St Cuthbert's Final Journey
Following 9th century monks as they flee from invading vikings with the body of St Cuthbert and the Lindisfarne Gospels – and undertake a momentous journey that helps shape England
St Cuthbert’s Day Walk….with Otters, Rune-stones, Banners and a Service
The numbers were down on expectations, not surprising given the horrific weather forecast of driving snow and sleet. I looked up to the sky and crossed my fingers, then back around at the sixty or so souls, all waterproofed up, ready to walk eight miles from Chester-le-Street to Durham Cathedral.
We sheltered in the Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, founded in 883 by the Community of St Cuthbert, when they finally settled after their seven years of wandering with the body of St Cuthbert, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the head of St Oswald, bones of St Aidan and many other relics and treasures. But fears of further Viking attacks in 995 led them to leave Chester-le-Street and eventually head to Durham, where the great Norman Cathedral was built in honour of St Cuthbert.
And this was our pilgrimage – to walk this last section of St Cuthbert’s final journey, though unlike the original walkers we thankfully weren’t going via Ripon. Chris Kilkenny, official historian of The Northumbrian Association, amused and informed us with interesting stories, pointing out the stained glass windows that told the stories of the Community’s wandering. Chris is an expert on St Cuthbert and his e-book ‘Cuthbert Coffin Trails’ contains numerous walks linked to the wandering, gathered from his “lifetime obsession.”
The Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street (photo by Paul Alexander Knox)
And then off we went, through the park and past Lumley Castle, built in 1389 by Ralph Lumley after he’d returned from wars in Scotland. He didn’t live too long in his beautiful new castle though, as he was executed for plotting against King Henry IV.
Through rain sodden fields we plodged, looking back at a tiny Angel of the North, and on to Great Lumley.
We were approaching the steps down to Finchale Priory when I caught the beginnings of a story from behind and turned to catch the rest of it. It was a feller called Dave Shotten, who later described himself as a story-teller interested in any strange tales about Durham. But this story was about the odd shaped field on our right.
“I used to go hunting there with my grandchildren,” he said. “And I was wandering over there one day when I found a Bronze Age arrowhead and some Roman coins. Septimius Severus they were. And so I went back a few times, exploring, but this one particular time, not long after, my car was blocked in by this huge Range Rover. Harsh words were exchanged and then the farmer pulled a gun on me.”
Dave reckoned the field contain some significant archaeological site but that the farmer doesn’t want his land digging up and investigating.
“And there’s definitely the remains of some buildings that look to be worth investigating,” he said, before adding yet another component. “There’s a long standing story of a rune-stone found in those fields as well,” he said. “It was about twenty, thirty years ago. The farmer’s Christian and so he chucked it in the river, because obviously it was Pagan and so he thought it was evil or something. And for the next four or five years his farm and family suffered from really bad luck.”
We were coming down the steps to Finchale at this point and he pointed along the river.
“It’s up there, where he chucked it in. I went swimming to look for it, and to see if I could find anything else. But I found this really strange kind of horizontal whirlpool instead. I was going round and round and was very close to drowning and I’m a good swimmer mind you, and I’m used to diving.”
We crossed the wooden bridge that led to the beautiful 13th century Benedictine Priory and found soup and bread provided by Northumbria Water, as well as friends Maria and Anna.
“We’ve just seen an otter,” said Anna, pointing at the river. “When we were stood on the bridge waiting for you.”
I smiled, unaware of the significance.
“It’s St Cuthbert’s Day,” she said. “We were stood with this photographer who comes here all the time and he’s never seen an otter in six years. It jumped out the water a couple of times but then disappeared when the cameras came out.”
Anna is the daughter of sculptor Fenwick Lawson. Immersed in the stories and culture of Cuthbert, she smiled widely.
“People talk about taking Bede’s miracles of St Cuthbert with a pinch of salt, but how symbolic is that? On St Cuthbert’s Day?”
She was referring to the miracle written about Cuthbert when he was up at Coldingham. Another monk followed and spied on him, wondering what he did each night when the rest of the monastery fell asleep. He walked into the waves up to his neck and sang the praises of the sea for hours. And then, when he came out, otters came with him and dried his feet.
I mentioned Dave’s story of the shotgun toting farmer to Anna and her eyes widened.
“We used to play all over these fields when we were kids,” she said. “My brothers were chased off that field by the farmer. He shot one of their mates in the bum.”
Walking out of Finchale (photo by Paul Alexander Knox)
The soup was great, a lovely touch by Northumbria Water. Chris Kilkenny paid tribute to the late John Danby, chairman of the Northumbrian Association and a long time leading campaigner in bringing the Lindisfarne Gospels back to Durham. Then he gave us some great stories about Finchale and St Godric and, after checking the skies once more and hoping our luck would hold, we were off again; up the hill, in-between the high walls of HMP Frankland and HMP Low Newton, with more than 1,200 prisoners either side of us, and over the fields towards Durham.
We could see our destination ahead of us; Durham Cathedral and its great tower. I walked with the artist Alan O’Cain and his wife Juliet , as the whole group stretched out into broken isolated fragments.
On our way to Durham Cathedral (photo by Paul Alexander Knox)
Alan said he went to Bede School in Sunderland but they never learnt anything about Anglo-Saxon times and how this region played an important role. In fact they didn’t even learn about Bede himself.
“The other students used to call me Cuthbert,” he said. “It was my nickname through school. I don’t think it was related to the saint though. It was just that I was clever and had glasses and they wanted to think of a name to suit. ”
“It was the name of the swotty one in The Beano,” I reminded him.
When we got to the market square we were met by Northumbrian Pipers and the banner of St Cuthbert, reproduced by The Northumbrian Association. Chris Kikenny told us stories of how English kings went off to fight the French and each time the Scots came pouring down to invade. The banner of St Cuthbert was taken up as a protector of its people and the Scots repelled. It was held aloft at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, where 14,000 men were massacred in less than four hours, the vast majority of them Scottish. It continued as a symbol of Northumbrian unity until the 16th century Reformation led by Henry VIII when it was burned in an attempt to stamp out the area’s strong catholic identity.
And so we followed the new banner instead, held aloft by John Cuthbert, Honorary President of the Northumbrian Association, with the pipers playing underneath.
And we all walked up to Durham Cathedral, built by the Normans between 1104 and 1130, voted Britain’s favourite building in 2001 and 2011, for a small and intimate service at the shrine of St Cuthbert.
Later that night, there was a larger service, led by the Dean of the Cathedral, with the Bishops of Jarrow and Beverly in attendance. Readings were given, including one by Elizabeth Archibald, Principal of Durham University’s St Cuthbert’s College, celebrating its 125th year. Hymns were sung and I became aware of what people mean when they talk of the ‘theatre’ of the church. The brightly coloured Chapter with their flowing robes lined up in front of us. Candles were lit, the electric lights above dimmed. The choir came forward, flowing white robes of purity and voices of angels. And as we sung and reached our crescendo, streams of light came forth from above. I looked up and the pillars and ceiling reached so high it really was as if they touched the heavens. The power of the Cathedral, with its balance between towering Norman strength and intricate beautiful carving and detail, seemed to heighten even further. And the choirboys sang higher and longer than everyone else, elongating each final note effortlessly, while incense was waved into the air to stimulate yet another sense. And then The Book was held aloft and more readings were followed by a joint procession of everyone to the Shrine of St Cuthbert. And then we spilled out into the Durham night, with the snow falling gently and the cold air tightening our skins. And we smiled. Perhaps St Cuthbert did his best, on his feast day, to turn the weather in our favour, like many of his miracles described.
St Cuthbert's Final Journey 
Thanks Richard – a lovely interesting account of the pilgrimage. Sounds like an event to treasure for ever.Well done you. Doreen
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Thank you Doreen. It was a lovely day…
What a wonderful event to have on St. Cuthbert’s Day. Will follow up on the St. Cuthbert Coffin walks – sound interesting. I have great memories of the St. Cuthbert Day service I attended three years ago in Durham Cathedral. Thank you for sharing your experience and help us walk along with you.
…and thank you for such lovely comments Heather. It was a great day, though initially there were 150-180 people planning to walk. I guess they were put off by the horrific weather forecast that didn’t come true. Still, I met some interesting people and enjoyed the walk tremendously
It was the most magical day – although I admit to being in a restaurant (read pub) for some of the time you were all walking ::grin:: When we were all around the tomb of Cuthbert I had two thoughts. One was directed to St. Cuthbert (I do talk to him every now and then) “Oh pet, you wouldn’t really want all of this clart on in here but you have to remember that unless we do this people won’t remember what you stood for and ok, so you showed us the otter and blew my ‘metaphor’ theories out of the water, but bear with it and many of us will be popping back next week for a chat.”
And the other was sadder and was about ‘Cuthbert of Farne’ and my Dad. After the bronze was placed on Holy Island, the then Dean (not our lovely Michael Sadgrove) didn’t want the wooden sculpture ….. no-one did really. He is still in Durham – in the garden of St. Mary-le-Bow, on the opposite side of the Bailey to the rose window in the Chapel of the Nine Altars. He should be at the tomb of St.Cuthbert rather than snuck away where, for most of the year, he cant be seen nor touched. People would love him and he would feel it ……… and so would my dad, who I love.
Anna, I assume this is the sculpture of St. Cuthbert that used to be at the ruins of the priory on Lindisfarne. Is there any reason why it can’t go back there and at least be seen and touched? It always felt an outdoor piece to me and I thought it complemented the sculpture in St. Mary’s very well and have them both back on the island would be great.
Say ‘hello’ to Cuthbert at the shrine for me. I hope to be in Durham to see the Gospels at some point this year.
Thank you for a lovely virtual pilgrimage with St. Cuthbert. I appreciate the reference to Chris Kilkenny’s Cuthbert Coffin Trails, which I just downloaded for my Kindle. I will be following some of the Cumbrian trails in August.
Heather, the bronze version of Cuthbert is still on Holy Island – it is the wood carving (that the bronze was cast from) that has been on it’s own journey over the years and is now in the garden of Mary-le-Bow opposite the Cathedral. It is out in the elements and I worry that it will start growing mushrooms again ……. If you want a powerpoint detailing the carving from beginning to end and the casting with placement on Holy Island email me on anannais@btinternet.com or through Fenwick’s website and I will email you one.
I will say hello to Cuthbert for you and light a candle.
Thanks, Anna, for clearing up my confusion. I can understand your concern and distress that a piece that shouldn’t be out in the elements is not being cared for properly. I’ll check out the website for the carving and casting.
My husband is a member of the Border Sculptors, though he’s gone back to photography at present (amateur not professional). So I do understand some of the processes and agonies sculptors go through where their work is concerned.
Thank you, too, for saying “hello” to Cuthbert for me and lighting a candle when you go to the shrine.
… it was a great day and I’m so glad not to have been deterred by the weather (it was touch and go looking out of the window early on Wednesday morning). This is a lovely write up of the walk – we enjoyed your company Richard and I’m glad the mystery of Alan’s nickname at school has been cleared up after all these years – after Cuthbert the swot in the Bash Street Kids rather than the great northern saint! Some of us ended the day covered in mud (Richard) and some of us in bruises (me – after taking a tumble down the steps to Finchale Abbey) – so feeling battered and bruised I didn’t make it back again to the cathedral for the evening service. Lovely to read about it. I have recently been overwhelmed in a similar way at the processional ‘stations of the cross’ evensong service at the cathedral. Sublime.
… we wondered what those mysterious bunkers were between Finchale and Frankland – of course Google had the answer:
“The depot just north of Frankland prison, near Finchale Abbey, is a very old WWII War Ministry munitions storage dump using concrete bunkers.
It’s laid out in the classic ordnance depot pattern and you can see the main train line running past to the west. Before the prison was built, the depot would have been connected into this line with a spur. Indeed, the land on which the prison was built would already have been owned by the Govt as it would have been all bought up during WWII.”
FROM: http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/military-sites/13445-wwii-buildings-near-durham-prison-10-5-07-a.html
Brilliant Juliet – thanks very much. Thoroughly enjoyed the company of Alan and yourself and delighted you took the gamble. It was definitely worth it. Take loads of care and hope to see you both soon. Copy of Andalucia for you here/in car…xxx
I’m glad it didn’t snow or rain in your pilgrimage walk and I guess everyone was rewarded with hot soup and perhaps a hot coffee, too.