A NEW banner honouring the patron saint of the North was raised over his grave in his cathedral shrine yesterday to celebrate his feast day.

The £35,000 banner of St Cuthbert, a replica of an ancient standard destroyed in the Reformation, was paraded to Durham Cathedral by pilgrims retracing the journey of monks carrying Cuthbert’s coffin in the Tenth Century.

More than 100 people walked from Chester-le-Street to Durham City, collecting the red banner at the town hall for the final procession up to the cathedral.

The Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, the Dean of Durham, welcomed the St Cuthbert’s Day pilgrims at the North Door and received the banner into the Feretory, where St Cuthbert’s remains are buried.

The dean said the banner was a symbol of how St Cuthbert had inspired the North- East and watching it carried across Palace Green was an “extraordinarily moving sight”.

John Cuthbert, a businessman and president of the Northumbrian Association, which paid for the banner and carried it to the cathedral, said: “It was such a joy. It might have been heavy but it didn’t feel it. This was a tremendous opportunity to restore something to the region that was lost.”

Mr Cuthbert added: “Having the surname Cuthbert, it was also a tremendous opportunity to leave a legacy for the family.”

John Danby, chairman of the Northumbrian Association, said: “It’s a wonderful day. The banner has been four years in the pipeline but it could hang in the cathedral for centuries.”

The original banner included sacred cloth raised on a spear at the Battle of Neville’s Cross, in Durham, in 1346. It hung in the cathedral until the 16th Century.

The new version, created by Northumbrian artisans, is based on a description of its predecessor detailed in the 16th Century Rites of Durham.

The Right Reverend Mark Bryant, the Bishop of Jarrow, dedicated and blessed the banner during a St Cuthbert’s festal evensong in the cathedral last night.

As a shepherd boy, St Cuthbert (c.634-687) saw a vision of the soul of St Aidan being carried into heaven. He was Bishop of Lindisfarne from 684.