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September 4, 2015

Hunstanworth, Durham – St James (again)

Our bus waited for the sheep as we drove south of Hexham. It is not very long since I blogged about Hunstanworth. There is not much to add. 1862-3, the work of Samuel Sanders Teulon. It was a gift to the parish by its then incumbent Daniel Capper. He also built the vicarage, school and other buildings in the village. Last time I commented the church would never have been full. I was wrong. At the time the village had a population of 800 because of lead mining in the area. The hand-blown organ – here being played by...
Categories Durham/Outside Northumberland Comments: 2
July 21, 2015

Hunstanworth, Durham – St James

On Thursday 9 July we went for a drive down to Hunstanworth, leaving the County as we did so. St James Hunstanworth – NY 949490 – is in County Durham, but in the Diocese of Newcastle. The church, vicarage, school and cottages were rebuilt at one go in 1862-3 for the Reverend Daniel Capper. He was born on 28 October 1804 at St Pancras, moved to Cheltenham at the age of 12, and entered Queens College, Cambridge, in 1823. He graduated in 1828 and the following year married Anne Saunders. Her father was rector of St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe in London. The...
Categories Durham/Outside Northumberland/World War 1 Comments: 0
July 8, 2015

Staindrop, Durham – St Mary the Virgin

I wanted to visit Staindrop church to catch up with Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland – see my blog on Great Salkeld. We were driving south down the A68 to go and see friends living in Yorkshire, so turned off and came down into Staindrop – St Mary’s church is on the right, just beside Raby Castle. That looks well worth a visit – website. The church has its own website – and its grid reference is NZ132206. At this point I pause to wonder how many northernvicar readers use the grid references – but as a Cambridge Geographer (OK, Part I...
Categories Durham/Outside Northumberland/World War 1 Comments: 3
September 23, 2014

Durham Cathedral – photography evening 4 (East end)

Continuing a wonderful evening at Durham Cathedral, it was getting a bit dark to photograph Cuthbert’s Shrine. The Chapel of the Nine Altars, the area at the very east end of the Cathedral, was built between 1242 and 1280 to accommodate many pilgrims. The Nave is Norman, this end is Early English, and bears close resemblance to Salisbury Cathedral – even had the same Bishop, Bishop le Poore. I am confused as to which altar is which. This one is the altar to Margaret of Scotland (1045-1093). The hangings were produced by the Cathedral Broderers in 2005 – they...
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September 23, 2014

Durham Cathedral – photography evening 3 (the South side)

Cathedrals have a wonderful relationship with time. I have served under two Deans – the first was late for everything. He would arrive in the vestry at 5.28 for a 5.30 Evensong (if you were lucky – on one occasion I had got the choir in and we were half way through the Psalm before he arrived). The next Dean expected everyone (clergy and choir) to be stood in silence and prayer at the foot of the Song School steps by 5.25. Durham Cathedral have no excuse for starting anything late! This clock in the South Transept was originally...
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September 19, 2014

Durham Cathedral – photography evening 2 (Chapter House)

Having climbed the tower I needed tea – and they were serving it outside the Chapter House. You may recognise it … Professor McGonagall’s classroom in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. It was too dark to get a decent photo of the whole room. It is not normally open to the public. There are some details on this website. A Chapter House is called a Chapter House because every day the community would gather to read a chapter of the Rule of St Benedict. It was the finest Norman Chapter House in Europe, until it was partially demolished...
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September 19, 2014

Durham Cathedral – photography evening 1 (up the tower)

When I came and worshipped here at the start of my sabbatical – and I realise I still haven’t read the Dean’s book – I took two photos inside. I now realise I was breaking the rules. This Cathedral does not allow internal photos. Their reasoning is given on their website – and that makes some sense. They offer photography evenings, so Mike from Ponteland Photographic Society and I went for one on Monday 8 September 2014. I came home with 171 photos – here are some of the better ones. It was lovely being able to go almost anywhere, the staff...
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July 27, 2014

Middleton-in-Teesdale, Durham – St Mary the Virgin

When you drive south from Ponteland you either go A1 or M6, or – if you have plenty of time – you go down the Pennine chain. Beautiful B roads to Middleton-in-Teesdale. It is a lovely village and we found a nice cafe – Cafe 1618 – with very good bacon sandwich and lemon meringue pie. I walked round the corner – the Methodist church has a noticeboard listing all the churches’ services. The church website – website – is an ecumenical website (though “What’s On” is only advertising their Holy Week services). St Mary’s was locked and the Tourist Office...
Categories Durham/Outside Northumberland Comments: 2
May 6, 2014

Durham Cathedral – the Shrine of St Cuthbert

I have a three month Sabbatical – which begs the question “what to do on Sunday?” On Low Sunday Julie and I were in Fort William, and we had a Sunday off. We drove to Ardnamurchan – 60 miles of single track road with passing places. The lighthouse was designed by Alan Stevenson and built in 1849. It now has an excellent cafe and visitors centre – very nice coffee. I climbed the lighthouse, chatted to the retired keeper and admired the view. The sea is “azure”, which is not a word often used about the Scottish sea! We also had a...
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