685 - On Easter day, Cuthbert, the great saint of Northumberland, was consecrated bishop of Lindisfarne. This eminent personage was so highly distinguished for his purity of life and manners, and for the miraculous powers with which he was believed to be invested, that immense gifts were conferred upon the church for his sake. He is recorded to have possessed, as a reward for his exalted piety, all the land between the rivers Tyne and Tees, which immense tract is frequently denominated The Patrimony of St. Cuthbert.

From: T Fordyce, J. Sykes. Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed..., published 1867  

[St Cuthbert] died on the 20th day of May, 687. He directed by his last will, that his body should be buried at the east end of the oratory, in the monastery at Lindisfarne, in a stone coffin, and that, should the island be invaded by Pagans, the monks were to fly from thence, and to carry his bones away with them. After his decease he became the tutelar saint of the See, and, previous to his final settlement at Durham, failed not to enrich the coffers of his monks by the many miracles which were almost daily performed at his tomb. His favour and protection were not only courted during his life, but even after his death. King Canute humbled himself to such a degree as to visit the shrine of St. Cuthbert barefooted, having proceeded in that state nearly five miles, offering at the same time several territories.

From: T Fordyce, J. Sykes. Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed..., published 1867

Cuthbert died at his hermitage on the Inner Farne islands, where he returned when he felt he was about to die.

Whilst the Danes were advancing from the river Tyne, Bishop Eardulph, the abbot, and others of the monastery, gathering up the holy relics, the sacred vessels, ornaments, and jewels of the altars and shrines, together with a ponderous stone crucifix, the remains of St. Cuthbert, the head of St. Oswald, the bones of Aidan, Eadbert ,Eanfred, and Ethelwold, enclosed in one ark or shrine, fled from the island of Lindisfarne, where the episcopal See had been settled 241 years, and to which place, from this period, it was never restored. Their pious ardour must have been equal to any toil, encumbered as they were with these relics. They fled from place to place without any certain rest for almost a space of seven years, to avoid these merciless infidels.

From: T Fordyce, J. Sykes. Local records; or, Historical register of remarkable events which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed..., published 1867

St Cuthbert, an important Northumbrian saint died in 687 AD and was buried on the island of Lindisfarne, where he had been Bishop. However, his body was removed to protect it from repeated Viking raids on Lindisfarne. After years of wandering the north, the carriers of St Cuthbert’s coffin settled at Dun Holm ('hill island') by the River Wear. The location provided an ideal defensive site, on high ground protected on three sides by the steep gorge of the river. According to the legend of the Dun Cow, the final resting place of St Cuthbert was chosen by divine intervention. Dun Holm grew into what is now the City of Durham.

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