In Durham Cathedral, that magnificent monument to the robust majesty of Norman architecture, the Rev Charlie Allen, the Cathedral’s Canon Chancellor, is showing me the shrine of one of Britain’s greatest saints.
This tomb, a place of prayer for a thousand years, makes Durham Cathedral unique. ‘Its history as a centre of pilgrimage gives it a really distinctive flavour,’ Charlie tells me. ‘It’s shaped around hospitality to all those who come – so it’s a very inclusive place.’
Durham Cathedral was built to house the body of St Cuthbert, patron saint of Northumbria, that Anglo-Saxon kingdom which stretched from the Tees to the Tweed. The modern county of Northumberland is a fragment of its former territory.
Northumbria ceased to be a
