Durham has never possessed any manufactures of importance, and the economic history of the county centres round the growth of the mining industry, which employed almost the whole of the non-agricultural population. Stephen possessed a mine in Durham which he granted to Bishop Pudsey, and in the same century colliers are mentioned at Coundon, Bishopwearmouth and Sedgefield. Cockfield Fell was one of the earliest Landsale collieries in Durham. Edward III. issued an order allowing coal dug at Newcastle to be taken across the Tyne, and Richard II. granted to the inhabitants of Durham licence to export the produce of the mines, without paying dues to the corporation of Newcastle. Among other early industries lead-mining was carried on in the western part of the county, and mustard was extensively cultivated. Gateshead had a considerable tanning trade and shipbuilding was carried on at Jarrow.
In 1614 a bill was introduced in parliament for securing representation to the county and city of Durham and the borough of Barnard Castle. The movement was strongly opposed by the bishop, as an infringement of his palatinate rights, and the county was first summoned to return members to parliament in 1654. After the Restoration the county and city returned two members each. By the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland acquired representation. The boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool returned one member each from 1868 until the Redistribution Act of 1885.
Antiquities.—To the Anglo-Saxon period are to be referred portions of the churches of Monk Wearmouth (Sunderland), Jarrow, Escomb near Bishop Auckland, and numerous sculptured crosses, two of which are in situ at Aycliffe. The best remains of the Norman period are to be found in Durham cathedral and in the castle, also in some few parish churches, as at Pittington and Norton near Stockton. Of the Early English period are the eastern portion of the cathedral, the fine churches of Darlington, Hartlepool, and St Andrew, Auckland, Sedgefield, and portions of a few other churches. The Decorated and Perpendicular periods are very scantily represented, on account, as is supposed, of the incessant wars between England and Scotland in the 14th and 15th centuries. The principal monastic remains, besides those surrounding Durham cathedral, are those of its subordinate house or “cell,” Finchale Priory, beautifully situated by the Wear. The most interesting castles are those of Durham, Raby, Brancepeth and Barnard. There are ruins of castelets or peel-towers at Dalden, Ludworth and Langley Dale. The hospitals of Sherburn, Greatham and Kepyer, founded by early bishops of Durham, retain but few ancient features.
See W. Hutchinson, History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham (3 vols., Newcastle, 1785-1794); R. Surtees, History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham (4 vols., London, 1816-1840); B. Bartlet, The Bishoprick Garland, Collection of Legends, Songs, Ballads ... of Durham (London, 1834); J. Raine, History and Antiquities of North Durham (London, 1852); Perry and Herman, Illustrations of the Medieval Antiquities of the County of Durham (Oxford, 1867); G.T. Lapsley, The County Palatine of Durham (New York, &c., 1900); Victoria County History, Durham. See also the Surtees Society’s Publications, and Transactions of the Architectural Society of Durham and Northumberland.
DURHAM, a city and municipal and parliamentary borough, and the county town of Durham, England, 256 m. N. by W. from London, on the North Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 14,679. The nucleus of the site is a narrow, bold peninsula formed by a bend of the river Wear, on which stand the cathedral and the castle. The city, however, extends both E. and W. of this.
The position of the cathedral of St Cuthbert, its west end rising immediately from the steep wooded bank of the river, is surpassed in beauty by no other English cathedral. Its foundation arose from the fact that here, after Cathedral. wandering far over the north of England, the monks of Lindisfarne rested with the body of St Cuthbert, which they had removed from its tomb in fear of Danish invaders. This was in 995. Soon afterwards a church was built by Bishop Ealdhune, and the see was removed hither from Lindisfarne. The peninsula was called Dunholme (Hill Island), which in Norman times was softened to Duresme, whence Durham. It is said that the monks of Lindisfarne, knowing the name of the place where they should find retreat, but ignorant of its situation, were guided hither by a woman searching for her cow, and the bas-relief of a cow on the north wall of the church commemorates this incident. In 1093 Ealdhune’s church was rebuilt by Bishop Carilef, who changed the early establishment of married priests into a Benedictine abbey. The grand Norman building in which his designs were carried out remains with numerous additions. The stone-vaulting is particularly noteworthy. The choir contains the earliest work, but Carilef’s eastern apses made way for the exquisite chapel of the Nine Altars, with its rose windows and beautiful carving, of late Early English workmanship. The nave is massive Norman, with round pillars ornamented with surface-carving of various patterns. The western towers are Norman with an Early English superstructure. The famous Galilee chapel, of the finest late Norman work, projects from the west end. The central tower is a lofty and graceful Perpendicular structure. Other details especially worthy of notice are the altar screen of c. 1380, and the curious semi-classical font-cover of the 17th century. There is a fine sanctuary-knocker on the north door. The cloisters are of the early part of the 15th century. The chapter-house is a modern restoration of the original Norman structure, a very fine example, which was destroyed by James Wyatt c. 1796, in the course of restoration of which much was ill-judged. The cathedral library, formerly the dormitory and refectories of the abbey, contains a number of curious and interesting printed books and MSS., and the portable altar, vestments and other relics found in St Cuthbert’s grave. The Galilee contains the supposed remains of the Venerable Bede. The total length of the cathedral within is 496½ ft., the greatest height within (except the lantern) 74½ ft., and the height of the central tower 218 ft. The diocese of Durham covers the whole county excepting a small fragment, and also very small parts of Northumberland and Yorkshire.
The naturally strong position selected for the resting-place of St Cuthbert’s remains was possibly artificially fortified also, but it was not until 1072 that William the Conqueror caused the erection of a castle to the north of the Castle. cathedral across the neck of the peninsula. Of this there remain a beautiful crypt-chapel, and a few details incorporated in later work. Other interesting portions are the Norman gallery, with its fine arcade, Bishop Hatfield’s hall of c. 1350, a reconstruction of the previous Norman one by Bishop Pudsey, and the Black Staircase of fine woodwork of the 17th century. The keep is a modern reconstruction. The castle, with the exception of some apartments used by the judges of assize, is appropriated to the uses of Durham University. On the peninsula are also the churches of St Mary le Bow in the North Bailey and St Mary the Less, the one a 17th-century building on a very ancient site, possibly that on which the first church rose over St Cuthbert’s remains; the other possessing slight traces of Norman work, but almost completely modernized. Of other churches in Durham, the site of St Oswald is apparently pre-Norman, and the building contains Norman work of Bishop Pudsey, also some fine early 15th-century woodwork. St Margaret’s and St Giles’ churches show work of the same period, and the second of these has earlier portions.
Several of the streets of Durham preserve an appearance of antiquity. Three of the bridges crossing the Wear are old, that of Framwellgate having been built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 15th. In the neighbourhood of the city certain sites are of interest as adding detail to its history. To the south on Maiden Hill there is an encampment, occupied, if not constructed, by the Romans. Immediately W. of Durham is Neville’s Cross, of which little remains. The battle of Neville’s Cross was fought in 1346, resulting in the defeat of the invading Scots by the English under Lord Neville and Henry Percy. The Scots had encamped at Beaurepaire or Bearpark, where a few ruins mark the site of the county residence of the priors of Durham, which had suffered from previous invaders. On the Wear below Durham is the priory of Finchale (1196), of which there are considerable remains of Early English date and later, but in the main Decorated. The valley of the Wear in the neighbourhood of Durham is well wooded and picturesque, but there are numerous collieries on the uplands above it, and the beauty of the county is marred.
Among educational establishments in Durham the university stands first. The earliest connexion of the ecclesiastical foundation at Durham with an actual educational foundation was made by Prior Richard de Hoton (1290-1308), University. who erected a hall in Oxford for students from Durham, who had previously enjoyed no such provision. In 1380 Bishop Hatfield refounded this hall as Durham College, which became Trinity College (see [Oxford]) on a new foundation (1555) when the possessions of the abbey of Durham had been surrendered in 1540, after which Durham College survived as a secular foundation only for a few years. Henry VIII. had the unfulfilled intention of founding a college in Durham, and a similar attempt failed in the time of the Commonwealth. In 1831 the scheme for a college was projected by the chapter; an act of 1832 specified the foundation as a university, and in Michaelmas 1833 its doors were opened. The first warden, and a prime mover in the scheme of foundation, was Archdeacon Charles Thorp (d. 1862). In 1837 the university received its charter from William IV. The dean and chapter of the cathedral are governors, and the bishop of Durham is visitor, but the active management is in the hands of the warden, senate and convocation. The system and life of the university are broadly similar to those of the greater universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Proctorial administration is carried on by two proctors annually nominated by the warden. Among the various residential divisions of the university may be mentioned Bishop Hatfield’s Hall (1846), which, through its endowment, by means of such methods of economy as provision for all meals in common, permits men of limited means to become students. The degree for bachelor of arts is awarded after two public examinations, and may be taken in two years, with a total of six months’ residence in each year. Special examinations are provided for candidates who seek honours, and those who obtain honours are admissible, after a certain period, to the mastership of arts without further examination, but in other cases further examination must have been taken, or an essay presented as a qualification for this degree. A theological course is provided for bachelors of the university, those who have passed a similar course elsewhere, or non-graduates aged nineteen who have passed a certain standard of examination. Instruction in civil engineering and mining was established as early as 1837, but was subsequently given up; and in 1871 the university and the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers co-operated to found the college of physical science at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which provides such instruction and was incorporated with the university in 1874. The college of medicine at Newcastle has been in connexion with Durham University since 1852, and the professors there are professors of the university. In 1895 degrees for women were established, and in 1889 a hostel was opened for the accommodation of women, who may take any course of instruction except the theological. In 1889 musical degrees were instituted, and a professorship was founded in 1897. Among other subjects may be mentioned the granting of degrees in hygiene, and of diplomas in public health and education (see J.T. Fowler, Durham University, uniform with series of College Histories; London, 1904).