About the Cathedral
Sanctuary
Any one who had committed a crime could go to Durham Cathedral for sanctuary. They would wear a long black cloak with a big yellow cross to represent Saint Cuthbert. All their clothes that they had on when they came into Durham Cathedral went to the poor.
They were not allowed to leave the cathedral or the cathedral grounds until they had sorted their case out.
People who had committed a crime would be called a fugitive. When they first went to Durham cathedral they banged on the sanctuary door knocker for forgiveness.
When they came to Durham cathedral they were only allowed to stay for thirty seven days whilst they sorted themselves out. Then they had to leave the country by the nearest port. They slept in a dormitory.
The sanctuary door knocker is shaped like a lion it is made out of brass and it has been said to have jewels as eyes.
Durham Cathedral stands on a big hill in Durham city. Durham Cathedral was finished in 1093 it has been there for just over 900 years. Saint Cuthbert's tomb is in Durham Cathedral he was brought by some monks to Durham Cathedral for safety.Saint Cuthbert was a monk he lived on a island called Lindisfarne.
by Abby & Emma (Y4)
Life in a monastery
The life of a monk was a really hard one. They spent long, long hours standing in the massive church.
They had to get up in the dark middle of the long night to attend there important services. They went without any hot fires to keep them warm, not even in the winter. They must have suffered a great deal from the wet damp and the freezing cold.
There is a place called the scriptorium, it is the place where monks copied out and made manuscripts.
Durham Cathedral was a very important place of all different kinds of learning. Many books from Durham
Cathedral are still around today. At Durham the monks worked in there carrels. Carrels are small wooden cubicles. All the books were written on vellum. Vellum is the skin of a calf. It was cured, shaped and dried.
The scribes had to make their own quill pens. They made them out of reeds or feathers. They also had to make their own ink. For ink wells the scribes used cow horns and when paint was needed this was ground and mixed with water.
Amy (Y4)
The
Cathedral Builders
Before the conquest Durham was a place of pilgramige to the shrine of St. Cuthbert. After the Norman invasion the castle was begun about 1072. The actual building of the cathedral was begun in 1093.
The Master Mason
The Master Mason was incharge of all the building work. He was in charge of the general plan of the building, Templates for patterns and the cutting blocks were also decided by him.
The Masons
The Mason was paid by the day. There were sevral diffrent grades including layer, the carrier , the hewer and some others.
The Quarrier
He dug and prepared the stone at the quarry. He cut the big hard stone from the deep dirty ground as they did not have the electric pneumatic drills, or the big, screaming, loud and noisey explosives as we do these days. He had to split the hard stone from the soft mucky ground using wooden wedges, driven into a little crack in the stone. They cut a big or very large slab which was then cut and shaped useing a double headed, sharp axe which was the main carving tool.
Tools
The main tools used by the mason for cutting hard lumpy stone were the double, bladed axe, hammers and chisels. The design or outline of the big massave cathedral was carefully measured and marked out on the soft ground by the very important marster mason. Using a big and large pair of compasses, rope and stakes. When this was fineshed the foundations were dug. The Mason built 2 avrage walls of stone and filled the space that was inbetween them with rubble and morter. The walls measured approximately 7 feet thick.
by Amy & Jilly (Y4)
Back
to Durham Page