and inert’ among them could be ‘suffering in any serious degree under the failure of the potato’.

After he died, his widow raised subscriptions for a statue by Raphael Monti (1818-1881), who used a new technique of electroplating copper over a plaster base. The statue was unveiled in 1861, but the larger-than-life work was not popular in Durham and people wanted it moved. Nobody wanted it anywhere else, the cathedral clergy rejected plans to place it on Palace Green, and so it stayed in the Market Place, although it has been moved from its original setting.

In the narrow cobbled streets beneath Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

I arrived in Durham on the train from York, crossing over the Victorian railway viaduct on North Road, high above the city, and walked along the banks of the River Wear to Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle and the city centre.

A path runs alongside the south bank or cathedral side for the entire length of the stretch available for rowing. Durham Regatta has been held on the River Wear in Durham since 1834. It is the second oldest regatta in Britain and is often referred to as ‘the Henley of the North’.

More than 2 km of the River Wear can be rowed on, stretching from Durham University Boat Club boathouse at Maiden Castle in the east to the weir next to Durham School Boat Club boathouse in the west. This includes the 700 metres ‘short course’ straight used for most Durham Regatta races, the 1,800 metres ‘long course’ that includes navigation through the arches of Elvet Bridge, reputed to be the narrowest row through bridge in Europe, and 1,000 metres and 2,000 metres measured distances.

There are many boating clubs, including Durham Amateur Rowing Club, founded in 1860 and is one of the country’s oldest clubs, Durham University Boat Club, and 16 college clubs, as well as school clubs.

The Victorian railway viaduct on North Road, high above the city, is one of over 630 listed buildings in Durham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

In addition to Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, the city has over 630 listed buildings. The Grade I listed buildings include the Chorister School, Crook Hall, Durham Castle, Durham Cathedral, and four bridges. The Grade II* listed buildings include Bishop Cosin’s Hall, Palace Green, Cosin’s Library, now part of University Library, Palace Green, the Railway viaduct on North Road, and the Town Hall and Guildhall on Market Place.

As well as visiting the cathedral, other listed churches and former churches I managed to see last weekend include Saint Margaret of Antioch, Crossgate; Saint Mary-le-Bow, now Durham Heritage Centre; Saint Godric’s Roman Catholic Church; and Saint Nicholas Church.

But more about Durham Cathedral and those four other churches in the days to come, hopefully.

Climbing the steps leading to Durham Railway Station (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)