This sumptuous Church
' Here we have the richest treasury of antient evidences that are now extant: perhaps no church in England can shew the like.' (J. GUTCH - an antiquary writing in 1781) Alec Clifton-Taylor explores the art and the architecture of the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin at Durham. Set high on a rocky peninsula, flanked by a castle and washed on its three sides by the River Wear, it inspired Sir Walter Scott 's well-known lines:
Grey towers of Durham
Yet well I love thy mixed and massive piles
Half Church of God, half castle 'gainst the Scots
And long to roam these venerable arches
With records stored of deeds long since forgot.
Once a great Benedictine Priorv and the final resting place of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, the wealth of its hooks and manuscripts, treasures and relics is unique. Built 1093-1133, it remains the finest example of Early Norman architecture in England. Producer JOHN POWELL
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