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Article DURHAM CATHEDRAL. Page 1 of 4 →
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Durham Cathedral.
DURHAM CATHEDRAL .
W propose from time to time to give an account of all our English cathedrals , and foreign cathedrals of interest , and we take from the "Guardian" of October 11 th a very admirable paper on Durham Cathedral , which we know very well , and so feel how thoroughly true the words of
the writer are . We shall be obliged by any of our brethren who will give us a sketch of the history and architectural features of the cathedral or minster in
their vicinity . If this appeal should find favour , we may extend the series afterwards to parochial churches . The Cathedral of Durham stands absolutely supreme among English cathedrals for grandeur of situation . Lincoln comes
the nearest to it . Some , indeed , may doubt to which the palm is to be accorded . But the two are so unlike in position and character as hardly to admit of a comparison . Each is peerless in its way , but the way is different ; and Durham certainly
presents greater elements of grandeur than her southern sister . Lincoln , as she reposes on her " sovereign hill , " calmly looking out overthe great Mercian plain , is characterised by queenly grace and dignity . Durham , planted aloft on its precipitous rock , side by side with the fortress home of its Prince-Bishops , breathes a stern , we had almost
said , a savage majesty . Each is in strict keeping with its destiny . The peaceful dignity of Lincoln bespeaks the seat of a Christian Bishop . The frowning pile that crowns the rocky bill at Durham , "half church of God , half castle ' gainst the Scot , " is
^ the fitting home of warlike prelates reigning in the strictest sense as sovereigns over their rugged palatinate . Nowhere has the genius loci stamped itself more unmistakeabl y on the outward form of the buildings .
# We doubt whether a move impressive view can anywhere be seen than that which Presents itself to the traveller from the south as he emerges from the railway cutting and , crossing the lofty viaduct , nears we Durham Station . We think Mr . Ruskin nas somewhere called it " ' the finest thing m Europe . " Whether he has said so or not , the fact is unquestionable . Equalled
perhaps it may be , surpassed it cannot be . The moment when that wondrous group of " mixed and massive piles , " whose grey walls seem almost to grow up out of the native rock from which their huge buttressed slopes , grasping the crag with tenacious grip , bidding defiance to time and violence ,
can hardly be distinguished , and whose towers rise proudly to the sky with a strength that seems eternal , bursts first upon the sight , is simply overwhelming . The windings of the rushing Wear below , its steep banks clothed with luxuriant foliage , half hiding , half revealing the graceful arches of the Prebends' and Framwell Gate
Bridges , the confused mass of houses clustering in the valley and climbing the steep sides of the hill , broken by the taper spire of St . Nicholas , the Castle perched on the very edge of the precipice , soaring high above the river , whose passage it absolutely commands , with its wide
enceinte" Where tower and buttress rise in martial rank , And girdle in the massive donjon-keep , " now happily rescued from ruin and devoted to the peaceful duties of a University , and as the one central object to which all else
are mere accessories , " the vast mass of the cathedral , " to use Montalembert ' s words , stretching right across the lofty peninsula , with its huge truncated central tower and western towers soaring into the sky , its arcaded west front and rude projecting
Galilee , and its transeptal east front—that almostunique feature—with its four spirelets ( oreilles du lapin some irreverantly term them ) , only divided from the Wear b y a steep slope of terrace gardens , with a blue background of distant hill and
moorlandall combine to form a picture of picturesqueness and majesty which no lapse of time can efface from the memory . We have spoken of some of the points in which we consider that Durham surpasses Lincoln . En revanchethere can be
, no question that in architectural detail St . Cuthbert ' s minster , externally at least , is greatly inferior to the minster of Remigius and St . Hugh . It is in its mass and general effect that the cathedral of Durham is so striking . The nearer we approach the
more disappointing does it become . Indeed , we are not sure whether it would not be better to shut one ' s eyes when one begins
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Durham Cathedral.
DURHAM CATHEDRAL .
W propose from time to time to give an account of all our English cathedrals , and foreign cathedrals of interest , and we take from the "Guardian" of October 11 th a very admirable paper on Durham Cathedral , which we know very well , and so feel how thoroughly true the words of
the writer are . We shall be obliged by any of our brethren who will give us a sketch of the history and architectural features of the cathedral or minster in
their vicinity . If this appeal should find favour , we may extend the series afterwards to parochial churches . The Cathedral of Durham stands absolutely supreme among English cathedrals for grandeur of situation . Lincoln comes
the nearest to it . Some , indeed , may doubt to which the palm is to be accorded . But the two are so unlike in position and character as hardly to admit of a comparison . Each is peerless in its way , but the way is different ; and Durham certainly
presents greater elements of grandeur than her southern sister . Lincoln , as she reposes on her " sovereign hill , " calmly looking out overthe great Mercian plain , is characterised by queenly grace and dignity . Durham , planted aloft on its precipitous rock , side by side with the fortress home of its Prince-Bishops , breathes a stern , we had almost
said , a savage majesty . Each is in strict keeping with its destiny . The peaceful dignity of Lincoln bespeaks the seat of a Christian Bishop . The frowning pile that crowns the rocky bill at Durham , "half church of God , half castle ' gainst the Scot , " is
^ the fitting home of warlike prelates reigning in the strictest sense as sovereigns over their rugged palatinate . Nowhere has the genius loci stamped itself more unmistakeabl y on the outward form of the buildings .
# We doubt whether a move impressive view can anywhere be seen than that which Presents itself to the traveller from the south as he emerges from the railway cutting and , crossing the lofty viaduct , nears we Durham Station . We think Mr . Ruskin nas somewhere called it " ' the finest thing m Europe . " Whether he has said so or not , the fact is unquestionable . Equalled
perhaps it may be , surpassed it cannot be . The moment when that wondrous group of " mixed and massive piles , " whose grey walls seem almost to grow up out of the native rock from which their huge buttressed slopes , grasping the crag with tenacious grip , bidding defiance to time and violence ,
can hardly be distinguished , and whose towers rise proudly to the sky with a strength that seems eternal , bursts first upon the sight , is simply overwhelming . The windings of the rushing Wear below , its steep banks clothed with luxuriant foliage , half hiding , half revealing the graceful arches of the Prebends' and Framwell Gate
Bridges , the confused mass of houses clustering in the valley and climbing the steep sides of the hill , broken by the taper spire of St . Nicholas , the Castle perched on the very edge of the precipice , soaring high above the river , whose passage it absolutely commands , with its wide
enceinte" Where tower and buttress rise in martial rank , And girdle in the massive donjon-keep , " now happily rescued from ruin and devoted to the peaceful duties of a University , and as the one central object to which all else
are mere accessories , " the vast mass of the cathedral , " to use Montalembert ' s words , stretching right across the lofty peninsula , with its huge truncated central tower and western towers soaring into the sky , its arcaded west front and rude projecting
Galilee , and its transeptal east front—that almostunique feature—with its four spirelets ( oreilles du lapin some irreverantly term them ) , only divided from the Wear b y a steep slope of terrace gardens , with a blue background of distant hill and
moorlandall combine to form a picture of picturesqueness and majesty which no lapse of time can efface from the memory . We have spoken of some of the points in which we consider that Durham surpasses Lincoln . En revanchethere can be
, no question that in architectural detail St . Cuthbert ' s minster , externally at least , is greatly inferior to the minster of Remigius and St . Hugh . It is in its mass and general effect that the cathedral of Durham is so striking . The nearer we approach the
more disappointing does it become . Indeed , we are not sure whether it would not be better to shut one ' s eyes when one begins