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00:00Britain's cathedrals. Majestic, magnificent, monumental.
00:07For more than 1400 years, they've dominated Britain's landscape.
00:12Never out of sight, never out of mind.
00:15Epic structures, they represent our history and the changing fortunes of a nation.
00:22I'm Tony Robinson, and in this series I'll be exploring six of Britain's greatest cathedrals.
00:29What a privilege.
00:35Their stories of rivalry and royalty.
00:39Henry was determined to strip the church of its power.
00:43Of struggles and sacrifice.
00:47Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?
00:51Of martyrs and murder.
00:53And then they just hacked him down right on the spot.
00:57Containing more than a thousand years of history,
01:00I'll discover how these buildings were constructed.
01:04Isn't that extraordinary?
01:06How they've evolved, and what secrets they hold.
01:18Durham Cathedral.
01:20It took more than four decades to build, and has stood for more than 900 years.
01:26It's been the site of mass slaughter, reported miracles, and buried treasure.
01:33It's also a sandstone masterpiece,
01:36and among the first UNESCO World Heritage sites in Britain.
01:41Standing 66 metres high, it was once the country's tallest building,
01:47and it still dominates the city below.
01:51It's not until you see the cathedral with your own eyes that you realise quite how big it is.
01:57It was built in the year 1133,
02:00at a time when virtually every building was two storeys high or less.
02:05So you can imagine, the first time you saw that, it would have been absolutely astounding.
02:16It's the same height as 15 double-decker buses,
02:20and it's 143 metres long, which is like six tennis courts stuck together.
02:31It was built on a peninsula, and over time, the city of Durham grew around it.
02:37Its construction was ordered by one of our most famous leaders, William the Conqueror.
02:43After defeating King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066,
02:47William and his Norman army then marched north, crushing any resistance they met.
02:55To do this, they built both castles and cathedrals across England.
03:03But the cathedral they put up here in Durham would be like no other.
03:09It was more of a fortress than a place of worship.
03:13It was built to overawe the defeated Anglo-Saxons of northern England
03:18and to deter attacks from over the Scottish border.
03:21There was a bend in the River Weir here, which provided a natural moat on three sides,
03:27and attackers would have to charge up a steep hill.
03:30And as a final grace note to take advantage of the location,
03:35William ordered that a castle should be built.
03:42This intimidating cathedral and castle complex would cover nearly 22 acres
03:48and be home to its first Norman bishop, William Warcher, a priest from northern Europe.
03:54King William relied on him to be as much a warrior as a clergyman.
04:00He gave him enormous power.
04:02He could raise his own taxes, mint his own money, raise his own army,
04:08and, to all intents and purposes, act like the ruler of the whole region.
04:13Warcher and those bishops who followed him were given the title Prince Bishop.
04:21Building this massive cathedral took 40 years.
04:25What emerged was a place of worship and an architectural masterpiece.
04:31It was also one of the first sites of mass pilgrimage in Britain,
04:35and there was one tomb in particular they were desperate to see.
04:42Pilgrims flocked here in their thousands to pay homage at the shrine
04:47and the tomb of Cuthbert, the patron saint of the north of England.
04:52Cuthbert is thought to have been the son of nobility,
04:55who served as a soldier, then had a vision of God, and became a monk,
05:00dedicating his life to doing good works across the north of England.
05:04He was later made Bishop of Lindisfarne,
05:06the so-called Holy Island off the Northumberland coast.
05:10After his death on Innerfarne in 687,
05:13he was declared a saint because of his piety and devotion,
05:17and his tomb soon became a shrine.
05:20Miracles were reported at his grave.
05:23In fact, so many miracles that he became known as the Wonder Worker of England.
05:30A hundred years later, disaster struck.
05:33The English coast was being attacked by fierce warriors
05:37from across the North Sea, the Vikings,
05:40and the riches of Lindisfarne were in their sights.
05:43Fearing for their lives, the monks fled the island
05:46with their most valued and valuable possession, Cuthbert's body.
05:51For the next 200 years,
05:53groups of monks transported Cuthbert's coffin around the country
05:57to avoid Vikings and invading Scots.
06:01Legend has it that one day, the cart carrying the coffin got stuck,
06:06and the monks decided it was a sign that Cuthbert was dead.
06:11The spot was near a tiny settlement, then called Dunholm,
06:15and soon it became a magnet for pilgrims,
06:18all eager to experience Cuthbert's miraculous powers.
06:22It was seeing these pilgrims leaving their rich offerings
06:26that had prompted William the Conqueror
06:28to build his cathedral and castle here.
06:31He believed the pilgrims would provide a value
06:34for the rest of his life.
06:37Eventually, so many pilgrims were flocking here
06:40that they had to build this massive extension,
06:44which is called the Chapel of the Nine Altars.
06:48Why is it called that?
06:49Well, you've not just got that one chapel there,
06:52you've got another one here, another one here,
06:56four, five, six, seven, eight,
07:01nine, 10, 11, 12,
07:06five, six.
07:08And the more pilgrims that came here, the more money the church earned,
07:13the more that it earned, the more that it was able to put out
07:16all these fantastic stories about what a great place it was,
07:19so even more pilgrims.
07:21Seven altars, eight, nine.
07:24This was the processing of pilgrims on an industrial scale.
07:31The result was riches beyond belief.
07:36The pilgrims donated vast amounts of money,
07:39along with priceless works of art, gold and precious jewels.
07:44It all made Durham's Prince Bishops extremely wealthy men,
07:48and some were keen to flaunt it.
07:51The bishop's throne here in Durham is actually one inch higher
07:56than the Pope's throne in Rome, and I know that's true
07:59because the man who commissioned it, Bishop Thomas Hatfield,
08:03had to go to Rome in order to measure the Pope's throne
08:06and ensure that his was taller.
08:09Now, the bishop today doesn't actually sit there
08:12because it's considered too ostentatious.
08:15Can't think why, but it is.
08:17Instead, he sits over there at the far end of the choir.
08:21Normally, that means no-one else is allowed to sit on the throne either.
08:27But I've actually been given permission today to go and sit in it.
08:33Let's go.
08:39With all their wealth and power,
08:41the men who sat on this throne must have felt invincible.
08:45But they weren't.
08:47In the 16th century, they came face to face
08:50with a man much more powerful and much, much more ruthless,
08:55and his name was Henry VIII.
08:59He was about to put Durham's very existence in danger.
09:05Durham Cathedral.
09:07When constructed, it was one of the world's tallest buildings.
09:12Its high vaulted ceilings point to the very heavens
09:15that the builders tried to emulate,
09:18and it dominates the skyline for miles around.
09:22It's made from more than 300,000 individual stone blocks.
09:28It's been estimated that it took up to four men a month to carve each one.
09:36On that basis, it's thought that as many as 1,000 stonemasons
09:40worked on the cathedral for 40 years.
09:45This is Palace Green, which was the town's original marketplace,
09:49with stalls all around it.
09:51But imagine what it would have been like
09:53when that cathedral was being built.
09:56There would have been builders' materials everywhere
09:59and carts and kit and tools,
10:02not to mention hundreds of workers.
10:05Everything that was needed to build the cathedral was on site,
10:08including, rather remarkably, all the sandstone,
10:12which came from within a two-mile radius.
10:14That was out of necessity.
10:16When you're transporting blocks that weigh over half a ton,
10:19proximity is all-important.
10:22Durham's always been rich in sandstone,
10:25and most of the blocks would have come from out here,
10:28just across the weir in the river bank.
10:30Then they would have been carried up to the tower
10:33by the local peasants as a kind of tax to the church.
10:38The cathedral was the first in northern Europe to use ribbed vaulting.
10:48This was partly inspired by the Moorish mosques
10:51that the Crusaders had seen while fighting in 10th-century Spain.
10:56Its shape meant it was strong enough to support a massive stone ceiling,
11:01which, when finished, was the largest in the world.
11:05Pointed arches were another revolutionary innovation.
11:09These allowed the stonemasons to build walls higher than ever before.
11:17What I find really funny about it
11:19is where the masons wanted to make absolutely sure
11:23that the whole malarkey didn't come crashing down,
11:26they used the old-fashioned round arches,
11:29just to be on the safe side.
11:32It's hard to believe that 500 years ago,
11:35this cathedral would have been even more magnificent.
11:40All the walls of the cathedral would originally have been painted
11:44in murals like this one.
11:46There's St Cuthbert there.
11:48You see that lovely blue,
11:50which is a symbol of St Cuthbert.
11:52It's a symbol of St Cuthbert.
11:54It's a symbol of St Cuthbert.
11:56It's a symbol of St Cuthbert.
11:58There's St Cuthbert there.
12:00You see that lovely blue around him.
12:03Imagine how vibrant that would have been 500 years ago.
12:07The pigment for that colour actually comes from the Himalayas,
12:11so you can see what a huge investment these paintings would have been.
12:15Transporting the pigment from so far away was expensive,
12:19but remember that thanks to Cuthbert, Durham was rich.
12:23Still, the authorities here had to continually add new attractions,
12:27to ensure the visitors and their donations kept coming,
12:31especially as there was growing competition
12:34from other 12th-century pilgrimage sites, like Canterbury Cathedral.
12:38This is intriguing.
12:40This is a medieval collecting box.
12:43It would have had a door over it like this,
12:45and there's a hole there for the worshippers to drop their money in,
12:50and then after the service was over,
12:52the monks would open the door and scrabble about
12:56to get the money out.
12:58But what's so weird is it's eroded over time,
13:02so you can actually feel the shape of the monks' fingers,
13:06and there's even a thumb mark here.
13:09It's like I'm holding hands with a medieval monk.
13:14Around 70 monks ran the cathedral, so they all lived right next door to it.
13:19And compared with people living outside the monastery,
13:22they had a relatively comfortable time of it.
13:26This is a lovely little museum now,
13:28but back in the medieval period,
13:30it was a dormitory with this stunning roof.
13:34That's original from 1404.
13:37There were 40 monks here, bed there, bed there,
13:41little table, little table, and the two monks shared a window.
13:45They had to get up three times between midnight and 6am to do services.
13:52Then they'd do some work, then they'd do two more services,
13:56then they'd have a meeting, two more services,
13:59and then they'd have their dinner, three more services,
14:03and then at 7.30 they had to be absolutely quiet
14:08for the great silence until 6 o'clock the next morning.
14:14It wasn't all services, sleep and silences, though.
14:18There was money to count and money to spend.
14:21They've got a remarkable archive here
14:23with records of monastic life going back to the 11th century,
14:27and I've got the accounts for 1422.
14:32For centuries, the monks of Durham met here in the chapter house
14:36to discuss the running of the monastery.
14:38They debated various items on the accounts,
14:42like their contributions to church taxation,
14:46horseshoeing, including the iron,
14:49and this was a very expensive one.
14:51They spent a lot of money on this.
14:53Red and white wine from merchants in Newcastle.
14:59In all, they spent £56 in 1422.
15:03That's the equivalent of just over 40,000 today.
15:08Funding their drinking habits, as well as everything else,
15:12were the pilgrims, who continued to come in their droves.
15:16We know this because in the last couple of years,
15:19treasure-hunting historians have uncovered
15:22more than 11,000 small objects from beneath the Elvet Bridge.
15:27They've called it the Durham River Ware Assemblage.
15:32A team led by diving archaeologist Gary Bankhead
15:35have put together this treasure trove,
15:38which shows us just how very busy this pilgrim's route was.
15:43You've found a lot of stuff
15:45associated with the medieval period around here, haven't you?
15:48Absolutely, yes. This was a thriving thoroughfare,
15:51a really busy centre, prime retail land,
15:53and if you were a vendor or a peddler
15:55selling objects to the passing trade,
15:57this is where you needed to be.
15:59Lots of tourists, lots of pilgrims.
16:01Yeah, absolutely.
16:02Two-thirds of all of the objects I've found here
16:05are dress accessories, small buttons and buckles,
16:07pins, lace chips, objects that would have been worn
16:10by the citizens of Durham, and indeed the pilgrims.
16:13And when we look at them, there's no evidence of wear.
16:16They were never attached to garments,
16:18so effectively they were brand new when they were lost.
16:21What do they tell us about the cathedral?
16:23This bridge in particular is somewhere where pilgrims would cross
16:27en route to the Shrine of St Cuthbert's.
16:30This is a lovely example of a pilgrim's ampula.
16:33So there's an assertion that pilgrims would deliberately
16:36throw these objects into a river,
16:39for superstitious reasons,
16:41offering for a safe passage or a safe journey back home.
16:47The flow of pilgrims remained uninterrupted for centuries.
16:51But in 1533, everything changed.
16:54King Henry VIII wanted to annul his marriage
16:57to his long-time wife, Catherine of Aragon,
17:00and wed her lady-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn.
17:03The Catholic Church refused to grant permission,
17:06so an almighty struggle between King and Pope became inevitable.
17:12Henry was determined to strip the Church of its power.
17:16In what became known as the Reformation,
17:18he declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England,
17:21he imprisoned any clergy who weren't prepared to accept his authority,
17:25and he closed the monasteries down.
17:28But what he really wanted to do was get his hands on the Church's wealth,
17:32and Durham was one of the richest cathedrals in the country.
17:41But how rich?
17:43The answer can be found in a remarkable scroll
17:46that normally remains hidden from public view.
17:51The reason that all this foam rubber has been laid down here
17:55is because we're about to unroll a fascinating and invaluable document.
18:01In fact, it's so rare that I'm not even allowed to touch it,
18:04but we've got Liz, who's the Head of Conservation at Durham Uni,
18:08who's going to do the unrolling for me.
18:11It's called The Rites of Durham
18:14and it was written by monks after the Reformation.
18:23It's in beautiful handwriting, it's definitely in English,
18:27and it was written by a monk who had to leave during the Reformation.
18:34And he's just sort of reminiscing
18:37about what used to happen at the monastery,
18:41and he reminisces in such detail
18:44that it's a fantastic source of what life was like here.
18:49One passage describes how ornate and significant
18:52the monument to St Cuthbert in the Chapel of Nine Altars used to be.
18:57It was estimated to be one of the most sumptuous monuments in all England.
19:02So great were the offering and jewels that were bestowed upon it,
19:06and no less the miracles that were done by it.
19:10Henry VIII was after those jewels,
19:13along with any other treasures he could get his hands on.
19:16He heard that Cuthbert's tomb was laden with precious metals and stones,
19:20so he sent three commissioners and a goldsmith to strip it.
19:24What happened next only enhanced Cuthbert's reputation as a miracle worker.
19:30Well, the goldsmith took off the gold and the silver and the precious stones.
19:34Then he called out to the commissioners,
19:36I've come to a chest strongly bound in iron, what shall I do?
19:39And they said, smash it open.
19:41He took the great hammer of a smith and he smashed it open.
19:44Then he cried out, alas, I've broken his leg.
19:46And the commissioner shouted, throw down the bones, we're going to burn them.
19:49They put together a skin and tissue and they said, rubbish, throw down the bones.
19:53He said, come and see if you don't believe me.
19:56So they went up and had a look, and they found that Cuthbert's body was still whole.
20:05A fully intact body almost 900 years after death.
20:09To Henry's men, this was a sign from God.
20:13And it seems even Henry was convinced.
20:15When he heard about it,
20:17he called the Durham monks to stay at their cathedral and let them rebury their saint.
20:24I always say to visitors,
20:26I don't mind if you don't believe that Cuthbert's body was still whole.
20:30And for me, the condition of the body doesn't matter.
20:33But I do believe it because it's so well documented.
20:36And I've seen bodies coming out, Viking bodies and Saxon bodies,
20:41where there is still...
20:43If the earth is right, then it will look after the body, won't it?
20:48Finding St Cuthbert's body intact may indeed have saved the cathedral from Henry VIII.
20:55But it was a different kind of find
20:57that would reveal a very much darker period in its history.
21:02DURHAM CATHEDRAL
21:10During its almost 1,000-year history,
21:13Durham Cathedral has just about survived
21:16the perils of war and political upheaval in one piece.
21:21And it's done so by hiding many of its greatest treasures away from prying eyes.
21:27In the mid-16th century, Henry VIII was targeting church wealth,
21:32and the Durham monks did a good job of thwarting him.
21:36So good that even today,
21:38some of the cathedral's greatest riches remain hidden within the grounds.
21:46This magnificent rude screen is called the Neville Screen,
21:51and it's made of stone,
21:53the only stone in the cathedral that isn't English.
21:56It's French, and it was commissioned in the year 1372 in honour of St Cuthbert.
22:02And however glorious it looks, and it is pretty glorious,
22:06the most magnificent bits are missing.
22:11The screen originally consisted of 107 statues.
22:16Historic accounts describe a stunning statue of the Virgin Mary
22:20on the central pedestal, flanked by St Cuthbert and St Oswald,
22:24under the two other spires.
22:26Fearing they'd be seized by Henry VIII's men,
22:29the monks are said to have concealed them all nearby,
22:33although exactly where is a mystery to this day.
22:40But some hidden treasures haven't remained lost forever.
22:45The current occupier of the cathedral's deanery,
22:48which sits on the side of the cathedral, is Andrew Tremlitt.
22:52As dean, he's head of the cathedral community,
22:55managing the day-to-day business of the cathedral site.
22:59I'm so jealous of you.
23:01You've got a full medieval mural slap-bang in the middle of your dining room.
23:05How come it's still here?
23:07It's an extraordinary story.
23:09So the house was actually started in 1070,
23:12so very shortly after the Norman conquest,
23:14and then this was added later in the 13th century as a private chapel.
23:19And amazingly, just by one of those sort of rather wonderful things here,
23:24the wall painting from the original chapel remains.
23:28It was covered over for a couple of centuries,
23:31and when renovations were done in the 1970s,
23:34the screen was taken off and this very beautiful wall painting revealed...
23:38Who's this chap here?
23:41Well, it's a soldier who's not quite doing his duty,
23:44so he's snoozing away there.
23:47And the astonishing thing, of course,
23:49is that this was a sort of living, working environment,
23:52and as people do, they graffiti along here.
23:56Oh, this is absolutely riddled with graffiti here, isn't it?
23:59It is, absolutely. And this is old? This is old.
24:06Although the cathedral is home to many beautiful treasures,
24:09it also houses some gruesome relics.
24:16The most disturbing of these are from the time of the English Civil War,
24:20when Royalists and Parliamentarians fought over how the country should be governed.
24:25A Scottish army fighting on the Royalist side
24:28was defeated by Oliver Cromwell at the brutal Battle of Dunbar in 1650.
24:34Cromwell took an estimated 5,000 prisoners,
24:39around 2,000 of whom then died on the gruelling 104-mile march to Durham.
24:46The survivors were locked up in the cathedral.
24:50Today, its maximum capacity for a service is less than 1,000,
24:55so you can imagine how horrific, dirty and claustrophobic it must have been
24:59for the 3,000 who were held captive here.
25:02At the time, the building was standing unused
25:05because the English Parliament had abolished all cathedrals.
25:08And while many fell into rack and ruin, Durham had remained intact,
25:13or at least the exterior had.
25:16Those who were imprisoned in the cathedral were very badly treated.
25:20It was freezing cold, and in a desperate attempt to keep warm,
25:24the prisoners burned every piece of wood they could find...
25:27except this clock.
25:30Made in the late 15th century,
25:32the prior clock is one of the oldest in the world.
25:38It has a thistle, the national flower of Scotland, carved into it,
25:43which may explain why the Scottish prisoners spared it.
25:49At least half of those prisoners were later forcibly transported
25:53and exiled to the Americas.
25:56But the fate of the others remained a mystery right up to 2013,
26:01when a new construction project began in the cathedral grounds.
26:06While digging some foundations for a cafe in there,
26:10builders made a shocking and gruesome discovery.
26:20A mass grave.
26:22A mass grave.
26:24In all, 27 skeletons were uncovered,
26:27though the indications were that this was only part
26:30of a very much larger burial site, perhaps containing hundreds of bodies.
26:37Of course, it was possible that the bodies were those of long-dead monks,
26:42but archaeologists at Durham University discovered something very different.
26:47When they were initially uncovered,
26:49it was obvious that it wasn't a normal burial.
26:51It was clear that the man on the top of the grave has his arms out like this,
26:55which is not what you'd expect in any sort of orderly burial,
26:58and then the other bones were all very close together,
27:01so it was clear that they were all buried in one event, in one big pit.
27:05This kind of burial suggested all the bodies had been tipped
27:08into the pit at once, just like the victims of mass murder or genocide.
27:13Next, the scientists used carbon dating to examine the skeletons
27:18and they discovered something intriguing.
27:20They were all from the mid-17th century, but could they be the Scottish prisoners?
27:25To find out more, the scientists had to discover the details.
27:30Where did these people come from and what age were they when they died?
27:35To help them answer these questions, they looked at the teeth of a skeleton.
27:39They discovered a layer of minerals on the teeth from the fresh water he'd drunk,
27:44and they were able to discover a combination of minerals
27:47that's unique to a particular part of Scotland.
27:51Further analysis was able to give them his age.
27:54This skeleton was a male teenager from somewhere near Glasgow.
27:59The mass grave, the age of the skeletons and the analysis of the teeth
28:04meant there was just one astonishing conclusion.
28:07These were the missing Scottish soldiers.
28:11Now the scientists decided to make use of brand-new technology
28:16to try and do something remarkable to give this young man a face.
28:20Working with Liverpool John Moores University,
28:23they identified unique parts of his skull and using these as a guide,
28:28graphic computer artists built up muscles, ligaments and flesh
28:33to create an impression of what his face looked like.
28:38What they produced allows us to look into the eyes of a young man
28:43buried in a mass grave more than 400 years ago.
28:49This investigation has helped to bring a terrible chapter
28:53of Durham Cathedral's history to life.
28:56Seeing an actual face, rather than looking at bones,
29:02makes the whole episode really more horrific.
29:10What should happen to these remains has been hotly debated.
29:14Some say they should all be re-buried in their native Scotland.
29:18Others argue it would be wrong to disturb them
29:21and that they shouldn't be separated from their fallen comrades.
29:25Whatever happens, the veterans of the Battle of Dunbar
29:28will never be forgotten.
29:30In 2017, the cathedral held a commemorative event,
29:35unveiling this plaque as a tribute to those fallen soldiers.
29:40Although the cathedral was used as a fortified prison
29:43for the Scottish soldiers in 1650,
29:45it had for the previous 500 years been a place of refuge.
29:49During that time, its west entrance was guarded 24 hours a day by monks.
29:55They upheld the church tradition of offering sanctuary
29:58to anyone accused of law-breaking, adulterers, murderers
30:02and that most reviled of all medieval criminals, the horse thief.
30:07The condemned would wrap on this knocker.
30:10Once inside, they were under the cathedral's protection.
30:14Anyone claiming sanctuary had 37 days to make peace with their enemy
30:18or be banished from England forever.
30:21Those who were banished abroad
30:23were taken to the closest port, Hartlepool,
30:26and sent into exile on the first available ship
30:29wherever it happened to be going.
30:32It wasn't until 1624, under James I,
30:35that the system of sanctuary was abolished.
30:39But as well as seeing the end of one tradition,
30:42the early 17th century saw the birth of another, bell ringing.
30:47For the first time, bells were mounted on a wheel
30:50that could swing 360 degrees or a full circle,
30:54meaning tunes could be played.
30:57The bell was a symbol of peace.
30:59It was the first bell to be heard in England.
31:02And here at Durham, there's one of the tallest examples
31:05of a full circle bell tower, with lots and lots of steps.
31:11Oh, they're never-ending.
31:14Now, I could actually pull up the two halves of this trapdoor
31:18and look down onto the floor of the cathedral.
31:21However, there is a tiny little...
31:26..and that is a fantastic view.
31:32Christopher Crabtree is in charge of the bell ringers here at Durham.
31:38How many bells have you got, eight?
31:40So, we have ten bells here. Ten?!
31:42They were eight until 1980. Yeah.
31:44And then they took the whole lot out,
31:46and then they put it back together again,
31:48and then they put it back together again,
31:50and then they put it back together again,
31:52and then they put it back together again,
31:54and then they took the whole lot out,
31:56replaced all the old wooden frames,
31:58and added two extras to make us up to a ten.
32:00Have they all got different names? They have, yes.
32:02So, a lot of them are named after the sort of north-east saints.
32:05So, we've got Cuthbert and Bede and Oswald.
32:07And do they have different pitches, different sounds?
32:10Yeah, but they vary quite a lot depending on when they were cast.
32:13So, those that were cast in 1980 in a very controlled, industrial manner,
32:17sound probably a lot more bright and modern and tuned
32:20than you might expect from a ring of bells.
32:22The oldest ones, which are from 1693,
32:24were cast in the works yard at the back of the cathedral
32:28with a lot of horse manure and metal pouring down there.
32:32So, they've got a very different tone, a very traditional tone.
32:53BELLS RING
32:58The bells have been rung regularly for more than 300 years.
33:02There was only one time they fell silent,
33:05when this country was facing its greatest peril, the Second World War,
33:09and the cathedral played a small role
33:11in a bizarre incident leading up to the conflict.
33:14In the late 30s, with tension rising between Britain and Germany,
33:18there were those who wanted to avoid war at any cost.
33:23They included Churchill's cousin and former mayor of Durham,
33:26Lord Londonderry,
33:28who believed that friendship with Hitler and the Nazis was possible.
33:32To further the relationship,
33:34he invited the German ambassador, von Ribbentrop,
33:37to join him at his country estate near Durham.
33:42Keen to show off the very best of Britain,
33:45he also invited Ribbentrop to the cathedral.
33:48But what started off as a friendly gesture between two nations
33:52quickly became a diplomatic nightmare.
33:56And it all started with the organ player.
33:59He began playing a hymn,
34:01whose opening bars sound just like the German national anthem.
34:06As the first notes sounded, von Ribbentrop started to raise his right arm.
34:11Fearing he was about to give the Nazi salute and shout Heil Hitler,
34:15Londonderry forcibly restrained him.
34:19It caused embarrassment all round,
34:22and von Ribbentrop left Durham in a foul mood.
34:27Six years later, with the war in full cry, the Nazis were back.
34:33After RAF bombers destroyed the picturesque German city of Lübeck,
34:38Hitler wanted revenge.
34:45He ordered the Luftwaffe to invade the city,
34:48but Hitler refused.
34:51He ordered the Luftwaffe to attack places
34:54of historical and cultural interest in Britain,
34:57including Durham Cathedral.
35:01On 1st May 1942,
35:0438 German bombers made their way up the north-east coast.
35:08Just after 3am, watchmen saw them closing in.
35:13It was a clear, bright, moonlit night,
35:16and this huge building presented itself.
35:19This huge building presented the perfect target.
35:23As the planes flew in, it seemed like the cathedral was doomed.
35:30But right at the critical moment, something extraordinary happened.
35:34A mist suddenly rose, shrouding the cathedral from view.
35:39And although the Luftwaffe dropped their bombs,
35:41they missed their target,
35:43hitting the abandoned priory of Finchel instead.
35:50For many, St Cuthbert,
35:52the supposed miracle worker buried inside the cathedral,
35:56had made his presence felt yet again.
35:59For others, this was simply a case of fortune rather than faith.
36:03But whatever the truth,
36:05this extraordinary building survived the war and stands to this day.
36:10Cuthbert still has his followers,
36:12but now it's a thoroughly modern miracle worker
36:15who brings in the visitors
36:17and helps to pay for the cathedral's upkeep.
36:22Since its foundation in the 12th century,
36:25Durham Cathedral has been at the heart of its community.
36:30And in turn, that community has left its own mark.
36:36Up to the 1970s, mining was the major local industry,
36:40employing up to one in five of the men who lived here.
36:44The cathedral is home to a permanent memorial
36:47for those who worked in the pits.
36:51And for more than 100 years,
36:53Durham has hosted an annual miners' gala.
36:58This 1958 film shows tens of thousands of mining families
37:03celebrating not only their culture,
37:05but their huge contribution to the economy of the North East.
37:10These were proud people
37:12who brought along their trade union banners
37:14to be blessed by Durham's bishop.
37:20Among those who would have attended the miners' galas
37:23in the immediate post-war years was Sir Bobby Robson,
37:26one of County Durham's most famous sons.
37:33He left the pits aged 17
37:35to forge a hugely successful career in football,
37:39representing his country 20 times.
37:42Jimmy Greaves gave a perfect pass to Robson, and he scored.
37:47After retiring as a player, he managed Ipswich Town,
37:51then a series of foreign clubs, including Barcelona.
37:55As national coach, he took England to two World Cups
37:59before finishing his career at his hometown club, Newcastle United.
38:08When he died in 2009,
38:10it was only fitting that Sir Bobby came home
38:13for one of the largest memorial services ever held at Durham Cathedral.
38:17Almost 1,000 people attended that day,
38:20including many of the biggest names in sport,
38:23both rivals and colleagues,
38:25as well as a large number of stars from the world of entertainment.
38:29As a son of County Durham,
38:31born and bred in the nearby villages of Sacreston and Langley Park,
38:36this was always his home.
38:38Outside the cathedral and at football grounds around the country,
38:42many more gathered to pay their respects to one of football's finest.
38:48He was everything that was good about the game.
38:51He loved the game, and the game loved him.
38:59Being at the heart of a community for such significant national moments
39:03is one of the key roles for a cathedral.
39:06Maintaining Durham is time-consuming.
39:09Repairs and renovations are going on continuously.
39:12At the moment, stonework is being repaired at the top of the main tower.
39:17And all this work doesn't come cheap.
39:20It costs more than £3 million a year.
39:23Fortunately, Durham has always attracted visitors from all over Britain.
39:28But unlike some of our other cathedrals, it doesn't charge an entrance fee.
39:34Instead, those in charge have found other ways to raise money,
39:38from the simple to the innovative.
39:43They had this brilliant but slightly mad fundraising idea.
39:47They asked each visitor to give them a pound,
39:50in return for which they got one of these little plastic bricks.
39:55And then they would place the brick somewhere, around here somewhere,
40:02and help to make a plastic brick version of Durham Cathedral.
40:18There you are. 300,000 bricks that took.
40:23That's £300,000. Well done.
40:26Those numbers reflect the sheer quantity of tourists
40:29who make the journey here every year.
40:32They come not only from Britain, but from all over the world.
40:36Some are still drawn by the legend of St Cuthbert,
40:39the 7th century saint and miracle worker.
40:42But not all of them.
40:45Durham Cathedral has always been a magnet for pilgrims.
40:49But since 2001, it's been attracting visitors from all over the globe.
40:55It's now linked with one of the most famous fictional characters of all time.
41:02Harry Potter.
41:04In J.K. Rowling's books,
41:06the boy with magical powers attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
41:11And in the movie versions, it's Durham Cathedral that provides a backdrop.
41:17It was here that Professor McGonagall taught Harry Potter the art of magic.
41:23And even now, 17 years later,
41:26movie fans still flock here in their yellow and claret Hogwarts scarves.
41:47Harry Potter is a modern-day phenomenon,
41:50but it's just one more colourful chapter in the remarkable story of Durham Cathedral.
41:57A story as gripping as any work of fiction.
42:03It's hosted warring bishops and conquering kings,
42:07it's foiled treasure hunters and held enemy prisoners.
42:11It's housed a peaceful saint
42:13and defied a violent foe which sought to destroy it.
42:17And it's also been a remarkable symbol of stability,
42:21still standing over this city just as it has for almost 900 years.
42:31It's reassuring to know it'll still be here long after we've gone.
42:35It's taken everything that's passed,
42:37It's reassuring to know it'll still be here long after we've gone.
42:40It's taken everything that's passed,
42:42I'm pretty sure it can handle the future.
43:07I'm pretty sure it can handle the future.