Cathedral Cloister West Range

The west range of the cathedral cloister in Durham, originally built in the 12th century, includes a dormitory and undercroft, and is now part of the library, which also contains vestries, a treasury, and a restaurant beneath. The dormitory door and part of the cloister wall date back to the 12th century, while significant rebuilding occurred around 1400. This work was carried out by John Middleton, followed by Peter Dryng, with Ellis Harpour as the roof carpenter, under the direction of Bishop Skirlaw. The conversion to a library took place from 1849 to 1853, designed by P.C. Hardwick for the Dean and Chapter. The undercroft underwent restoration in the 19th century by Salvin and again in the 20th century by George Pace and Ian Curry. The structure features coursed squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and has a basement and one high storey with 12 bays. The round arches consist of three orders, with the inner two supported by shafts with cushion-capitals, while the outer arch has been altered and features impost blocks and various 12th-century mouldings. The undercroft has a deeply-moulded two-centred arch, along with further arched and square-headed doorways to the vestries. At the south end, there is a wide two-centred moulded arch of three orders leading to a passage through the undercroft. The cloister has nine arches with intersecting 18th-century tracery on dwarf walls with low rounded coping, gabled buttresses, and a roll-moulded parapet. Above the cloister, there are 15 paired cusped square-headed lights for carrels, beneath six tall two-light windows featuring two-centred arched and Perpendicular tracery under dripmoulds, topped with a battlemented parapet. The interior includes a rib-vaulted undercroft with 12 bays supported by round columns with moulded capitals and plinths. The dormitory features massive arched tie beams on wall posts, stone corbels, struts to principals, and a cusped ridge beam.