Durham - Cathedral

Durham has its origins in 995, when monks from Lindisfarne, at that time on the run from the Vikings for over 100 years, chose this place as the final resting place for the mortal remains of St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and founded a church.

Cuthbert's grave attracted many pilgrims and over time a town developed around the church. In 1006 and 1038, this settlement was unsuccessfully attacked by Scots. The hilltop location of the town proved to be easy to defend.

There was a predecessor building, a former Lindisfarn priory, from Anglo-Saxon times. The foundation stone of the cathedral was laid under the first bishop, William of St Calais, in 1093. With the monastery connected to it and its position on a difficult-to-attack hill in a bend of the River Wear, the complex served as Northumbria's bulwark against the Scots. The present building was substantially completed between 1093 and 1133. It is a significant example of the Romanesque style, and the nave ceiling is the earliest surviving example of a pointed rib vault. The east end was expanded in the Early English Gothic style in the 1230s

The early Gothic west towers were completed in 1220. The west façade was given a large front window.

The Romanesque choir end was demolished and replaced by the Chapel of the Nine Altars in 1242-1280.
During the Reformation in England, initiated by Henry VIII, many of the furnishings were destroyed in the first iconoclasm. In 1539, the king also dissolved the Benedictine monastery in Durham. Around 1560, the medieval wall paintings that covered all the church walls inside were whitewashed and the figuratively designed stained glass windows were destroyed.

Cephalophores, saints who carry their own head, are often found in France (e.g. St Denis).

This could be St Cuthbert, but most often he is actually seen with two heads, his own and that of St Oswald, who was buried here with him. It is possible that the iconoclasts destroyed the head of St Cuthbert.