St Cuthbert’s Banner had a brief appearance on a BBC2 history programme last night, Sacred Wonders of Britain. The presenter, Neil Oliver, was talking about St Cuthbert and how in the Middle Ages the Banner was carried into battle against the Scots, and there it was! Admittedly it only appears for seconds, but never mind,…
After all the time and effort, yesterday was finally the day when the Banner was formally presented to Durham Cathedral, and dedicated to St Cuthbert. There was a lot arranged for the day. There’s an annual pilgrimage from Chester-le-Street to Durham, following the route taken by the monks who carried St Cuthbert’s coffin, 1,200 years…
The biggest day of all will be its dedication at Durham Cathedral on 20 March, but yesterday was the biggest so far. For the first time, all the parts of the Banner – the Banner itself, the silver bells, and the carrying pole with its mounts and fittings plus a harness to be worn by…
…going to be announced in a moment. Before then, I’d just like to thank everyone who took the trouble to comment or email me with an answer, and everyone who has commented or emailed or read the blog ever. Your encouragement and support means a lot. So, to recap, the competition was to guess how…
Happy New Year, everyone! To get the year off to a good start and to celebrate finishing St Cuthbert’s Banner, I’m running a competition, where you can win a Banner commemorative piece. Here’s the prize: Anyone who’s followed things this far will recognise this as a wood aven flower and leaf, exactly the same as…
With the Banner completed, it was time to say goodbye to it, and hand it over to the client, the Northumbrian Association. Marion Bridgewood, the Association’s Vice-Chairman and the person who’s arranged and coordinated the entire Banner project (I’m not the only person involved, by any means), and John Danby, the Chairman, came to collect…
This is a very exciting day – after months of work, the Banner is finally finished. Yes, it is, at last, completed. It’s been a long haul, but I got there in the end. There’s still a bit of work to bring you up to date on first, though. The front of the Banner needed…
In the desciption of the lost Medieval banner in the Rites of Durham, the banner is described as “five quarters [of a yard] deep”, with a red and gold fringe and silver bells along the bottom. Fiona, the designer, used the size, along with the rest of the description, to produce a basically square banner,…
The Banner will be carried on a T-shaped pole arrangement, with the carrying pole up the back, and a cross-piece from which the Banner itself will be suspended. In order to do this, it needs loops or sleeves of some sort to hang from. It’s these I’m making next. I’m using six of these tabs,…
Although the velvet is already lined, I’m going to use an interlining – an additional piece of fabric between the two sides of the Banner – to help support it. The velvet is quite thick and heavy, so having additional support will help spread the weight evenly and give it extra body. As it is…