Crowds gathered in Durham to take part in the ancient tradition of St Cuthbert's Procession this weekend - you can watch it in our video below.

Led by a Northumbrian piper, several hundred people took part in the ancient spectacle of St Cuthbert's Procession and followed the banner bearing his cross through the city centre from Durham Marketplace up to Durham Cathedral.

The gathering - which is the culmination of Durham Cathedral's four day St Cuthbert's Festival and is preceded by the eight mile St Cuthbert's Walk from Chester le Street to Durham - was greeted at the entrance to Durham Cathedral and welcomed in.

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There was then a service and prayers at the feretory, which contains the shrine of St Cuthbert, and the St Cuthbert banner was returned to the side of his tomb.

You can watch the St Cuthbert Procession as it makes its way up Saddler Street in our video below:

The St Cuthbert Walk and Procession recreate the journey from Chester le Street to Durham taken by the monks who followed St Cuthbert as they searched for a safe place to take his remains.

After leaving Lindisfarne due to Viking attacks, the monks spent many years wandering the North East looking for a permanent home. They eventually found one in Chester le Street, but in 995AD the monks were forced to leave again as the Viking raids came further inland.

The monks were eventually given land on the Durham peninsular and made their way there with St Cuthbert's remains on a cart. Bishop Aldhun and his monks built the White Church to house St Cuthbert's body, which you can read about in our history of the Durham Cathedral site.

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In beautiful Spring sunshine, the St Cuthbert Walk made its way from Chester le Street to Durham on Saturday March 23 2019 via Great Lumley and Finchale Abbey, where Dr Guy Hayward, co-founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust, performed the song of St Godric of Finchale.

The 123 participants on the walk were also met at Finchale by another 90 walkers from the Durham Friends of the Camino, including guests from Spain who placed the first marker for a new pilgrimage walking route.