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Sites Anne T has logged on trip number: 154 (View all trips)
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St Nicholas's Cathedral (Newcastle)
Trip No.154 Entry No.2 Date Added: 21st Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 16th Oct 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 4
St Nicholas's Cathedral (Newcastle) submitted by nicoladidsbury on 13th Aug 2005. Elaborate Cross Slab, featuring two vertical sword shafts, similar to much smaller cross slabs found built into the fabric of the Norman wall in the ancient church at Old Ireby
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Log Text: St Nicholas's Cathedral, Newcastle: I'd arranged with one of the vergers, James, to meet him at noon on 16th October to be allowed down into the vault below the south transept to see the cross slabs now stored down there.
The space is now used as a chair store, with a scissor lift at its southern end, and a larger trap door which comes up underneath the piano in the south transept.
Access was through a trap door, with a vertical ladder which started a couple of feet below the floor of the transept, so I bottled out of climbing down, and sent Andrew down with the camera.
He reported that it was really interesting seeing this space, with its barrel vaulted ceiling, but the slabs had all been stored against a wall underneath a pile of tables and other general items. What he could see looked very worn, which is presumably why they were stored down here in the first place. The stones must have deteriorated alarmingly in the 100 years or so since they were drawn by C.C. Hodges.
Disappointing. They were tuning the organ whilst we were there, which was interesting. The open trap door caused interest from other visitors to the Cathedral who wanted to look down. I volunteered to stop anyone falling down the trapdoor, so got to talk to quite a few people who were interesting in seeing this space.