Prebends Procession
Third Year University Project
Third Year University Project
The Gala was the highlight of the miners’ year. From early morning the narrow lanes and byways of Durham’s rolling countryside small groups of miners and their families were moving towards the city, proudly behind the expertly painted, colourful banners.
Each lodge had a banner that was set up on its poles as the crowds disgorged from the carriages on arrival to Durham City Station. Most lodges came with a band, and they would march under the shadow of Durham Castle, and up the Silver Street to the market place, where Gaetomo Monti’s statue of Londonderry, the colliery owner, dominates the space. Banner after banner passed him by on its way to the Elvet, bands playing, and footpathslined with crowds of people. On the balcony of the County Hotel, leading figures of the Labour Party and Trade Union movement would wave to the marches.Onward the banners and crowds marched to the racecourse, in a seemingly endless procession. When all the lodges were present, the field was bordered withpainted, fluttering silk. In the afternoon Durham Cathedral hosts the miners’ service, which includes the blessing of any new banners.
The proposal involves an extension to the procession. A place for a ceremonial event where the delicate, loved pieces of art are rolled prior to being stored or exhibited for the public eye. There will be provisions to socialise and converse, to research and admire, and to remember and reminisce.The proposal will also cater for the conservation of dilapidated pieces, restoring banners that date back to 1892.
The site is currently occupied by a public garden that sitswithin the Cathedral grounds, alongside the city wall. From here views may be obtained through wooded land, to the heavily rowed River Wear that wraps the peninsular. The proposal is sensitive to the sites heritage, dissecting the plot in order to maintain such use.
