The Deanery

THE DEANERY

A Grade I listed building of exceptional historical and architectural importance, the Deanery comprises the Prior's lodgings of Durham Cathedral Priory, incorporating the undercroft of the first dorter (dormitory), part or all of the reredorter (latrine block), and the Prior's chapel attached. The building now serves as the Dean's house and offices for the Northumbrian Christian Heritage drawing office.

The building's origins are medieval and complex in their development. The undercroft dates from before 1093, with possibly Norman elements in the reredorter; the chapel dates to the 13th century; and the Prior's lodgings themselves to the 14th century. The building has undergone significant alteration in the 15th, 18th, and later centuries. In 1974, an external stair was added by G. Pace during a major restoration by D. Insall.

Construction is of coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings, with some brick patching. The chimneys are of ashlar and rendered brick, tall and round, conjoined in threes with roll-moulded parapets throughout.

The complex comprises several interconnected sections. At the left, a one-storey, one-bay entrance projects forward. The Prior's hall and its undercroft occupy a section one storey and basement with two windows. The main chamber, set back slightly, rises to one high storey with basement and four windows, with an octagonal stair turret positioned between the third and fourth windows. The Prior's chapel projects at the right and rises to two storeys with basement and five windows.

The Prior's hall features a 19th-century entrance at its left. A low two-centred-arched casement window is inserted at the right, with two first-floor sashes with glazing bars beneath thin stone lintels above. A gabled buttress stands at the right. The main chamber (now drawing room above, storage rooms below) displays tall 21-pane sashes with flat stone lintels and projecting stone sills, with a floor-level band separating floors. Relieving arches of rounded form are positioned over basement windows to the left of the turret, and a low two-centred-arched window sits to the right. The octagonal turret contains slit windows and bands beneath a pointed roof. The chapel shows clasping buttresses and coped buttresses that define basement bays with restored windows beneath two-centred arches. Upper floors have sashes with glazing bars set in raised surrounds, with floor bands running across.

The left return features raised voussoirs and alternate-block jambs to a square-headed door in the entrance block. The undercroft wall in the passage to the cloister displays low round relieving arches on a chamfered plinth, with a renewed doorway in a round arch. The chapel's left return contains a two-centred-arched door beneath two tall lancets; the right return shows blocked lancets with nookshafts.

Interior spaces reveal remarkable medieval and later craftsmanship. The Prior's hall undercroft contains two tunnel vaults supported on short round piers. The hall rises through two floors. A 1690 closed-string narrow open-well stair features skittle balusters and square panelled newels with fat melon finials and pendants beneath a high grip handrail. The top floor carries two-panel doors and a roof with tracery-panelled design, carved braces, and an embattled frieze; beams are stop-chamfered.

The Prior's chamber range's lower hall displays 17th-century timber Tuscan columns supporting a panelled ceiling, with hollow-chamfered beams on stone corbels bearing shields. The reredorter drain and latrine walls form passages on both this and the upper floor. The drawing room contains a chimney piece bearing the arms of James I and a high coved ceiling in 16th-century style by Bernasconi. The right end bay, now a stairwell, reveals a 15th-century roof truss. The Prior's bedroom and study beyond contain richly carved woodwork, including 18th-century chimney pieces with caryatids and foliage, and panelled ceilings. A bedroom at the rear, known as the James I room, features a 15th-century panelled oak ceiling with carved foliage on a crested frieze; a medieval jamb of the east window is revealed. The study also retains a panelled ceiling.

The chapel is now subdivided, with the undercroft serving as a chapel and the upper floor as a vestibule and offices. The undercroft contains short round columns with moulded capitals supporting quadripartite vaults and a chamfered two-centred-arched doorway. The former chapel above has a roll-moulded west door and a shouldered-arched north door with contemporary scrolled leaf painting on its east jamb.

Of exceptional importance is a wall painting dating to circa 1430 along the entire north wall of the vestibule, depicting polychrome scenes from the life of the Virgin, with lines of hymn text in scrollwork beneath. Traces of earlier paintings remain. The lower part is densely covered with medieval graffiti, discovered during the 1974 restoration and conserved by a Canterbury studio. The vestibule also features 18th-century six-panel doors, deep panelled window shutters, and a modillioned stucco cornice. The secretary's room to the right displays 18th-century decoration including a chimney piece with Atlantes.