The sheer size of the cathedral is amazing. When it was built the builders didn’t have any large machinery, cranes or metal scaffolding and instead they were left with very basic rickety wooden scaffolding. It took decades of hard work to build the cathedral.
The rib vaulting which is gothic in style was the first to be used outside of Italy. It was used to create a great sense of height from inside. The cathedral also has a great example of proto-flying buttresses, which along with the transverse pointed arches are also the earliest in England. Together they made the cathedral one of the greatest in Europe.
I also believe the centre tower had a large part to play in the cathedral becoming a world heritage site. It is a very tall building to have been built with very basic tools and was used to point towards God. It can be seen from almost everywhere in Durham.
The cathedral was built on top of a hill with a large meander of the River Wear surrounding three sides of it and Durham castle protecting the other. The main city of Durham is built around the cathedral. It was very well positioned for defence and has a good view of the surrounding area.
The cathedral would have been an important part of town life many years ago and still is today. In times of conflict the townspeople would have gathered on the palace green for protection. Like most cathedral and churches the cathedral is in the shape of a cross from a birds eye view pointing towards the East. This show how strongly people used to follow Christianity.
The cathedral is also historically important with three important historic figures buried in the cathedral. St.Cuthbert who we already know is important because he had been made a saint is buried at the East end of the cathedral. He has a large shrine in his honour. Legend says that he was visited by Aiden in a vision and was told to become a monk. After dedicated work as a hermit he died as a saint in Lindisfarne. When the Vikings came it was at risk so the monk decided they needed to move the body and after a long journey they ended up at the spot where Durham Cathedral now stands. It was originally a small church called the white church. Durham cathedral was built to house the body of St.Cuthbert. It was said that when the monks opened the coffin of Cuthbert years after his death it was still perfectly composed when it should have been rotted. People believe this was because he was a special person in the eyes of God.
The second man was the Venerable Bede. Se is often wrongly called Saint Bede but despite his huge religious contribution he wasn’t ever made into a saint but the next best thing a venerable. When he lived in the 9th Century he collected the chronicles of many monks and he dedicated a large amount of his life to writing the first ever history of England. Bede helped us to understand the dark ages a lot more an era we don’t have a lot of information about. Bede had an extension to the cathedral at the great west door to be buried in showing he was regarded as very significant in history.
The third man buried in the cathedral is the Prince Bishop of Durham. We can get an idea of how important he was by looking at the Bishops Throne in the cathedral itself. It is the highest in England showing how highly he rated himself. Many rated him higher than the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was appointed by the king and controlled the North of England in effect he was ruler of the North of England and second only to the king. He had a large amount of power over many men and protected England against invasion from Scotland.
In conclusion I believe that Durham Cathedral was made a world heritage site because it is an outstanding example of a cathedral as well as a religious building. The amount of work put into this giant structure in astronomical. It is historically very important due to its close links with St.Cuthbert, Bede and the Prince Bishop who are all buried in the cathedral.
