Durham Cathedral's 12th Century Monk's Garden wall fixed

A team of stonemasons have spent two years replacing 200 stones in the 12th Century wall

A painstaking restoration project to repair a cathedral's 12th Century wall has been completed.

It took a team of stonemasons two years to put in place 200 newly cut and reclaimed stones in the Monks' Garden wall at Durham Cathedral.

The conservation work began in 2022, which meant one side of the cathedral was hidden by scaffolding.

Now it has been taken down and visitors have full access to the garden overlooking the River Wear.

The expert team removed stones in bad condition and carved new stones to make them the right shape and size, before securing them into the wall with lime mortar.

The Monks' Garden

The Monks' Garden became enclosed when the Galilee Chapel was built in the 12th Century and was used by novice monks in their leisure time.

After the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th Century, the bowling green became a garden for the clergy.

Gary Holliday, stonemason supervisor, said: "Although it has been a challenging and lengthy process, working in all weather, the most satisfying parts of the project have been in the workshop cutting stones to our templates.

"Once we completed these we carefully moved them on to the site and fixed them in place. This process is the most satisfying for our team, seeing all the hard work coming to fruition."