IV. The Sanctuary Ring of Durham Cathedral

Geddes, Jane

doi:10.1017/s0261340900007980

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“…41. Geddes 1982, 127. However, Pevsner (1983, 174, but not 1953 seems to have accepted the suggestion, for it is stated that the bronze rings were on the west door ('There were two or more bronze rings on the W door, replaced by Puiset when he built the Galilee'.).…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The North Portal of Durham Cathedral and the Problem of ‘Sanctuary’ in Medieval Britain

McAleer¹

2001

Antiq. J.

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A small room (which has since been destroyed) located over the north portal of Durham Cathedral has been explained as a watching-room for fugitives fleeing to seek sanctuary at the cathedral that housed the shrine of one of England's pre-eminent saints, Cuthbert. The source behind this identification is an account of the customs of Durham written only c 1593. There is no earlier documentary evidence indicating a function for this room. An examination of the customs and traditions of sanctuary, some aspects of which were unique to England in the Middle Ages, suggests that there was no need for such a supposed watching-room. A search for parallels, especially among cathedral and abbey churches from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, produces no conclusive evidence for the function of similar but larger rooms located over strongly projecting porches sheltering lateral entrances to naves. Although a function as a watching-room may be doubted more than firmly disproved, it can nonetheless be suggested that the room was more likely constructed for a liturgical purpose such as some aspect of the ritual surrounding the arrival of the bishop and his entrance into his church.Next to the north portal -the main entrance to the cathedral, in the sixth bay of the aisle from the east -is a small plaque which reads in part:In the late 16th Century the anonymous author of The Rites of Durham describing medieval practice wrote '... the abbey church and all the churchyard and the circuit thereof was a sanctuary for all manner of men that had done or committed any great offence, as killing of a man in his own defence, or any prisoners that had broken out of prison and fled to the church door, knocking and rapping at it to have it opened.' The sanctuary knocker was perhaps most used for this purpose at night when the church was locked and the noise would alert the watchmen stationed in the room over the north porch. Two blocked-up windows of this room can still be seen inside the cathedral above the north door.The 'sanctuary knocker' to which reference is made is, of course, the splendid and justly famous bronze animal head holding a large ring in its mouth. 1 It is undeniably real, but what of the watchman's room said to have been over the portal? An initial examination of the fabric reveals little evidence for it.The north portal consists of five shafted orders which are not accommodated within the thickness of the aisle wall (fig 1). Rather, the orders project to form what in another context I have termed a portal-porch. 2 Such projecting portal jambs are not at all uncommon in English and Scottish Romanesque and examples may be found ranging from Jedburgh Abbey (Roxburghshire) in the north east to St Germans (Cornwall) in the south west (both from the

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Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The North Portal of Durham Cathedral and the Problem of ‘Sanctuary’ in Medieval Britain

McAleer¹

2001

Antiq. J.

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“…31 By the twelfth century, Durham Cathedral had a lion-held ring (if not a pair of them) on its only public doorway to the nave, on its north side, built in 1133. 32 These rings were associated with the attraction of the shrine of St Cuthbert as sanctuary -a tradition that had been associated with the Cuthbert relics since before their translation to Durham in 1104. Although the ring was not intended primarily as a knocker but as a hold for seekers of sanctuary, it was certainly also banged to attract the attention of the community of St Cuthbert by seekers of sanctuary.…”

Section: The First Vision At Christ Church Canterburymentioning

confidence: 99%

Miracles in architectural settings: Christ Church, Canterbury and St Clement's, Sandwich in the Old English Vision of Leofric

Gatch

1993

Anglo-Saxon England

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The ‘Old English Vision of Leofric, Earl of Mercia’ was first printed in a philological journal in 1908. It contains extremely interesting information about the arrangement and furnishings of two major Anglo-Saxon churches, Christ Church, Canterbury, and St Clement's Church, Sandwich. The Visio Leofrici is the only testimony, written or (apparently) archaeological, to the existence of St Clement's before the Conquest; it confirms and deepens aspects of our exclusively documentary knowledge of the Anglo-Saxon cathedral at Canterbury, which was destroyed by fire in 1067. Thus, it is particularly unfortunate that the Vision of Leofric, which has had but slight attention from students of language, literature or religious visions, has attracted even less notice from archaeologists, art historians and students of medieval liturgy.

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Ryan

1987

Antiquity

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In June 1985, the National Museum of Ireland obtained possession of a major hoard of nine bronze objects decorated in an 8th-century style, which were discovered in advance of drainage works in Co. Meath. Its location and contents raise important questions about the genesis of the brilliant art of the 8th and 9th centuries in Ireland. The Keeper of Irish Antiquities begins their publication with some remarks on the unhappy way some of the recent hoards have come to light – concerns that are underlined by yet another episode of looting on a ‘treasure’ site in Surrey.

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IV. The Sanctuary Ring of Durham Cathedral

Cited by 3 publications

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The North Portal of Durham Cathedral and the Problem of ‘Sanctuary’ in Medieval Britain

The North Portal of Durham Cathedral and the Problem of ‘Sanctuary’ in Medieval Britain

Miracles in architectural settings: Christ Church, Canterbury and St Clement's, Sandwich in the Old English Vision of Leofric

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