218 feet (66 m) (central tower) 144 feet (44 m) (western towers)
Number of spires
0 (2 on western towers until 1658)
Bells
10 (full circle)
Tenor bell weight
28 long cwt 0 qr 6 lb (3,142 lb or 1,425 kg)
Administration
Province
York
Diocese
Durham (since 635 as Lindisfarne, 995 as Durham)
Clergy
Bishop(s)
Paul Butler
Dean
Philip Plyming
Precentor
Michael Hampel (vice-dean)
Chancellor
Charlie Allen
Canon(s)
Simon Oliver (professor)
Pastor(s)
Michael Everitt
Laity
Director of music
Daniel Cook (organist and master of the choristers)
Organist(s)
Joseph Beech (sub-organist)
Chapter clerk
Amanda Anderson
Lay member(s) of chapter
Cathy Barnes Ivor Stolliday (treasurer)
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of
Durham Castle and Cathedral
Criteria
Cultural: ii, iv, vi
Reference
370
Inscription
1986 (10th Session)
Durham Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham,[2] is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the shrines of the Anglo-Saxon saints Cuthbert and Bede. There are daily Church of England services at the cathedral, and it received 727,367 visitors in 2019.[3] It is a grade I listed building and forms part of the Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site.[4][5]
The cathedral is the successor to the Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne Priory, which was established c. 635 but abandoned in 875 in the face of Viking raids. The monks settled at Chester-le-Street from 882 until 995, when they moved to Durham. The cathedral remained a monastery until it was dissolved in 1541, since when it has been governed by a dean and chapter. The cathedral precinct formed part of Durham Castle from the eleventh century. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms the cathedral housed 3000 Scottish prisoners of war, 1,700 of whom died in the building.
The present building was substantially completed between 1093 and 1133, replacing the Anglo-Saxon 'White Church'.[6] It is a significant example of the Romanesque architectural style, and the nave ceiling is the earliest surviving example of a pointed rib vault. The Galilee chapel was added to the west end of the cathedral in the 1170s, and the western towers built in approximately 1200. The east end was expanded in the Early English Gothic style in the 1230s, and the Perpendicular Gothic central tower was built in two stages in the fifteenth century. Important furnishings include the medieval bishop's throne and Neville screen, Prior Castell's Clock, and the seventeenth-century choir stalls and font cover installed by Bishop Cosin. Many of the monastic buildings survive; the monks' refectory now contains part of the cathedral library, which holds significant collections dating back to the sixth century.[7]
^"Cathedral Church of Christ and St Mary the Virgin". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
^"Notice of Decision of Cathedrals Fabric Commission" (PDF). Church of England. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
^"ALVA – Association of Leading Visitor Attractions". www.alva.org.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
^"CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST AND ST MARY THE VIRGIN, City of Durham - 1161023 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
^Historic England. "Durham Castle and Cathedral (1000089)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
^Pevsner, Nikolaus; Metcalfe, Priscilla (2005). The Cathedrals of England: North and East Anglia. London: The Folio Society. p. 24. Most of what makes Durham Durham is of the short space of time between 1093 and 1133, and of that phase [...]it is one of the most perfect and also historically most interesting buildings in Europe.
DurhamCathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, is a Church of England cathedral in the city...
residence of the Bishops of Durham. Designated since 1986 as a cultural World Heritage Site in England, along with DurhamCathedral, the facility is open to...
Heritage Site in partnership with Durham Cathedral. The university's ownership of the world heritage site includes Durham Castle, Palace Green and the surrounding...
North East England. Since 2021 it has been part of the DurhamCathedral Schools Foundation. Durham School was an all-boys institution from its foundation...
Durham most commonly refers to: Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham Durham...
995 the city of Durham was founded by monks seeking a place safe from Viking raids to house the relics of St Cuthbert. DurhamCathedral was rebuilt after...
medieval saint of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at DurhamCathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria. His feast...
Durham Castle and Cathedral is a World Heritage Site (WHS ID No. 370), in Durham, England. The site includes Durham Castle, DurhamCathedral, Durham University...
later Sub Organist of DurhamCathedral) 2011–2020 David Humphreys 2020– Christopher Strange Organists at Plymouth Cathedral have included the following...
Chichester Cathedral, official website Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, official website DurhamCathedral, official website Ely Cathedral, official website...
the transverse ribs of the vaults at DurhamCathedral in northern England, dating from 1128. Durham is a cathedral of massive Romanesque proportions and...
The Durham Cassiodorus (Durham, Cathedral Library, MS B. II. 30) is an 8th-century illuminated manuscript containing Cassiodorus's Explanation of the...
simultaneously in England and France. The first cathedral to use sexpartite vaults was DurhamCathedral, begun in 1093. Durham was originally intended to be built...
feature of Gothic cathedrals. Some elements of Gothic style appeared very early in England. DurhamCathedral was the first cathedral to employ a rib vault...
The Durham Gospels is a very incomplete late 7th-century insular Gospel Book, now kept in the DurhamCathedral Dean and Chapter Library (MS A.II.17). A...
entire school were created from shots of DurhamCathedral with a digital spire added to the towers. DurhamCathedral also served as a set for Hogwarts interiors...
Gospels into the English language. The Gospels may have been taken from DurhamCathedral during the Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by Henry VIII and...
London DurhamCathedral (from 1093) was the first to employ a ribbed vault system with pointed arches Winchester Cathedral (from 1079) Ely Cathedral (1083–1109)...
Salisbury Cathedral floor plan Archived 2008-01-02 at the Wayback Machine Canterbury Cathedral: several floor plans Plan of Canterbury CathedralDurham Cathedral...
Cathedral in February 1906 and remained in the role until his resignation in November 1930. He was made the consulting architect for DurhamCathedral...
school for the 3 to 11 age range. It is part of the DurhamCathedral Schools Foundation, in Durham, England. It consists of a Pre-School, a Pre-preparatory...
of the sons of the Saxon founder of Portsmouth. The Liber Vitae of DurhamCathedral names two priests with this name, one of whom is presumably Bede himself...
Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham in Durham. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Durham and...