THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, BLESSED MARY THE VIRGIN AND ST CUTHBERT OF DURHAM
Registered charity 1205971 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as DURHAM CATHEDRAL
Durham Cathedral is the Anglican Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Durham. It is the Shrine of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede, the Seat of the Bishop of Durham and a focus of pilgrimage and spirituality in North East England. Inspired by our saints, Cuthbert and Bede, the mission of Durham Cathedral is to offer everyone the opportunity to encounter God and know God's love in Jesus Christ.
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Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the Cathedral reported a net loss of £826k for the year, driven by a significant reduction in investment gains compared to the prior year. However, the trustees confirm the entity is a going concern, citing strong liquidity with over £33m in liquid assets and a substantial unapplied total return of £34.4m to cover future commitments.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Accounts audited by Armstrong Watson Audit Limited. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- The Very Revd Dr Philip Plyming — Dean of Durham (source)
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Property (HM Land Registry)
4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (4 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£2.4m
Reported reserves equal ~3.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Investments (34% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 40.6% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Canon Alice Ambrose-Thurman
- Canon Dr Apollo Tutesigensi
- Canon Dr Maria Cockerill
- Canon Jonathan Ward
- Canon Paul Chandler · trustee of 1 other charity
- Canon Professor Stefanie Constanze Sheen
- THE VERY REVD PHILIP PLYMING
- The Revd Canon Charlotte Allen
- The Revd Canon Michael Hampel
- The Revd Canon Professor Simon Oliver
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Durham
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, BLESSED MARY THE VIRGIN AND ST CUTHBERT OF DURHAM financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the Cathedral reported a net loss of £826k for the year, driven by a significant reduction in investment gains compared to the prior year. However, the trustees confirm the entity is a going concern, citing strong liquidity with over £33m in liquid assets and a substantial unapplied total return of £34.4m to cover future commitments. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Armstrong Watson Audit Limited.
Who funds THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, BLESSED MARY THE VIRGIN AND ST CUTHBERT OF DURHAM?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, BLESSED MARY THE VIRGIN AND ST CUTHBERT OF DURHAM as a grant recipient include Genesis Foundation, GENESIS AMERICA (UK) LIMITED, Point North Community Foundation, FRIENDS OF DURHAM CATHEDRAL, THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OF LINCOLN.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.