A Conversation for Durham Cathedral, Durham, United Kingdom
Durham should be at Chester-le-Street
Researcher 211822 Started conversation Dec 16, 2002
After his death in 687, Cuthbert's uncorrupted body was kept on Holy Island until Viking raids led to the monks carrying his body around the North until they settled at Chester-le-Street in 883. Here the church was erected, and the community stayed at Chester-le-Street, a Roman settlement some seven miles north of Durham for 112 years. Further Viking raids forced them to move in 995 south to Ripon for a few months, and it was on their way back to Chester-le-Street that the cart stopped at Dunholme /Durham and the monks saw in a dream that the saint wished to remain there.
And so Chester-le-Street, which had had bishops for 112 years as the ecclesiastical centre of the north, fell into decline.
That is why the train service in Chester-le-Street is so bad. If the Vikings had not come in 995, Chester-le-Street would have become Durham, with a university and major train station for GNER and Virgin trains. I blame the Vikings.
Alex Nelson
Stationmaster, Chester-le-Street
Key: Complain about this post
Durham should be at Chester-le-Street
More Conversations for Durham Cathedral, Durham, United Kingdom
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."