Diocese of Durham

Religious or Ecclesiastical heraldry portal

This page is part of the Ecclesiastical heraldry portal	Heraldry of the World
Ecclesiastical heraldry per country Catholic heraldry Roman Catholic Arms of Popes Cardinals (2,121) Archdioceses (645) Archbishops (3,473) Dioceses (2,489) Bishops (10,330) Nunciatures (210) and more Armenian Catholic Chaldean Catholic Coptic Catholic Ethiopian Catholic Hungarian Catholic Greek Catholic Maronite Catholic Ruthenian Catholic Syriac Catholic Syro-Malabar Catholic Syro-Malankara Catholic Liberal Catholic Old Catholic Free Catholic	Centre for Ecclesiastical Heraldry : We will help you designing your coat of arms Other Christian churches Anglican Churches Lutheran Churches Orthodox Churches Reformed Churches Unitarianism Other religions Judaism Total pages in the Ecclesiastical section : 19,195 Total images in the Ecclesiastical section : 18,310

DIOCESE OF DURHAM

Country : United Kingdom
Denomination : Anglican (until 1561 Roman Catholic)

Established : 635 as Diocese of Lindisfarne
Renamed 882 to Diocese of Lindisfarne in Chester-le-Street
Renamed 995 to Diocese of Durham
Suppressed 1552
Re-established 1554
Suppressed 1559 and continued in 1561 as an Anglican diocese

Official blazon

Azure, a cross Or between four lions rampant argent.

Origin/meaning

The arms were recorded at the College of Arms in 1530, but were already used by the Catholic Bishops.

The arms appears first in the Seal of Robert Nevill, bishop from 1438-1457. The lions might come from the arms of Thomas Hatfield, bishop from 1345-1381.

Arms with the field red and the cross and lions silver is also said to be the Arms of St. Denys bishop and martyr. The Bishop of Durham alone among English Bishops has the right to have a coronet about the rim of the mitre. This in remembrance of the Palatine authority exercised by the Bishops until 1835.