GIGANTIC WHALE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 October 1939, Page 5

GIGANTIC WHALE

SKELETON TN THE CASTLE. “ It is about a hundred years since the c'ity of Durham was excited by a very curious discovery. Workmen removing lumber from the dungeons of the castle were surprised to come upon the bones of a whale. Perched on a rock miles from the sea. a whale was almost the last thing they had dreamed of finding. But there was no doubt about it . Over a dozen vertebrae were found first, then a score of ribs, and later the lower jawbone of what must have been a gigantic whale. Everyone in Durham talked about this mystery. Brought to light in the summer of 1839, the skeleton of the whale was removed lo the crypt of Durham Cathedral, and there it is to bo seen to this day, a rather queer possession to be- found in a cathedral. For long the mystery of the bones remained unsolved, but eventually Dr James Raine traced their history back to its sources. It seems that the Bishop of Durham exercised almost sovereign rights over a wide area of the north of England, and in accordance with this prerogative he claimed the body of a whale which was washed ashore at Easington in 1661. The skeleton was given a home in the : castle, but as the years had gone by it had been neglected and forgotten. Al' interest in it died, all knowledge ' of it was lost, and only 100 years ago ’ did the Durham whale come into its ' own again. ‘