Building Durham Cathedral

The Norman cathedral at Durham, built between 1093 and 1133, is a vast and awe-inspiring structure, a symbol of conquest and the harsh imposition of a new order. Its roots, origins and even some of the personalities involved are well-documented, but the fabric itself has a story to tell. It begs questions: ‘How could this have been done?’; ‘Why can this detail be seen?’; ‘What does this imply in terms of the issues the master mason faced?’.

Fine-grained observations of slight variations in the stonework, in the structural levels, in the many scars, and not least in the dimensions of the entire plan and even the thicknesses of mortar, provide structural clues. In this new and revealing study such ‘evidences’ are demonstrated and analysed, and many plans, sections and diagrams are presented to the reader to check, to accept, to modify or to challenge.