ABSTRACT
The whole concept of a cathedral, the church with the bishop's throne at the heart of his diocese, would have made it anomalous and indeed absurd for the bishop to fortify his residence adjoining the source of his authority. Physically the castle was separated from the cathedral by part of the town until the houses were cleared away by Bishop Flambard to form that huge area of mown grass and parked cars that separates the two today. The remarkable feature of Durham castle is the twelfth-century poem by Prior Laurence describing it, quite unknown for any other English castle. Remigius came over with the Conqueror in 1066 bringing supporters with him, apparently with the promise of a bishopric as his reward. Bishop Bloet in c.1110 received permission to construct a gate, presumably the existing one by the buried Roman west gate to form an exit out of the castle, surely meaningless unless he was living in the castle.
