The Hybrid Pier of Durham Cathedral: A Norman Monument to the Shrine of St. Cuthbert?

Abstract

The cylindrical piers that alternate with undecorated compound piers on the interior of the great Norman cathedral at Durham are incised with spiral fluting in the choir, north transept, and northernmost pier of the south transept and with lozenge, chevron, and vertical fluting in the nave. The reservation of spiral designs for certain areas has been shown to denote the significance of those areas as important spaces, following the model of Old St. Peter’s in Rome. Yet the southernmost pier of Durham’s south transept bears a hybrid spiral-chevron pattern that contrasts with the symmetry of the transepts. In fact, this pier is the only one in the cathedral that frames an altar space with ornament that is not exclusively spiral. By reassessing this distinctive pier in light of historical, archaeological, and architectural evidence for the earlier churches constructed for St. Cuthbert’s shrine, this essay considers the possibility that this anomaly is significant. Twelfth-century sources record that two stone churches may have survived during the construction of the Norman edifice. Together with evidence uncovered through minor archaeological excavation, information in these sources suggests that the second stone church or its predecessor ran parallel to the Norman nave, with its presbytery located directly underneath the hybrid pier. Other surviving features in the northeast cloister walk imply that a temporary shrine structure was located there and prompt a reconsideration of the significance of the hybrid pier’s design. This helps elucidate the attitudes of Norman churchmen toward the cult of the Northumbrian saint.