Honouring the knight of the cathedral
NEWCASTLE Cathedral’s oldest resident – the so-called ‘Unknown Knight’ – is moving to a new location better reflecting its historical significance.
The stone effigy has been lifted out of the niche it has been hidden away in for more than 100 years.
Historians have been unable to determine the figure’s identity with certainty, but have dated him to sometime between 1320 and 1330, due to the style of armour.
Now, after careful work by conservation company Skillington Workshop Ltd, the figure is to be relocated to a specially constructed new plinth in St Margaret’s Chapel where it can be admired more easily by visitors when the Cathedral reopens in summer 2021.
The Unknown Knight would have originally belonged on a tomb in which a soldier’s body was laid to rest.
However, the figure became separated from the tomb at some point, and whether the knight’s remains are still buried in the Cathedral remains a mystery.
David Carrington, founder and managing director of Skillington Workshop Ltd, was responsible for lifting the sculpture with two of his colleagues.
He says: “Moving [the knight] has not been straightforward. He weighs about half a tonne and, of course, there’s so much carved detail and decoration on the surface which is very fragile.”
It was only when moving the figure that David noticed a series of carved flowers. “These probably went all the way around the edge and would have been brightly painted.
“The knight, when he was first made, would have almost certainly been brightly coloured.
“The chain mail might even have had silver leaf on it to make it look like shiny metal; the shield would have been painted with heraldry; his surcoat would have been, again, brightly painted; the pillows that he rests his head on might have been printed with a textile pattern.
“One of the most unusual features of the effigy is that he’s got by him a wonderful little figure of an angel holding the bottom of the shield with one hand and another hand on the sword scabbard.”
In common with many effigies at the time, the knight uses a lion as a footrest.
David says: “These are quite common for military effigies of knights, but the lions can often look more like lambs or dogs because of course the sculptor would probably have been just copying an image from a book, not having seen a real lion in the flesh.
“The crossed legs are interesting; there is a popular myth if you like that the crossed legs indicate a crusader.”
However, David explains that the dates “don’t really tie in with the Crusades” and that the crossed legs are “more of an artistic convention”.
St Margaret’s Chapel – where the knight has been moved to – is already home to the oldest piece of medieval stained glass in the cathedral: a depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary breastfeeding the infant Jesus, affectionately known by some as ‘The First Supper’.
The re-presentation of the Unknown Knight is part of the Cathedral’s ongoing capital works, fundamental to the success of its ambitious and transformational National Lottery Heritage Fund project, Common Ground in Sacred Space.
This will create a dynamic, accessible, visitor attraction, and a venue for largescale business and cultural events, banqueting and conferences, while preserving the ancient religious roots of the building.
An exhibition called Stories in the Stones will celebrate the history and heritage of our city and region, and the role Newcastle Cathedral – formerly St Nicholas’ Parish Church – has played since the Middle Ages when the cathedral reopens.