Crossgate is a small area of housing that sits above North Road but below the

Neville's Cross Neville's Cross is a place in County Durham, in England. It is also a ward of Durham with a population taken at the 2011 census of 9,940. It is situated on the A167 trunk road to the west of the centre of Durham. The area is primarily residenti ...

area of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

. It is predominantly occupied by students at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

who favour the area due to its proximity to the university departments in the

Elvet Elvet is an area of the city of Durham, in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the opposite side of the River Wear from Durham Cathedral and forms the south-eastern part of central Durham. Elvet is currently unparished. Historically, ...

and

Palace Green Palace Green is an area of grass in the centre of Durham, England, flanked by Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. The Cathedral and Castle together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although initially not part of the site itself, Palace Green ...

areas of the city.

Local amenities

Crossgate boasts two pubs (Ye Olde Elm Tree and The Angel), a working men's club and a pancake cafe, all of which exist as part of a cheerful community housed in pretty late Victorian brick terraced houses. St Margaret's Church, built in the 12th century, stands on a small bluff at the foot of Crossgate; its churchyard, extending from South Street up to Margery Lane, provides a significant green space in the Crossgate quarter of Durham.

History

Crossgate is one of the oldest centres of Durham. In the Middle Ages, there was a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

separate from the borough of Durham, called Crossgate or Old Borough, and comprising Crossgate itself, Allergate and South Street; it was more or less coterminous with the

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the communi ...

of St Margaret of Antioch. It was under the lordship of

Durham Priory Durham Priory was a Benedictine priory associated with Durham Cathedral, in Durham, England, Durham in the north-east of England. Its head was the Prior of Durham. It was founded in 1083 as a Roman Catholic monastery, but after Dissolution of th ...

and had its own borough court, but had no market of its own. Crossgate was first joined to the main centre of Durham, where the markets were held, when Bishop Flambard built

Framwellgate Bridge Framwellgate Bridge is a mediaeval masonry arch bridge across the River Wear, in Durham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. History The bridge was built after 1400 to replace one built early in the 12th century for Ranulf Flambard, who ...

, about the year 1128. From being a chapelry of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

of St Oswald's Church, St Margaret's was made an independent parish in 1431, and St Margaret's Church promoted from a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

to a parish church. The earliest parts of the church are Norman, The area of residence shrank considerably during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but grew again rapidly during the nineteenth century. Crossgate's present largely residential character is at least partly the result of the nineteenth-century construction of North Road as a principal shopping street.D. Simpson, ''Durham City'' (Sunderland, no date), pp. 99-103

References and footnotes

*Margot Johnson. "Crossgate" in ''Durham: Historic and University City and surrounding area''. Sixth Edition. Turnstone Ventures. 1992. . Page 14. Areas of Durham, England {{Durham-geo-stub