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You may find this information helpful when researching the area prior to your visit

Carileph’s Cathedral

When William the Conqueror finally took control of Durham he appointed a Norman called WILLIAM WALCHER as Durham’s first PRINCE BISHOP by combining the powers of the Bishop with those of the Earl of Northumbria.The term `Prince Bishop’ did not actually come into use until many centuries later but it is a good description of the political and ecclesiastical powers of Walcher and succeeding Bishops of Durham. Walcher’s time as a Prince Bishop was characterised by weak leadership which ultimately resulted in him being murdered at Gateshead in 1081. He was replaced by a new bishop called WILLIAM ST CARILEPH who was the man responsible for building the present cathedral. Carileph designed the greater part of the Cathedral of Durham as it stands today and began its construction in the year 1093. Occupying the site of the old stone minster built by Uchted, the new building was completed to the bishop’s designs in more or less forty years. Unfortunately Carileph did not live to see the completion of his cathedral in 1135.

Pudsey’s Chapel & St.Bede’s Tomb

In later years two major additions were made to the cathedral of William St Carileph one of which was the Galilee Chapel built by Bishop Hugh Le Puiset, who was known more affectionately as Bishop Pudsey (1153-1195). Pudsey’s Galilee Chapel is at the western end of the cathedral and is situated right at the top of the gorge formed by the River Wear where it is overshadowed by the cathedral’s twin towers.

The Galilee Chapel is famous as the home of the black marble-topped tomb of THE Venerable Bede (673-735 A.D), who was the first historian of England. Bede lived most of his life at Jarrow near the River Tyne. His bones were brought to Durham from the ruins of Jarrow monastery in 1020 A.D. Bede’s tomb is inscribed with the following words

Hac sunt in fossa Baedae Venerabilis Ossa'

which translated means‘ in this tomb are of Bede the Bones’. Legend tells us that the use of the word Venerable is said to have been inspired into the mind of the writer of this poetic epitaph by an angel who told him how to complete the rhyme. The inscription dates from 1830.

The Galillee Chapel is also known as the Lady Chapel as it was once the only part of the cathedral that could be entered by women according to the rules of the Benedictine order of monks. A little way inside the main cathedral building we can see a line of black Frosterley Marble in the cathedral floor which marked the point beyond which women were not allowed to pass. So strict was the rule against women entering the cathedral that in 1333 when Queen Philippa, wife of Edward III crossed the line to find sleeping quarters in the cathedral, she was forced to sleep elsewhere. The Durham monks petitioned the king and insisted that she find sleeping accomodation in the castle to avoid upsetting St Cuthbert

Lady Chapels are normally constructed at the eastern end of cathedrals and not at the west so Durham is quite unusual in this respect. Initially there had been an attempt to build the Lady Chapel at the eastern end but problems with crumbling masonry due the nature of the ground. forced Bishop Hugh Pudsey to transfer the building work to the west end.