Day 12. Durham – Sep 20th, 2013

The start was breakfast at 07:30 and an 08:30 departure. We took the coach into the city. On the way in the local guide told us what the Normans found. There is a significant U bend in the Wear river and on the inside of the bend is a high volcanic plug that the Normans instantly recognized as the basis upon which to build a defending castle. They did so starting in 1072, using the local sandstone. Note, the Battle of Hastings was 1066, and the Normans were building a castle in the far north of England only six years later.

The locals call the oxbow bend “The Peninsula”. The Normans found followers of Saint Cuthbert resident on the desired castle grounds. St Cuthbert was a seventh century monk who had in turn been influenced by Saint Oswald, who later became King Oswald.

In their day there were two types of Christians, there being some friction between the two. One group were Catholics of the Roman persuasion and the other group Catholics from Iona, a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries. I have been to Iona and recommend a visit.

The sun was shining brightly during our short ride into town and soon we were on foot ascending steps towards the Market Square.  We examined an intriguing full size grey statue of a group of six monks bearing a coffin on their shoulders. Best guess is that the coffin was that of St Cuthbert or St Oswald.

We examined the market square and then we were into a “Vennel”, an alley which led to Mrs Clements’ Mustard Factory. English mustard powder as we know it today is credited to Mrs Clements. The story goes that in 1720 she developed a powder that produced a smooth-textured mustard rather than the grainy type which was usual throughout England. What was so revolutionary about her mustard was that she ground the seeds in a mill rather than crushing them with a mortar and pestle, and she then put the mustard flour through a sieve to remove the hulls.

By 09:30 the sun was replaced by total overcast. So much for British weather forecasts!

At 10:00 we got to the Cathedral Green and saw signs advertising the Lindesfarne Gospels that were on display in the University Library. I finally put it together when I found out that Saint Cuthbert was the Bishop of Lindesfarne. By the way, the Castle and the Cathedral are co-located about 200 yards apart on the volcanic plug.

Then at 10:10 our university guide, one Ariana from San Francisco studying for a PhD in architecture, started our guided tour.  University College is housed within Durham Castle.  In turn, University College is a separate college within Durham University. No photos were allowed inside.

The first gem was that Prince Bishops could go to war, but they could not draw blood. So they carried a club rather than a sword. That is, they could bludgeon an enemy to death, but they could not pierce the body. Wonder what the Geneva Convention would say about that?

Durham Castle is a Motte and Bailey type. That is, a keep on top of a mound (motte), the whole position being surrounded by a defensive wall called a bailey, outside of which was a dry moat.

Durham University is made up of sixteen colleges spread over several locations, much of it outside the old city. Remember, small as it is, it is a city because it has a cathedral.

There was a sign indicating that Dame Margot Fonteyn had been Chancellor of University College from 1981 to 1991. In 2003 Durham University renamed its Graduate Society as Ustinov College in honour of the significant contributions Ustinov had made while serving as chancellor of the university from 1992 onwards.

We visited the kitchen and the Buttery. Nobody knew what was a Buttery was but Adriana said it was where they stored the beer and a French word was the root of both the Buttery and Butler.

[ Wikipedia indicates that a buttery was a service room in a large medieval house in which butts, barrels or bottles of alcoholic drink were stored and from which they were served into the Great Hall. The “butler” was anciently the household officer in charge of the buttery. The word derives from mediaeval French botte. Est Deo Gracia.

In the Great Hall, the largest in Britain, we saw where the students eat all their meals. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, the students must attend formal dinners. They must wear lounge suits, or female equivalent, covered by their academic gowns. The doors are closed at 19:00 and a fine is levied for non-attendance. The dinner is presided over by academic staff sitting at a high table.

The Great Hall has a very high ceiling that would appear to be impossible to heat with the single fireplace. At the opposite end of the hall from the high table is the minstrel’s gallery, complete with many armour breast plates. Every piece of armour had a dent in it where the armorer had fired a musket at it to prove that it was bullet proof.

While the walls were covered with portraits of university glitterati, there were some paintings that had been “liberated” from the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars.

University College moved into a portion of the castle in 1832, making Durham University the third oldest university in Britain, behind Oxford and Cambridge.

Next was the private chapel of Cuthbert Tunstall, Prince Bishop of Durham 1530 to 1559. Turnstall had to perform ecclesiastical gymnastics as England transitioned from Roman Catholicism, to Church of England under Henry the Eighth, back to Catholicism under Mary Queen of Scots and back to C of E under Queen Elizabeth the First. He survived to die in his bed at age 1985.

During World War Two, an RAF Squadron of the Observation Corps were resident at the college.

We walked over to the Cathedral about 200 yards away. We had to pay an entry fee and once again photos were not allowed, there being a squad of purple-robed stewards to keep us in line.

The cathedral was started in 1093, Saint Cuthbert interred in 1104 and mostly finished by 1133 – only 40 years.

In the cloisters there was a plaque  noting that  John Washington was Prior of the Cathedral Church from 1416 to 1446.  His crest showed three red stars at the top and white and red stripes on the bottom.  Was this the precursor to the Stars and Bars.

In Bethlehem Chapel we viewed the tomb of the Venerable Bede, c673 to 735. While he spent his whole life in a monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, his remains were moved in the eleventh century to be reburied with Cuthbert at Durham.

Moving into the main cathedral, we noted that a double Norman arch had been used to create interlocking masonry that was the first in Britain to be strong enough to support a stone roof.

There was a memorial to miners who lost their lives in the deep mines. The last deep mine closed in 2005. Coal mining had become uneconomical and the strike during the Thatcher years was not helpful.

In 1346 John Neville earned a burial spot in the cathedral by providing the funding for a magnificent altar screen.

Statues in the cathedral had been badly damaged, probably by Cromwell’s soldiers in the mid-1600s.

The huge columns were unique by having chiselled grooves that spiralled the soul to heaven.

Outside the cathedral we walked over to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. During World War Two it was used as an air raid shelter. Immediately opposite is the Cathedral Choristers School. Both Tony Blair and Mr Bean were Choristers.

We left the high ground and walked down a leafy trail to cross the River Wear on the Prebends Bridge. We walked down the west bank of the river to the Framweigate Bridge. We crossed the bridge and ascended Silver Street to the Market Square. Most broke off to go shopping, but I went back down the steps to meet the coach in the parking lot some 400 yards distant.

At 13:30 I came back to the hotel, leaving the shoppers to get their retail fix. They had two ways to get back. There would be a second coach run at 16:30 or they could take the local train.

Back at the hotel I had a couple of cups of tea, some cheese and some biscuits for lunch. Then it was a last laundry session.

Dinner was at 19:00 in the restaurant which we have found to have a ton of atmosphere, complete with pianist and singer.

Just as I was trying to go to sleep, the wedding party launched a fireworks display, complete with some very loud bangers.  After that, their band cranked up with a pounding beat that lasted until 00:30 making sleep impossible.  I was not amused.