AN ancient Cathedral cellar which sheltered boy choristers from Nazi bombing raids has been brought back to life as an underground chapel.

The new Chapel of the Holy Cross, at Durham Cathedral, began life as a vaulted undercroft, in the 13th Century.

It became a chapel in 1919 under Dean Robert Welldon and was used for services periodically throughout the 20th Century.

But its most famous hour came during the Second World War, when Chorister School teachers moved their young pupils underground to protect them from feared German air raids.

Its dedication as a chapel marks the fruition of years of work by the Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, Dean of Durham, who wanted to restore it as a sacred space – and followed an anonymous donation which paid for much of the work.

The Dean said: “The chapel will add to the spiritual resources of the cathedral as a place of quiet reflection and prayer.

“The Holy Cross reflects this chapel’s nature as a semiunderground place, the nearest the cathedral has to a crypt chapel with its suggestions of death, burial and waiting for resurrection.”

The chapel was dedicated at a service on Wednesday attended by Alan Oyston and George Hetherington, who slept in the room as wartime choristers.

Twenty-four boys would line up two-by-two to enter the undercroft each night at 7.30pm, sleeping on makeshift campbeds, with only their clothes, a toothbrush, a library book and a gas mask.

However, Mr Hetherington, now 79, said: “We were the safest kids you could imagine.

“It was weird to take communion about two feet from where we used to sleep. But it’s brilliant – absolutely stunning.

It’s really nice, very simple and well lit – really good.”

Durham Cathedral is said to have escaped being bombed only by the miraculous intervention of St Cuthbert.

A German bomber was searching for the cathedral on May 1, 1942, when a thick fog, which became known as St Cuthbert’s Mist, descended, preventing the crew from finding it.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross, which holds about 50 people, will be available for use by groups or individuals for acts of worship or quiet prayer and reflection.

* Pictured at the dedication service in the new Chapel of the Holy Cross, from left, archaeologist Norman Emery, clerk of works Bob Matthews, architect Christopher Downs, Bishop of Jarrow Mark Bryant, sculptor Colin Wilbourn, stonemason Nigel Mawson and Dean of Durham Michael Sadgrove