Beautiful Durham–Part One

Durham has a setting on top of a hill in the middle of a peninsula that no other English cathedral can match. Yes, Lincoln cathedral is on a hill but not surrounded on three sides by a beautiful river– the Wear,and did I mention it has an impressive castle as well on top where the prince-bishops once lived. For me this is like returning to my spiritual home not only because of its long Christian history, but also because it was a thriving center of Methodism, just south of Newcastle– the northern hub of 18th century Methodism. It was a Methodism I preached in, in small villages and collier towns regularly in the late 70s and here was our home— Elvet Methodist Church, and we lived in the caretakers cottage with Ann handling the caretaking while I preached and working on my D Phil. as they called it. This is Elvet Methodist Church today, the largest Methodist building in Durham, but alas, its faithful numbers have dwindled to double digits at best— a good Sunday is 50 or so. When we lived here from 77 to 80 it was about 300 on a Sunday morning. Methodism all over Britain needs a revival desperately, not liberal politics. Here is some more shots of Elvet which is beautifully maintaine...