Steven Bell
Why the site you have studied was created
The site I have studied was Durham Cathedral it is considered to be one of the main pinnacles of the North, it is a site of religious and historical means there are considered to be three main factors that influenced the building and its purpose these three are religion, political and social means.
I am going to start off with the factor of religion this all started with a man called St. Cuthbert, he was most famous for his holiness at the Monastery at Lindesfarne and in 685 A.D when he was 50 year old he became the Bishop of Lindesfarne, but two years later he resigned his post and went to the Farne Islands to die. After his death tremendous amounts of people would come to worship him from all over at his tomb in Lindesfarne. Eleven years after he died monks decided to move his body to a better place, as they were moving him the coffin accidentally opened and they noticed that the body was perfectly preserved so they believed that he was holy and was chosen to become a Saint. Later in 793 the Vikings invaded the north so the monks had to move his body, in 875 they set off and by the myth it goes that it took the monks 7 years to get to Chester-Le-Street and eventually the monks found a place near the River Wear to rest, as they started to set off again the coffin would not move so the monks thought that this must be the place where St. Cuthbert was meant to be rested. People say that the famous cathedral was built around it and also the city of Durham emulated from that spot.
