Cathedrals of Britain: North of England & Scotland

By Bernadette Fallon

**Pointing persistently to heaven: A guide to UK cathedrals**Power, glory, bloodshed, prayer: cathedrals in the UK are as much about human drama as spiritual sanctuary, as much about political wrangling as religious fervor. From Christian beginnings in the Middle Ages through Reformation, Renaissance and Modernity, the great cathedrals of Britain have been both battleground and place of quiet reflection; created for the glory of God for sure, but also for the glory of men.Theres a litany of great deeds and a list of secrets tied up in our national cathedrals and all are revealed within our guides, the ideal companions to the stories behind the greatest cathedrals of all. Whether you are traveling to view the buildings themselves or being an armchair enthusiast, let us take you on a journey.**Book One: The North of England and Scotland**From early Celtic influences through to English Reformation and the rise of Scots Calvinism, Scotland and the north of England has had a turbulent religious history. It was once united as the Kingdom of Northumbria, from Edinburgh and Lothian right down to the Humber, incorporating the counties of Durham and York and the holy isle of Lindisfarne. Today the kingdom has been dismantled but the cathedrals, which include some of the most famous buildings in the UK, still flourish and offer their secrets for discovery.Here you will solve the mystery recently uncovered in a mass grave in the countrys oldest cathedral. Find a link to one of the UKs most famous retailers in an 11th century building. Enter inside the grand Scottish cathedral built in tribute to a 7th century Greek hermit. And go underground to discover a Saxon crypt, dating from the mid 600s.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781526703866

Bernadette Fallon

Bernadette Fallon is an author and journalist, with a penchant for travel and a love of old buildings. Her work as a travel writer has taken her all over the world.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to everybody who so generously gave their time, expertise and support to this book:

Catherine Hodgson, Ruth Rubson, David Farrell-Banks and Gina Davis at Durham Cathedral; Sarah Johnson, Katherine Capocci, and Yvonne Wilkinson at Visit Durham; Godfrey Wilson and Julia Barker at Ripon Cathedral; Tracy Morgan at Visit Harrogate; Neil Holland, Richard York, Karn Dyson and Malcolm Warburton at Wakefield Cathedral; Marie Christopher at Welcome to Yorkshire; Emma Gittins, Nigel James and Nicola Burgin at Sheffield Cathedral; Wendy Ulyett at Marketing Sheffield; Sandra Heaton, Jon Howard and Gillian Davies at Bradford Cathedral; Patricia Tillotson at Bradford Tourism; Kirsty Mitchell, Tom Outing, Stacey Healey, Sharon Atkinson at York Minster; Kay Hyde at Visit York; Stephen Preston and Sarah O’Connor at St Giles’ Cathedral Edinburgh; Delaine Kennedy at St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen; Evelina Andrews and Rebecca Lowe at Visit England; Erin Hickey and Michael McCuish at Visit Scotland.

Introduction

Power, glory, bloodshed, prayer: cathedrals in the UK are as much about human drama as spiritual sanctuary, as much about political wrangling as religious fervour. From Christian beginnings in the Middle Ages through Reformation, Renaissance and Modernity, the great cathedrals of Britain have been both battleground and place of quiet reflection, created for the glory of God for sure, but also for the glory of men.

Cathedrals are the link to our Medieval past, a living, breathing connection to a part of our ancient history, a continuous thread through centuries of change. But the story of these sacred sites stretches back even further. Many of today’s cathedrals are built on prehistoric places of worship, from Roman temples to early Pagan shrines. And many of today’s religious customs and celebrations also have their origin in a Pagan past. So Samhain, the festival of the dead, re-emerges as All Souls Day in the Christian calendar, while the midwinter solstice is now known as Christmas.

A cathedral takes its name from the word ‘cathedra’, which means the seat or throne of a bishop. A cathedral is a church where a bishop sits. While we don’t know much about the origin of cathedrals or early Christianity in Britain, Christian vessels from the 3rd century have been uncovered in Cambridgeshire, as well as a Christian cemetery dating from the same time in Dorset. In Iron Age England, it was believed that the cockerel was a defence against thunderstorms, and so the cockerel has evolved to its place on church steeples, as a weathercock.

We know that the Roman Empire adopted Christianity following Constantine’s conversion in 312, after he was proclaimed emperor in York in 306. Records from this period show that three English bishops – from York, Lincoln and London – travelled to an ecclesiastical council in Arles, southern France. It’s safe to assume they travelled from their respective cathedrals, though no traces of these early cathedrals remain. For very good reason. It’s likely that today’s cathedrals were built on the same site as their distant predecessors, a living contemporary link with an ancient past.

The Roman Empire was in decline from the end of the 4th century, and the subsequent Saxon invasions destroyed the formal Christian church. In the 6th century, several Celtic missionaries are credited with restoring Christianity to Scotland and the north of England, in what was then known as the Kingdom of Northumbria. This region stretched from Edinburgh and Lothian right down to the Humber, incorporating the counties of Durham and York and the holy isle of Lindisfarne. But it is to an island further than this that we look to for the rise of Christianity in the region.

The Irish saint Columba was an abbot and missionary who studied under Ireland’s most prominent church figures and founded several monasteries in his native country. But after an argument that led to a bloody battle, Columba was sent into exile. He was tasked with saving as many souls through his preaching as had been lost in the fighting.

In 563 he came to the island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland. It is said that this was the first piece of land from which he could no longer see his native Ireland and so was allowed to settle there. He founded an abbey on Iona that became an important religious and political institution in the region for centuries afterwards, and also a centre for literacy and learning. He went on to found several churches in the Hebrides and launch the legend of the Lough Ness monster. The story was that he banished a ferocious ‘water beast’ to the depths of the lake after it killed and attacked several of his disciples.

One of the students who came to be educated on Iona was Oswald of Northumbria, later St Oswald, who was raised as a king in exile. He wanted to restore Christianity to his people and, on taking the crown of Northumbria in 634, requested that missionaries be sent from Iona to spread the faith. After one unsuccessful attempt where the attending bishop claimed the Northumbrians were too stubborn to be converted, a second missionary was sent. This was Aidan, who came to be known as the Apostle of Northumbria.

Aidan was a disciple of Columba and an Irish monk from the monastery on Iona. He founded a monastic cathedral on Lindisfarne, an island that is still a place of pilgrimage and retreat today. As Bishop of Lindisfarne, he constantly travelled throughout the country spreading the gospel and was responsible for the construction of churches, monasteries and schools across Northumbria. He died in 651 and his body is buried under the abbey at Lindisfarne. He is recognised as a saint by the Roman Catholic, the Anglican and the Orthodox churches.

The Celtic missions proved so successful that Northumbria became one of the leading areas of Christianity in the country, alongside Kent. Kent had been converted by Augustine, a Benedictine monk and the prior of a monastery in Rome, sent by Pope Gregory in 597 to lead what has become known as the Gregorian mission in Britain. Augustine became the first Archbishop of Canterbury and is considered to be the Apostle to the English and a founder of the English church.

To this day, the church in England continues to be led from the cathedrals of Canterbury in Kent and York in what was formerly Northumbria. The pope’s influence in Canterbury meant this area followed the Church of Rome’s calendar, while Northumbria followed the Celtic Christian tradition. However, the two regions aligned to follow the Roman calendar and its calculation of Easter after the 664 Synod of Whitby. We’ll find out more about this in later chapters.

That we know so much about this period and its personalities is thanks to one man, Bede, also known as the Venerable Bede, who wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, a history of the church in England that was completed around 731. It’s thought he was born near Durham and entered a monastery at a young age, devoting the rest of his life to scholarly learning and writing. He was ordained a deacon, then a priest, and was canonised a saint after his death.

He wrote about the early Celtic Christian saints – Columba, Aidan and Oswald – and also the famous northern saints – Wilfrid, Cuthbert, Chad, Hilda, John of Beverley, and Etheldreda. Some scholars suggest that he didn’t actually like Wilfrid very much.

We’ve already heard about Columba, Aidan and Oswald. In the coming chapters, we’ll meet Wilfrid, Cuthbert, Chad, Hilda, John of Beverley, Etheldreda and Bede himself. Wilfrid was responsible for creating what is today the oldest surviving Saxon crypt in the country. Without Cuthbert there would be no cathedral in Durham. Hilda and Etheldreda are two strong and powerful women of the Middle Ages, both of whom shaped the path of Christianity in Britain.

The Middle Ages saw an unprecedented rise in the building of cathedrals and churches that would later become cathedrals. All over Europe, countries were covered with castles and churches. But even before the coming of William the Conqueror in 1066, and the new skills and building knowledge this brought, we know that several mighty cathedrals were already in place.

Many towns grew out of the expansion of churches, monasteries and minsters during this period. But churches were not used solely for sacred purposes. Records from the time show them being used as meeting places, markets and even occasionally alehouses. Priests were not necessarily devout men of prayer. Unlike their counterparts in abbeys and monasteries, many were illiterate, many were married and many were reported for violence and drunkenness. They were as experienced in Pagan customs as Christian rituals, and many practised magic in the community.

William the Conqueror introduced many reforms, and also Norman clergy to bring new order to the church structure and religious communities. He appointed a new Archbishop of Canterbury, an Italian called Lanfranc, who drew up the first principles of canon law, set up ecclesiastical courts to address spiritual matters and decreed that clergy should not be allowed to marry. It was now that the great cathedrals began to rise. In fact, York Minster grew as a direct challenge to Lanfranc’s rule, as we will see.

Building these huge cathedrals was a mammoth task in the Middle Ages, even with the skills of the Norman stonemasons. Whole