Four churches dotted around Durham with different stories and roles in the city’s life

Saint Nicholas Church and the Market Place, Durham … the church gave the title to Archbishop George Carey’s book ‘The Church in the Market Place’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025; click on images for full-screen viewing)

Patrick Comerford

During my recent visit to Durham, I visited Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle, visited the locations of the former synagogues in Durham, crossed the bridges and walked through the steep narrow cobbled streets and along the banks of the River Wear.

It was my first visit to Durham, and it was also all too brief. But I also I also managed to visit four other churches in Durham. Although I did not manage to get inside any of those churches – this time – their stories, nevertheless, illustrate the variety and diversity of church life in Durham over the centuries, and one of them brought me on a pilgrim trail while another brought me back on what I like to think of as the ‘Pugin Trail’.

Earlier in the day I had also seen Durham Presbyterian Church, first built as Durham Synagogue and described in a blog posting on Friday evening (12 September 2025). But I also visited four other churches, three Anglican and one Roman Catholic:

• Saint Nicholas Church on Durham Market Place, once celebrated in Archbishop George Carey’s book The Church in the Market Place

• The former Saint Mary-le-Bow Church, which housed the Durham Museum until it closed at the end of last year

• Saint Margaret of Antioch Church on Crossgate, a parish church in the Liberal Catholic tradition, dating back to the 12th century, and once part of a mediaeval pilgrimage trail

• Saint Godric’s, built by EW Pugin on a raised site looking across the city.

The east end of Saint Nicholas Church at the junction of Silver Street and Durham Market Place (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Nicholas Church, Market Place:

Saint Nicholas Church, commonly known as Saint Nics, is a Grade II listed building on the north side of the Market Place, and was once celebrated in Archbishop George Carey’s book The Church in the Market Place.

The original Saint Nicholas Church is thought to have been founded in the early 12th century by Ranulf Flambard, Bishop of Durham. He cleared Palace Green, between the cathedral and his castle, and established the current Market Place below the castle, with Saint Nicholas Church beside it. The first known vicar was Galfrid de Elemer in 1133.

This church had a buttressed nave and chancel, and a square tower with battlements. Its north wall formed part of the city walls, and abutted the ancient Clayport Gate until the gate was demolished in 1791. A graveyard lay between the church and the Market Place, and there was another behind the church.

The building was extensively modified over the centuries, the east end was shortened to allow street widening, and a market piazza was built against its south wall in the 19th century. But by 1803 it was said to be ‘very ruinous’.

The architect James Pigott Pritchett junior from Darlington was still only 24 when he was commissioned to renovate the church in 1854. However, when the market piazza was demolished, the church was found to be beyond repair, and instead Pritchett was commissioned to design and build a new church.

The old church was demolished in 1857, and all that remains from it is a font dating from 1700 and five bells dating from 1687.

Pritchett designed the new church in the Decorated Gothic style, and it opened in December 1858. The Illustrated London News said at the time it was ‘the most beautiful specimen of church architecture in the north of England’, and the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner said it is one of Pritchett’s best.

A statue of Saint Nicholas above the south porch of Saint Nicholas Church, looking out over the Market Place (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Pritchett’s church was the first in Durham to have a spire. Although it was not part of Pritchett's original plan, it was added at the behest of the Revd George Townshend Fox, who paid for it himself.

George Carey, later Archbishop of Canterbury, was Vicar of Saint Nicholas in 1975-1982. He removed the pews and the majority of the Victorian interior features to make the church more flexible and adaptable. His book The Church in the Market Place (1984) describes the changes and their impact on the life of the parish.

The parish is small, covering only the area around the Market Place, Claypath and the Sands. It is bounded by three other ancient parishes in Durham: Saint Giles, Saint Oswald’s and Saint Margaret of Antioch. Historically, the parish was densely populated. However, slum clearance and commercial developments in the 1920s greatly reduced the parish population parish, and the church draws the majority of its congregation from outside the parish.

Durham Market Place and Saint Nicholas Church on a busy Saturday afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The church has a long evangelical tradition, and since the mid-19th century its patronage has been held by the Church Pastoral Aid Society. The church had a long involvement with the fair trade movement and with Richard Adams, the founder of Traidcraft.

The clergy of Saint Nicholas have included Alfred Tucker, a curate in the 1880s who became the first bishop of Uganda; John Wenham (vicar, 1948-1953), New Testament Greek scholar and author of The Elements of New Testament Greek; David Vivian Day, former Principal of Saint John’s College, Durham (1992-1999); Bishop Pete Broadbent, former Bishop of Willesden (2001-2021); and Maeve Sherlock, Baroness Sherlock, a Labour life peer and Minister of State for Work and Pensions.

The Revd Dr Will Foulger has been the Vicar of St Nicholas since 2023. Before that he taught theology and mission in Durham. The main Sunday services are a 9 am, 11 am and 6:30 pm, although I could not find out on the church noticeboard on the Market Place or on the church website when the Eucharist is celebrated.

The former Saint Mary-le-Bow Church on Bow Lane faces the east end of Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary-le-Bow Church, Bow Lane:

The former Church of Saint Mary-le-Bow, which housed the Durham Museum until last year, is a Grade I listed building on the corner of the North Bailey and Bow Lane, near Durham Cathedral. It is bounded on the north and east by Hatfield College, on the south by Bow Lane, and on the west by North Bailey.

Saint Mary-le-Bow was founded in 1241, and the mediaeval parish church served people living in the North Bailey. It is said to stand on the site of the White Church, or Tabernacle of Boughs, in which Saint Cuthbert’s body was kept until the cathedral was completed. An arch connected the church tower to the fortifications, creating a gateway or ‘bow’, with a room in the tower for a chantry priest.

The gateway, the tower and much of the west end of the church collapsed in 1637, and the church lay in ruins for decades and was not rebuilt until 1685, with the support of the Bishop of Durham and the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral.

The east end of Saint Mary-le-Bow … the church was rebuilt in the 1680s using earlier material and elements (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Mary-le-Bow was rebuilt on the same site, using earlier material and elements from different dates. The roof dates from the 15th century, the panelling is 18th century, and present tower dates from 1702, with a bell cast by Dalton of York in 1759.

The church had intricate wood carvings. The altar rails dated from 1705, the wooden screen from 1707, the wainscoting was installed in 1731, and the west gallery and vestry were built in 1741.

The church closed in 1968 and many of the fittings were removed. Saint Mary-le-Bow became Durham Museum and Heritage Centre and then Durham Museum. The museum opened in 1972, and the Bow Trust was formed in 1975 to maintain Saint Mary-Le-Bow as a centre for history and culture.

Fenwick Lawson’s sculpture of Saint Cuthbert was carved from an elm tree that grew in front of Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The museum told the history of Durham from the Middle Ages, with displays on industries and trades in Durham, the manufacture of organs, and aspects of Durham’s social history. Works by the Durham sculptor Fenwick Lawson in the sculpture garden include one of Saint Cuthbert carved in 1984 from an elm tree that grew in front of Durham Cathedral.

The museum was mainly run by volunteers, but the costs of maintaining the building and the prospect of extensive and expensive repairs forced the museum to close at the end of last year (2024).

A ‘pop-up’ museum has opened at Prince Bishops Place, on the High Street off Durham Market Place.

The west end of Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, with Durham Castle (left) and Durham Cathedral (right) in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Crossgate:

Saint Margaret of Antioch Church at the bottom of Crossgate is a parish church in the Liberal Catholic tradition, with a diversity inherited from recent history – charismatic, catholic, contemplative – that is reflected in the congregations.

Crossgate is the ancient route west from the city, on a bluff overlooking Framwellgate Bridge. It connects the city centre with Neville’s Cross, where the remains of a stone cross are a reminder that Crossgate was once a pilgrim route for those travelling to Durham and the relics of Saint Cuthbert.

Saint Margaret is Grade I listed, with substantial parts that date from the 12th century. Saint Margaret’s was established in the 12th century as a chapel of ease in the Parish of Saint Oswald to serve the people of the Borough of Crossgate or the ‘Old Borough’.

Like Saint Oswald’s Church, Saint Margaret’s was under the jurisdiction of the Priors of Durham, and their successors, the Dean and Chapter of Durham, remain the patrons of the living to this day.

Saint Margaret of Antioch depicted in a statue above the north porch of Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Crossgate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The earliest surviving parts of the church date from ca 1150. At that time, the church probably consisted of the nave, south aisle and chancel; a north aisle was added at the end of the 12th century. The north nave arcade is taller and more elaborate than the south nave, though both are in the Norman style.

The font is believed to date from the 12th century. Two Norman windows survive from that period: one in the chancel, one in the south nave clerestory. The south aisle was remodelled in the 14th century, and new clerestory windows were inserted above the nave.

After their own chapel was built, the people of Crossgate resented still having to attend the parish church at certain times and to pay certain dues. During one dispute, the prior removed the font from Saint Margaret’s in 1343. It was returned by the bishop, but he insisted, however, that the parishioners had no right to use it. Eventually, the residents of Crossgate won the right to be baptised and married in Saint Margaret’s, and burials were allowed there from 1431.

Crossgate was once part of the pilgrims’ route to Durham Cathedral and the relics of Saint Cuthbert (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Further expansion in the 15th century included the addition of a Lady Chapel to the south of the chancel, and the tower. Two of the church’s three bells date from this period, while third is from the 16th century.

The memorials in the church include a large ledger slab on the nave floor marking the burial place of Sir John Duck, a 17th-century mayor known as ‘Durham’s Dick Whittington’ because of his poor origins.

The church was restored in the second half of the 19th century, when the north aisle was largely rebuilt, and a full set of stained glass windows was added. The organ dates from 1917 and is by Harrison & Harrison. Their factory until recently was within the parish, and Arthur Harrison was the churchwarden of Saint Margaret’s at the time.

Saint Margaret’s was a leading centre of charismatic worship from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Father Barnaby Huish is the Rector of the parishes of Saint Margaret and of Saint John, Neville’s Cross and Saint Edmund’s, Bearpark. The services include the Parish Eucharist on Sundays at 10:30 am, the Eucharist on Wednesdays at 10 am, and Choral Evensong on Fridays with Saint Cuthbert’s Society Choir.

Saint Godric’s Church was designed by Edward Welby Pugin and built in 1863-1864 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Saint Godric’s Church, Castle Chare:

Saint Godric’s Church, Castle Chare, formally known as the Church of Our Lady of Mercy and Saint Godric, is part of the Roman Catholic parish of the Durham Martyrs, which also includes Saint Bede’s Chapel and Saint Joseph’s Church. It is part of the Finchale Partnership in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, and was Grade 2 listed after a fire in 1985.

Saint Godric (1065-1170) was a merchant from Norfolk who travelled to Rome and Jerusalem, a ship’s captain and possibly a pirate, before his conversion to the religious life. He retreated to Finchale, four miles from Durham on the banks of the River Wear. There he lived the rest of his life as a monk and hermit, and it is said he died at the age of 105.

Saint Godric’s stands dramatically on a raised site close to Durham city centre, and its design takes full advantage of the location. The church was designed by the architect was Edward Welby Pugin (1834-1875), son of the leading architect of the Gothic Revival, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852).

Pugin’s original designs included a tower and spire, but funds were not available for building them. The church originally consisted of just the five-bay nave and aisles. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop William Hogarth on Whit Monday 1863 and the church was opened by the bishop on 15 November 1864, when the preacher was the future Cardinal Henry Manning.

Fundraising for completing the church began in 1906 and plans were drawn up by Pugin & Pugin, the successor practice to EW Pugin. The tower was completed and reopened on 27 October 1909. It appears likely that the east end was built at the same time; it has seven gables, each surmounted by a stone cross.

A statue of Saint Godric at Saint Godric’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The interior continued to be enriched with new fittings. A marble and alabaster high altar was erected in 1914 by Canon Robert Thornton in memory of his parents, incorporating the earlier tabernacle. The altar is probably by Pugin & Pugin, although this has not been established with certainty. The alabaster altar rails may also date from this time.

Stained glass windows were installed In 1913-1914 in the baptistry by the widow of Edward Gannen. A stone war memorial was unveiled outside the church in 1923, and electric light was installed in the church. After Canon Thornton died in 1934, the Lady Chapel was redecorated and panelling and a screen erected there in his memory. The church was consecrated by Bishop Séamus Cunningham on 23 September 1959.

The church was badly damaged in a fire on 13 January 1985. The roof was destroyed, but many internal furnishings survived, including the high altar and some of the stained glass. After two years of careful restoration, the church reopened in 1987.

The church celebrated the 150th anniversary of the church in 2014. Sunday Mass is celebrated at 9 am and weekday services usually take place at 10 am.

Saint Godric’s Church takes full advantage of its location on a raised site close to Durham city centre (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham Cathedral has the shrines of Cuthbert and Bede. Is it England’s Prague or Avignon?

‘Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe … and … can only be compared to Avignon and Prague’ (Nikolaus Pevsner) … Durham castle and cathedral above the River Wear (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

‘Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe to the eyes of those who appreciate architecture, and to the minds of those who understand architecture. The group of Cathedral, Castle, and Monastery on the rock can only be compared to Avignon and Prague.’

So wrote the architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983) in The Buildings of England.

Pevsner was still in his 20s and on his first English tour, when he wrote about his visit to Durham to his wife Lola (Carola Kurlbaum) in 1930: ‘From the bridge it is a Romantic dream, a fantasy by Schinkel. This morning in the mist it was wonderful … the first thing that has made my heart pound … the cathedral in itself, just like the Matterhorn in itself – gigantic, grey, on its own.’ He fled Nazi Germany three years later and settled in England in 1933.

More recently, Bill Bryson wrote in Notes from a Small Island: ‘I unhesitatingly gave Durham my vote for best cathedral on planet Earth.’

Durham Cathedral is a place of pilgrimage associated with Saint Cuthbert, the Venerable Bede and Saint Oswald (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Durham Cathedral has been a place of worship and learning continuously for more than 1,000 years, and through those centuries it has been a centre of prayer and pilgrimage associated with the relics of Saint Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede and the head of Saint Oswald of Northumbria.

It has been described as the ‘largest and most perfect monument of Norman style architecture in England.’ It is generally regarded as one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe and the rib vaulting in the nave marks the beginning of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle are both are Grade I listed buildings and together they became a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1986. The site is one of the most powerful symbols of the Norman Conquest of England.

Durham Cathedral is formally the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and Saint Cuthbert of Durham. It attracts about 750,000 visitors a year, although my visit last weekend was curtailed and restricted. I was visiting Durham for the first time, and a day of ceremonies and commemorations meant I only had a short visit to the cathedral and never managed to visit the shrine of Saint Cuthbert.

The cathedral story dates back to the seventh century and the foundation of Lindisfarne Priory, founded ca 635. The See of Durham was founded by Saint Aidan as the Diocese of Lindisfarne at the invitation of King Oswald. The see was moved to York in 664, but it returned to Lindisfarne in 678. Saint Cuthbert, whose story is central to the development of Durham Cathedral, was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 685 until his death in 687.

After repeated Viking raids, the monks fled from Lindisfarne in 875, bringing Saint Cuthbert’s relics with them. They settled at Chester-le-Street from 882 until 995, when they moved to Durham. I was recalling the legend of the Dun Cow in a posting on Thursday evening (11 September 2025). Eventually, the monks arrived at a peninsula formed by a loop in the River Wear, and there they built a new shrine that marks the beginning of Durham, both the cathedral and the city.

The east end of Durham Cathedral, one of the finest Romanesque cathedrals in Europe (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The first shrine or church was a simple, temporary wooden structure built to house the relics of Saint Cuthbert. A sturdier, wooden building, known as the White Church, was itself replaced in 998 by a stone building also known as the White Church, which was complete in 1018 except for its tower.

The shrine of Saint Cuthbert soon made Durham a centre of pilgrimage, the early pilgrims included King Canute and a town grew up around the cathedral.

The present cathedral was built between 1093 and 1133 under Bishop William de St-Calais. He founded the Benedictine Priory at Durham in 1083, and replaced the secular canons with monks from the monasteries at Wearmouth and Jarrow, appointing Aldwin as the first prior.

Bishop William de St Calais demolished the old Saxon church, and he and Turgot of Durham, Aldwin’s successor as prior, laid the foundation stone of the new cathedral on 11 August 1093. Since then, there have been many additions and reconstructions, but the greater part of the cathedral remains the original Norman structure.

William de St-Calais died in 1096 and was succeeded by Ranulf Flambard, who built Framwellgate Bridge, the earliest crossing of the River Wear from the town.

The rib vaulting in the nave marks the beginning of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The remains of Saint Cuthbert were transferred to the new shrine in the new cathedral in 1104. The walls of the nave were finished by 1128, the high vault by 1135, and the chapter house was built in 1133-1140. It is a significant example of the Romanesque architectural style, and the nave ceiling is the earliest surviving example of a pointed rib vault.

Hugh de Puiset added the Galilee Chapel at the west end of the cathedral in the 1170s. The five-aisled building occupies the position of a porch and functioned as a Lady Chapel with the great west door being blocked during the mediaeval period by an altar to the Virgin Mary. The west towers also date from the early 13th century and were built ca 1200.

Richard le Poore, Bishop of Salisbury, moved to Durham in 1228 after rebuilding Salisbury Cathedral in the Gothic style. He commissioned Richard Farnham to design the east end of the cathedral as a place where the monks could say the Daily Office together. The east end was expanded in the Early English Gothic style in the 1230s, and the building that was erected became the Chapel of the Nine Altars.

The Shrine of Saint Cuthbert was at the east end of the cathedral. The shrine was said to be one of the ‘most sumptuous in all England, so great were the offerings and jewels bestowed upon it, and endless the miracles that were wrought at it’.

The north aisle of Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The original roof was replaced in 1250 by a vault that is still in place. The central tower was damaged by lightning and was replaced by the Perpendicular Gothic central tower, built in two stages in the 15th century.

The cathedral is notable for the ribbed vault of the nave, with some of the earliest transverse pointed arches supported on relatively slender composite piers alternated with massive drum columns, and lateral abutments concealed within the triforium over the aisles.

The skilled use of the pointed arch and ribbed vault made it possible to cover far more elaborate and complicated ground plans than before. Buttressing made it possible to build taller buildings and open up the intervening wall spaces to create larger windows.

The main entrance to the cathedral is now on the north side, facing onto Palace Green and Durham Castle.

The shrine of Saint Bede in the Galilee Chapel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The relics of Saint Bede were brought by a monk to Durham from Jarrow in 1022. At first they were placed with Saint Cuthbert’s remains, but they were moved to the Galilee Chapel around 1370. The simple Latin inscription on his tomb reads, ‘Here lie the bones of the Venerable Bede’.

The Galilee Chapel in front of the former great west door was home to the chantry, which Cardinal Thomas Langley opened in 1414 to provide free grammar and music lessons to children who could not afford them.

The Great West Door was blocked by Langley’s tomb after he died in 1437 and so the two doors were built to the north and south in the 19th century.

The Great West Door was blocked by Cardinal Thomas Langley’s tomb after he died in 1437 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

During the Tudor Reformation, Saint Cuthbert’s tomb was destroyed in 1538 and the monastery’s wealth was transferred to the crown. When Saint Cuthbert’s body was exhumed, it is said, it was discovered to be uncorrupted. It was reburied under a plain stone slab now worn smooth by the knees of pilgrims, but the ancient paving around it remains intact.

The Benedictine monastery at Durham was dissolved on 31 December 1540, and the last Prior of Durham, Hugh Whitehead, became the first dean in the cathedral’s new chapter.

After the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, Durham Cathedral was used by Cromwell as a makeshift prison to hold Scottish prisoners of war. As many as 3,000 were imprisoned in inhumane conditions, without food, water, or heat.

The prisoners destroyed much of the cathedral woodwork for firewood, and 1,700 of them died inside the cathedral. It is said the dead prisoners were buried in unmarked graves, and the survivors were shipped as slave labour to the American Colonies. The remains of some prisoners were identified recently in a mass grave uncovered during building works outside the cathedral precinct near Palace Green.

Durham Cathedral was used by Cromwell to hold up to 3,000 prisoners of war in inhumane conditions (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

After the Caroline restoration, Bishop John Cosin was Bishop of Durham in 1660-1672. He set about restoring the damage and refurnishing the cathedral with new chapter and choir stalls, the litany desk, and the towering canopy over the font, while an oak screen replaced a stone screen pulled down in the 16th century. Dean John Sudbury founded a library of early printed books on the remains of the old refectory.

George Nicholson, who had completed Prebends’ Bridge across the Wear, persuaded the dean and chapter in 1777 to allow him to smooth off much of the outer stonework of the cathedral, altering its character. His successor William Morpeth demolished most of the chapter house.

James Wyatt drew up plans to transform the cathedral in 1794, including the demolition of the Galilee Chapel. But the chapter later rejected many of his proposed changes. Wyatt renewed the 15th century tracery of the Rose Window, inserting plain glass to replace glass that had been blown out in a storm.

The architect Anthony Salvin removed Cosin’s wooden organ screen in 1847, opening up the view of the east end from the nave, and he restored the cloisters in 1858.

The cathedral tower was restored in 1859-1860 by George Gilbert Scott (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The cathedral tower was restored in 1859-1860 by George Gilbert Scott, working with Edward Robert Robson. Scott was responsible for the marble choir screen and pulpit in the crossing in 1874. Scott’s pupil Charles Hodgson Fowler rebuilt the chapter house in 1892 as a memorial to Bishop Joseph Barber Lightfoot.

The great west window, depicting the Tree of Jesse, was the gift of Dean George Waddington (1867). It is the work of Clayton and Bell, who were also responsible for the Te Deum window in the south transept (1869), the Four Doctors window in the north transept (1875), and the Rose Window of Christ in Majesty (1876).

Dean Cyril Alington began restoring the Shrine of Saint Cuthbert behind the high altar in the 1930s, and the work resumed after World War II. The four candlesticks and overhanging tester (1950) were designed by Sir Ninian Comper. Two large batik banners by Thetis Blacker depicting Saint Cuthbert and Saint Oswald were added in 2001. Several stained glass windows by Hugh Ray Easton in the cathedral were added in the 1930s and 1940s.

A window by Alan Younger in the Galilee Chapel commemorates the 1300th anniversary of the birth of the Venerable Bede (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The artwork behind Saint Bede’s tomb in the Galilee Chapel is a wooden memorial with glistening gold writing and quotes from his commentary on the Book of Revelation: ‘Christ is the Morning Star who, when the night of this world is past, brings to his saints the promise of the light of life, and opens everlasting day.’

It was designed by Frank Roper (1914-2000).and George Pace (1915-1975) in 1971 as a memorial to Cyril Alington, Dean of Durham in 1933-1951, and his wife Hester.

A wooden statue of the Annunciation (1992) in the Galilee Chapel is by the Polish artist Josef Pyrz and Leonard Evetts’s Stella Maris window was added the sane year.

A window by Alan Younger was installed in the Galilee Chapel in 1973 to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the birth of the Venerable Bede in 672/673 AD.

In the cloisters in Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

At the beginning of the 21st century, two of the altars in the Nine Altars Chapel at the east end were re-dedicated to Saint Hild of Whitby and Saint Margaret of Scotland. Two wooden sculptures by Fenwick Lawson, Pietà and Tomb of Christ, were placed in the chapel in 2004, and a new stained glass window of the Transfiguration by Tom Denny was dedicated in 2010 in memory of Michael Ramsey, former Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury.

The 17th century Smith organ was replaced in 1876 by ‘Father’ Willis (Henry Willis & Sons). Harrison & Harrison worked on the organ from 1880. It was restored in 1905-1935, rebuilt again in 1970, and there were more changes in 1981 and 1996.

The organists have included the composers Thomas Ebdon and Richard Hey Lloyd, editor of the Ancient and Modern Revised hymnbook John Dykes Bower, and the conductor David Hill. present Master of the Choristers and Organist is Daniel Cook. The Sub-Organist is Joseph Beech. There are ten bells in the central tower hung for change ringing in the English style.

The north transept and north door of Durham Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Sir Walter Scott in his poem ‘Harold the Dauntless’ wrote in 1819:

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.

Other listed churches and former churches I managed to see during my short visit to Durham include Saint Margaret of Antioch, Crossgate; Saint Mary-le-Bow, now Durham Heritage Centre; Saint Cuthbert’s Roman Catholic Church; and Saint Nicholas Church. But more about them another day, hopefully.

Saint Oswald’s’ head was buried in Durham Cathedral alongside Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

• The Very Revd Dr Philip Plyming has been the Dean of Durham since 2023. The chapter includes the vice-dean and precentor, treasurer, chancellor, canon pastor and the Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham University, the Revd Canon Professor Simon Oliver. The Sung Eucharist on Sundays, the main service of Holy Communion, begins at 10 am. The cathedral church and the cloisters are open to visitors throughout the year.

Durham Cathedral glimpsed through the narrow, cobbled streets of Durham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

‘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)