Anglo-Saxon The See of Durham takes its origins from the
Diocese of Lindisfarne, founded by
Saint Aidan at the behest of
Oswald of Northumbria in about 635, which was translated to
York in 664. The see was reinstated at Lindisfarne in 678 by the
Archbishop of Canterbury. Among the many
saints who originated at
Lindisfarne Priory, the greatest was
Saint Cuthbert,
Bishop of Lindisfarne from 685 until his death in 687, who is central to the development of Durham Cathedral. After repeated
Viking raids, the monks fled from Lindisfarne in 875, carrying Saint Cuthbert's relics with them. The diocese of Lindisfarne remained itinerant until 882, when the monks resettled at
Chester-le-Street, 60 miles south of Lindisfarne and 6 miles north of Durham. The see remained at Chester-le-Street until 995, when further Viking incursions once again caused the monks to move with their relics. According to the local legend of the
Dun Cow and the saint's
hagiography, the monks followed two
milk maids who were searching for a
dun-coloured cow and found themselves on a
peninsula formed by a loop in the
River Wear. Thereupon, Cuthbert's coffin became immovable, which was taken as a sign that the new shrine should be built on that spot, which became the City of Durham. A more prosaic set of reasons for the selection of the peninsula is its highly defensible position, and that a community established there would enjoy the protection of the
Earl of Northumbria, with whom the bishop at this time,
Aldhun, had strong family connections. Today the street leading from
The Bailey past the cathedral's eastern towers up to Palace Green is named Dun Cow Lane due to the miniature dun cows which used to graze in the pastures nearby. Initially, a very simple temporary structure was built from local timber to house the relics of Saint Cuthbert. The shrine was then transferred to a sturdier, probably still wooden, building known as the White Church. This church was itself replaced three years later in 998 by a stone building also known as the White Church, which in 1018 was complete except for its tower. Durham soon became a site of pilgrimage, encouraged by the growing cult of Saint Cuthbert.
King Canute was one of the early pilgrims, and granted many privileges and estates to the Durham monks. The defensible position, flow of money from pilgrims and power embodied in the church at Durham all encouraged the formation of a town around the cathedral, which established the core of the city.
Norman The present cathedral was designed and built under
William de St-Calais (also known as William of St. Carilef). In 1083 he founded the Benedictine Priory of St. Cuthbert at Durham and having ejected the secular canons (and their wives and children) who had been in charge of the church and shrine of St Cuthbert there, replaced them with monks from the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow. The extensive lands of the church he divided between his own bishopric and the new Priory. He appointed
Aldwin as the first prior. Bishop William of St. Calais demolished the old Saxon church, and on 11 August 1093, together with Prior
Turgot of Durham (Aldwin's successor), he laid the foundation stone of the great new cathedral. The monks continued at their own expense to build the monastic buildings while the bishop took the responsibility for completing the building of the cathedral. The primary reason for the cathedral was to house the bodies of St. Cuthbert and the
Venerable Bede. Since that time many major additions and reconstructions of parts of the building have been made, but the greater part of the structure remains the original
Norman structure. Construction of the cathedral began in 1093, at the eastern end. The choir was completed by 1096. At the death of Bishop William of St. Calais on 2 January 1096, the Chapter House was ready enough to be used as his burial place. In 1104 the remains of St. Cuthbert were transferred with great ceremony to the new shrine in the new cathedral. The monks continued to look after the Shrine of St Cuthbert until the
dissolution of the monasteries. (partially demolished in the 18th century). William of St. Carilef died in 1096 before the building was complete and passed responsibility to his successor,
Ranulf Flambard, who also built
Framwellgate Bridge, the earliest crossing of the
River Wear from the town. Three bishops,
William of St. Carilef, Ranulf Flambard and
Hugh de Puiset, are all buried in the now rebuilt chapter house. In the 1170s
Hugh de Puiset, after a false start at the eastern end where subsidence and cracking prevented work from continuing, added the
Galilee Chapel at the west end of the cathedral. 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 Medieval period by an altar to the
Virgin Mary. The door is now blocked by the tomb of Bishop
Thomas Langley. The Galilee Chapel also holds the remains of the
Venerable Bede. The main entrance to the cathedral is on the northern side, facing the castle. In 1228
Richard le Poore,
Bishop of Salisbury, was
translated to
Durham, having just rebuilt
Salisbury Cathedral in the Gothic style. The towers also date from the early 13th century, but the central tower was damaged by lightning and replaced in two stages in the 15th century, the master masons being Thomas Barton and John Bell. The Shrine of Saint Cuthbert was located in the eastern apsidal end of the cathedral. The location of the inner wall of the apse is marked on the pavement and Saint Cuthbert's tomb is covered by a simple slab. However, an unknown monk wrote in 1593:
Dissolution During the [English Reformation] King Henry VIII seized all churches, monasteries, priories and convents owned by the Roman Catholic Church. Durham Cathedral became an Anglican house of worship. Saint Cuthbert's tomb was destroyed in 1538 by order of King
Henry VIII, In 1794
James Wyatt drew up plans to transform the building, including the demolition of the Galilee Chapel, but the chapter later decided against many of the intended changes. Wyatt renewed the 15th-century
tracery of the Rose Window, inserting plain glass to replace what had been blown out in a storm. In 1829 the Dean and Chapter authorised the engraving of a meridian line upon the floor and wall of the north cloister. A circular aperture about in the tracery of the adjoining window about above the level of the floor directs a beam of sunlight to fall upon the line at the precise time when the
sun passes the meridian. It was constructed by William Lloyd Wharton, of Dryburn in the city, and Mr Carr, then Head Master of
Durham School. In 1847 the architect
Anthony Salvin removed Cosin's wooden organ screen, opening up the view of the east end from the nave, and in 1858 he restored the
cloisters. The
Victorian restoration of the cathedral's tower in 1859–60 was by the architect
George Gilbert Scott, working with
Edward Robert Robson (who went on to serve as Clerk of Works at the cathedral for six years). In 1874 Scott was responsible for the marble choir screen and pulpit in the Crossing. There is also a statue of
William Van Mildert (1826–1836), the last bishop with palatine powers, and driving force behind the foundation of
Durham University.
20th century In the 1930s, under the inspiration of Dean
Cyril Alington, work began on restoring the Shrine of Saint Cuthbert behind the high altar as an appropriate focus of worship and pilgrimage, and was resumed after
World War II. The four candlesticks and overhanging
tester () were designed by
Ninian Comper. Two large
batik banners representing Saints Cuthbert and Oswald, added in 2001, are the work of
Thetis Blacker. Elsewhere in the building the 1930s and 1940s saw the addition of several new stained glass windows by
Hugh Ray Easton. Mark Angus's
Daily Bread window in the north side of the nave, dates from 1984. In the Galilee Chapel a wooden statue of the
Annunciation by the Polish artist Josef Pyrz was added in 1992, the same year as
Leonard Evetts'
Stella Maris window. In 1986, the cathedral, together with the nearby Castle, became a
World Heritage Site. The
UNESCO committee classified the cathedral under criteria C (ii) (iv) (vi), reporting, "''Durham Cathedral is the largest and most perfect monument of 'Norman' style architecture in England''". In its discussion of the significance of the cathedral,
Historic England provided this summary in their 1986 report: Nearby a plaque, first installed in 2011 and rededicated in 2017, commemorates the Scottish soldiers who died as prisoners in the cathedral after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. The remains of some of these prisoners have now been identified in a mass grave uncovered during building works in 2013 just outside the cathedral precinct near Palace Green. In 2004 two wooden sculptures by
Fenwick Lawson,
Pietà and
Tomb of Christ, were placed in the Nine Altars Chapel, and in 2010 a new stained glass window of the
Transfiguration by Tom Denny was dedicated in memory of
Michael Ramsey, former Bishop of Durham and Archbishop of Canterbury. In 2016 former monastic buildings around the cloister, including the Monks' Dormitory and Prior's Kitchen, were re-opened to the public as
Open Treasure, an extensive exhibition displaying the cathedral's history and possessions. In the same year, a scale model of the cathedral, made up of 300,000
Lego bricks and standing tall and long, was completed. The model is no longer displayed. In November 2009 the cathedral featured in the light festival
Lumiere whose highlight was the "Crown of Light" illumination of the North Front of the cathedral with a 15-minute presentation that told the story of Lindisfarne and the foundation of cathedral, using illustrations and text from the
Lindisfarne Gospels. Lumiere has been repeated biennially since–most recently in 2023.
Durham Priory held many manuscripts; in the 21st century, steps were under way to digitise the books, originating from the 6th to the 16th century. The project was being undertaken in a partnership by Durham University and Durham Cathedral. The cathedral church and the cloister is open to visitors during certain hours each day, unless it is closed for a special event. In 2017 a new "Open Treasure" exhibition area was opened which included a display of
Saint Cuthbert's coffin and various relics; in 2019 a new exhibit was added, Mapping the World, featuring geographical items from the cathedral's archive. ==Architecture==