<< Our Photo Pages >> St Cuthbert's Church (Darlington) - Ancient Cross in England in County Durham
Submitted by Anne T on Wednesday, 25 October 2017 Page Views: 2066
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Cuthbert's Church (Darlington)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.501 km away from the location you searched for.
County: County Durham Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Darlington
Map Ref: NZ2910814448
Latitude: 54.524489N Longitude: 1.551791W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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Anne T visited on 25th Oct 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Ancient crosses, Saxon sundials and a hogback in Darlington: Originally due to go out for the whole day, we suddenly found ourselves having to rush back for an engineer arriving at our house after lunch. As we had an appointment to be at the church for 10.30am, to look round whilst there was a service in the chancel, we decided there was time enough to get to Darlington and back.
We met the church wardens we'd been liaising with very briefly to say ‘hello and thanks’ to. It was amusing as at least 3 people came into the church wanting to know where the church office was, so I pointed them in the general direction. It was odd wandering around the church with a communion service taking place in the chancel and sanctuary, and I was careful not to use the flash on the camera, although parts of the church were very dark, especially around the hogback.
We couldn’t find a couple of the catalogued items from the Corpus, and I struggled to identify which of the three cross heads we were seeing against those the Corpus lists. I looked through the Information for Guides folder and found an Architectural Assessment by Petr F. Ryder, Historic Buildings Consultant, dated 1997, part of which read:
“Pre Conquest Sculpture: Six pieces of Pre-Conquest sculpture are listed by Cramp (1984, 62-3). Of these one cross head, with the top of the shaft, dated to the late 10th or early 11th century, and an incomplete cross head of the early 11th century, are displayed in the nave, against the second pier of the south arcade; in a corresponding position on the opposite side of the nave is a supposedly Saxon sundial. In the north transept aumbry is part of a hogback, seen as a ‘crude copying of a type more elegantly represented at Brompton, Yorkshire’, and dated to the second quarter of the 10th century. Another fragment, seen as part of a large recumbent slab of the second half of the 10th century, lies in the south transept along with medieval cross slabs. A fifth stone which formerly lay outside the south transept, seen as possibly part of a dedication or ‘station’ slab from within the church, is now lost.”
The remains of a Danish hogback and fragments of Saxon crosses found in restorations in 1862-65 bear witness to evidence of a church on this site for well over 1,000 years. The church guide tells us that there is "traditional belief that St. Cuthbert's body rested here on its way from Ripon to Durham in 995. Any structures of that time were destroyed in the destruction of the North by William the Conqueror in 1069 and raids by Malcolm of Scotland in 1072.
The present church was built in the 12th century, and parts of the roof still contain the original timbers (just about to be replaced in early 2018).
The Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture list six pieces to be found at this church:
Darlington 1: a 10th century to early 11th century cross head with part of the cross shaft attached, displayed displayed in the nave, against the second pier of the south arcade;
Darlington 2: an incomplete cross head, displayed next to Darlington 1;
Darlington 3: part of a cross slab, now missing;
Darlington 4: part of a 10th century hogback, to be found in a niche in the north wall of the north transept;
Darlington 5; part of a slab with incised cross, now missing, although there was part of a 10th century late Saxon tombstone in the south eastern corner of the south transept;
Darlington 6: a pre-Conquest sundial, carved on both sides (one said to be a 'practice' for the main face), displayed opposite Darlington 1 and 2 on the south aisle.
The church is open to visitors between April and the end of September; after that time, you will need to contact the Parish Office to arrange to get in. Note: visitors are welcome to go into the nave, crossing & transept during a communion service in the chancel & sanctuary on a Wednesday morning, between 09:45 and 11:00. Contact details can be found on 'A Church Near You' website.
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