Bells Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Durham | Page 5

The road to it is steep It is surrounded with rocks And with curious plants The Wear flows round it A river of rapid waves And there live in it Fishes of various kinds Mingling with the floods. And there grow Great Forests, There live in the recesses Wild Animals of many sorts In the deep valleys Deer innumerable.
As soon as possible a stone chapel was built, in which the body of S. Cuthbert was placed. Bishop Aldhun, not satisfied with this, determined to establish a great church. Work was immediately commenced and progressed so rapidly that the building, known as "the White Church," was consecrated in A.D. 999. Of this there would seem to be no authentic remains existing; although some authorities think portions of it are included in the present cathedral. Bishop Aldhun died in 1018. The next date of importance is the year 1081, when William of Saint Carileph was appointed Bishop by the Conqueror. He was a monk of the Benedictine order, and at once drove out and dispossessed the secular clergy at Durham, replacing them from the Benedictine Monasteries which were established at Jarrow and Monkwearmouth. Bishop Carileph is the man to whom we owe the present Cathedral of Durham. In 1088 he was obliged to flee into exile in Normandy, where he remained three years, through his having taken part in the rebellion against William II. It was probably during this time of banishment that he conceived the idea that if he returned to Durham he would build a more worthy church, such as were already erected and in course of construction in Normandy.
Soon after his return in 1091 he commenced to carry out his scheme; and we learn that on the 11th of August 1093, the foundation stone of the new church was laid, with great pomp.
The work proceeded rapidly, commencing at the east end. By the time of Bishop Carileph's death, which occurred in 1096, the walls of the choir, the eastern walls of the transepts, the tower arches, and a portion of the first bay of the nave, were completed. It is also very probable that the lower portion of the walls of the whole church are of Carileph's time.
After the death of Bishop Carileph the see of Durham remained vacant for three years. The monks, however, were not idle during this period, and they continued the work vigorously, completing the west walls of the transepts and the vaulting of the north transept. In 1099 Ralph Flambard was appointed bishop, and he held the office until 1128. He carried on the building as the funds at his disposal would allow, sometimes rapidly and at others more slowly. Before his death it would appear that he completed the nave as high as the wall plates and altogether finished and roofed the aisles. The western towers as far as the height of the roof of the nave are also the work of Flambard. In 1104 the work was so far advanced as to permit the removal of the body of S. Cuthbert, from the temporary shrine which Bishop Carileph had erected over it, into the new church. This ceremony was performed on August 29th, 1104, and the coffin was placed in a shrine behind the high altar.
On Flambard's death in 1128 the see was again left vacant for five years, but we are told that the monks continued the work and completed the nave. The portion built by them at this time must of necessity have been the vaulting and roof, the architectural features of which are quite in accordance with the date, being late Norman.
Flambard's successor was Galfrid Rufus, who was Bishop from 1133 to 1140.
During his episcopate the chapter-house, which had been commenced by the monks, was completed. Rufus also replaced the then existing north and south doorways of the nave, by those standing to-day.
The next bishop, William de St Barbara (1143 to 1152), does not appear to have added anything to the cathedral. During his time of office the see was usurped by William Cummin, and building operations were no doubt neglected through the troubles arising from the usurpation. His successor, Hugh Pudsey (1153 to 1195) was, however, a great builder; appointed to the see at a comparatively early age, and, living as he did, at a time when very great changes were taking place in architectural style, he was able to carry out a great deal of beautiful work.
He began to build a Lady Chapel at the east end of the choir, but although he had made careful preparations, and engaged skilled architects and workmen, great cracks appeared in the walls before the work had proceeded far, and the building was stopped. Bishop Pudsey, taking this as a divine revelation that the work was not pleasing to God, and