The harbor, now greatly improved, has a quay 1550 feet long. The traffic is principally in bituminous coal, for which the city is the greatest mart in the world; hence the adage about the impropriety of carrying coals to Newcastle. This trade has been important from ancient time, for the burgesses obtained from Henry III. in 1239—more than 644 years ago—"a license to dig coal," and by the time of Edward I. the business had so increased that Newcastle paid a tax of £200. In 1615 the trade had so advanced as to employ 400 ships, and the traffic extended into France and the Netherlands. 200,000 tons of coke are sent out annually. Lead is also shipped in large quantities. The ore is brought from Cumberland, and the northwestern Northumberland Hills, and also from Durham, and is here worked into piglead, and manufactured into sheets and pipes. This trade is even more ancient than the coal traffic.
About a mile from the place is the holy well of Jesus Mound, now called Jesmond, which was formerly a favorite pilgrim resort. During the reign of Charles I. the city was taken by the Scottish army in 1640, and again in 1644. The Church of St. Nicholas is an ancient but spacious structure of decorated English style, having a tower and spire 193 feet high, of elegant and graceful proportions. St. Andrew's Church is an ancient Norman edifice with a large, low, embattled tower. There are other churches of considerable renown,—such as All Saints, with a circular interior, and Grecian steeple 202 feet high; and last but by no means least, the Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary, of magnificent early English architecture.
At 9.30 a. m. of the next day, Friday, we left for
DURHAM,
where we arrived in an hour. In all England no more picturesquely situated place exists, for it is embowered in trees, and stands on a rocky hill, rising from the River Wear. On the summit is the cathedral built of yellow stone. It has three towers without spires, which, together with the roof and a part of the church walls, rise imposingly out of the surrounding foliage. The place has a population of 14,406. The river banks are skirted by overhanging gardens with fine walks, beyond which the houses rise above each other, till all are crowned by the cathedral itself. To add an intensity of beauty, on the summit of a rocky eminence near by are the remains of a Norman castle. The division north of the castle contains most of the stores, and has one of those English commercial conveniences, a market-place.
Among the public buildings are a town-hall in the Tudor baronial style, a theatre, seven parish churches, a school of art, and a university. The old Church of St. Nicholas, now in thorough repair, is one of the finest specimens of church architecture in the North of England. The old castle is opposite the cathedral. It was founded by William the Conqueror, who died Sept. 9, 1087, so that the structure is eight hundred years old; and was built for the purpose of maintaining the royal authority in the adjacent district, especially by resisting the inroads of the Scots. Many additions have been made to it, so that it is now difficult to say which parts are old and which new; but no question exists in relation to the great antiquity of the foundations and lower portions, and of the very ancient date of some of the higher parts of much above them. For many years it was the residence of the bishops of Durham, but of late has been given up to the use of the university.
The See of Durham is the richest in England. The revenues are very great, and one bishop left $1,000,000 at his decease a few years ago. Collieries and railroads have given a powerful impetus to this aristocratic place, which has now considerable trade and large carpet manufactures. It has long been noted for Durham Mustard, a commodity to be found in the best groceries of America.
In the vicinity of Durham is Neville's Cross, erected by Lord Neville, in commemoration of the defeat of David II. of Scotland, in 1346. There is also a Roman fortress, called the Maiden Castle.
Durham is permeated and enveloped not only with a pleasure-inspiring element, but with those æsthetic conditions which, although obscured, here and there crop out in cathedral towns. These latter words contain the secret of all this interest—cathedral towns. Once England was absolutely controlled by the Church.
There is a vast deal more in the expression Church and State, than is generally understood by a young American. The Church, both temporally and spiritually, was above king, prince, potentate, or judge. This was distinctly claimed by a bull of Pope Urban, and was acknowledged till the time of Henry VIII., who struck it a death-blow by proclaiming himself Head of the Church. How far this was in advance of the act of Richard Coeur de Lion,—"the lion-hearted," who died April 6, 1199,—who, when he left for the Holy Land, placed his realm definitely in the hands of the Bishop of Durham, where it had practically been for a long time before.