It was built as a monastic cathedral to house the shrine of Saint Cuthbert. It replaced an earlier church constructed in his honor. Originally, Durham Cathedral was built as a monastic cathedral for a community of Benedictine monks. The cathedral also served a political and military function by reinforcing the authority of the prince-bishops of the Catholic Church over England’s northern border with Scotland.
They stopped farming and growing crops on one location and started growing and farming crops at another location. This enabled the soil to recuperate and gain the required minerals which makes good soil also fertile.
