Excerpt: Marisa Price's Journal, October 19, 1996.
Something draws me to Durham; I don't know
what it is exactly. Perhaps it is the glorious architecture
or that both the Venerable Bede and St. Cuthbert were
brought here to rest. It is difficult to explain in words,
but that majestic place leaves me content.
The last time we came to the Cathedral at Durham,
my parents and I drove in and parked in the carpark out in
front of the Norman edifice. I came to Durham by train this
time, and what a difference that made!
You step off of the train and look out. Amongst the
green and autumn-yellow trees sit the dark stone walls
of both the cathedral and the castle, high on a hill, and
standing imposingly over a river-valley below.
I walked off the platform and down from
the station and into the valley. It was somewhat like
walking in Oregon, surrounded by trees, looking out at
a bright river that glowed like smooth green glass. The
river meandered under a great stone bridge. I walked
over the bridge to step on the side of the valley where
the cathedral was.
Upstream were two ancient mill-houses and another
bridge. A sign said that an archaeological museum was
housed in the mill house on my side of the river, so I
headed upstream to check it out. People were picnicking
on benches which were placed along the cobblestone and
dirt path through the trees, and to my right (along the
stream) there were two people fishing with spinners.
It was a nice little museum, which housed
neolithic, mesolithic, bronze age, Celtic, Roman, and
Anglo-Saxon remains. It was cheap, and worth a look.
After the museum, I headed up a stone stairway that
had been placed in the hillside, and started toward the
cathedral and castle above. Along the way was a drainage
system of sorts, made of stone, to take the waters from the
top of the hill and let them run down to the stream below.
This part of the drain was revealed by an arch carved into
the hill, as if to make it look like a fountain, and on the
key stone of the arch was carved the date, "1690."
I finished the climb and ended up before the huge
Norman cathedral.
The cathedral fascinates me particularly because
of its primarily Norman architecture. Many Norman churches
and cathedrals either burned down or were taken down, and
rebuilt in the later middle ages with the High-Gothic style
cathedrals. The Norman style is plain, but it is almost
more beautiful because of the lack of embellishment.
For those who don't know much about Medieval
architecture, I will endeavor to explain the difference.
Gothic Architecture concentrates on the pointed arch:
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Whereas Norman architecture uses the Roman-style "round"
arches:
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Norman buildings were smaller, had small windows, and
had large round pillars sitting on square bases. The Gothic
style focused on huge towers and windows, square pillars
with smaller rounded pillars surrounding them, and most of
the Late-Gothic buildings are dependent on buttresses to
hold up the enormous towers and windows.
Durham is truly a conglomeration of both Norman
and Gothic styles, as some parts of the cathedral were
taken down in later times and rebuilt in the gothic style.
This is interesting because it is easy to see where these
changes were. For example, on the outside of the building,
the towers change to Gothic, and not only is the change in
style startling, but also the change in the color and type
of stone.
+ + + + + + + + + +
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| ^ ^ | | ^ ^ |
| = = | | = = |
| gothic | | gothic |
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| norman | | norman |
| () ()| | () () |
| |++++++++++++++++++++++++| |
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At the door there is a huge brass knocker that
looks like a huge growling lion. The original is in the
treasury, but this exact copy is also amazing, growling
at those who would come to the church in order to destroy
it. The original was 12th century. Had the Normans placed
it there and it had frightened later generations enough to
refrain from changing the cathedral too much?
Well it's a thought anyway ^_^.
The inside of the cathedral is breathtaking:
carved rounded norman Pillars stretch high above, and
subtle rounded windows keep the inside dim.
Other age notes: There is a lot of black stone in
the later pillars, this sort of stone was used up in
England very early. It is beautiful, an onyx color, and
covered with fossil shells. The whole church is relatively
plain on the inside, most of the paint having worn off the
walls, but there are places where some paint still exists,
and a demonstration of what the church would have looked
like in the middle ages. The Medievals were fond of
painting their cathedrals bright colors, and would not
have been content with the plain white stone we consider
aesthetically pleasing today.
The West transept floor is inlaid with multi-colored
stone, intricately patterned; this was all done later,
probably in the Victorian period.
After wandering about, I finally went to go sit in
the west end of the church. Bede lies before me, sleeping
in his magnificent tomb, surrounded by four candles and
the words (most appropriately in both Latin and English)
above him read:
CHRISTUS EST STELLA
MAUTINA OUI NOCTE
SAECUII TRANSACTA
LUCEM VITAE
SANCTS PROMITTIT
ET PANDIT AETERAM
BDA IN APOCALYPSIUM II 28
CHRIST THE MORNING STAR
WHO WHEN THE NIGHT
OF THIS WORLD IS PAST
BRINGS TO HIS SAINTS
THE PROMISE OF THE LIGHT
OF LIFE & OPENS
EVERLASTING DAY.
This memorial was made by Cyril and Hester Alington 1978
For those who do not know, Bede is considered the
"Father of English History." He wrote the _Ecclesiastical
History of the English Church and People_, which is one of
the only surviving historical texts of the Anglo-Saxon
period. Bede died in 735. He lived in the Anglo-Saxon
monastery of Jarrow in northern England, about an hour
north of where he is buried.
Bede had a prayer, which lies before his tomb:
"I implore you, good Jesus, that in your mercy you
have given me to drink up with delight the words of your
knowledge, so of your loving kindness you will also grant
me one day to come to you, the fountain of all wisdom, and
to stand for ever before your face. Amen."
And on the black marble face of his tomb is carved:
HAC SUNT IN FOSSA BD VENERABILIS OSSA
After venerating the Venerable Bede, I decided it
was time for me to head home, but I saw a gravestone on
the floor from October 13, 1576, almost 420 years before
to the day, which said:
John Brimleis body here doth ly
Who praysed God with hand and voice
By musickes heavenlie harmonie
Did myndes he maid in God rejoice
His soul into the heavenes is lyft
To prayse him still that gave the gyft.
Hey, it's better than Shakespeare's tomb, which
didn't have any poetry ^_^.
Well, just thought you all might like a peek at my journal!
Take care, and much love,
Marisa Price