The County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge, commonly referred to as County Durham or simply Durham, is a historic county in

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

. Until 1889, it was controlled by powers granted under the

Bishopric of Durham The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...

. The county and

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

are also traditionally known together as

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

. The boundaries stretch between the rivers Tyne and Tees. It borders four counties: Northumberland to the north,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

to the south as well as

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

to the west. Settlements with the most population in the county are

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. During the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the county was an ecclesiastical centre due to the presence of

St Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nor ...

's shrine in

Durham Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, County Durham, England. It is the seat of t ...

Durham Castle and Cathedral Durham Castle and Cathedral is a World Heritage Site (WHS ID No. 370). The site includes Durham Castle, Durham Cathedral, Durham University, Palace Green and University College, Durham. See also *List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdo ...

are UNESCO-designated

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

s. The county has a mixture of mining and farming heritage. Railway heritage is notable in the south of the county;

Shildon Shildon is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham, in England. The population taken at the 2011 Census was 9,976. The town has the Locomotion Museum, due to it having the first , built in 1825, and locomotive works on ...

and Stockton.Durham County Council �
History and Heritage of County Durham
. Retrieved 30 November 2007.

History

Liberty of the Haliwerfolc

The territory was originally the Liberty of Durham under the control of the Bishop 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 No ...

. The liberty was also known variously as the "Liberty of St Cuthbert's Land", "The lands of St. Cuthbert between Tyne and Tees" or "The Liberty of Haliwerfolc". The bishops' special jurisdiction was based on claims that King

Ecgfrith of Northumbria Ecgfrith (; ang, Ecgfrið ; 64520 May 685) was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a dis ...

had granted a substantial territory to

on his election to the

see See or SEE may refer to: * Sight - seeing Arts, entertainment, and media * Music: ** ''See'' (album), studio album by rock band The Rascals *** "See", song by The Rascals, on the album ''See'' ** "See" (Tycho song), song by Tycho * Television * ...

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

in 684. In about 883, a cathedral housing the saint's remains was established at

Chester-le-Street Chester-le-Street (), also known as Chester, is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England, around north of Durham and also close to Sunderland and Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located on the River Wear, which runs out to sea at Sun ...

and

Guthfrith, King of York Guthred Hardacnutsson (Old Norse: ''Guðrøðr''; la, Guthfridus; born c.844 – died 24 August 895 AD) was the Christian king of Viking Northumbria from circa 883 until his death. Life Kings of Northumbria in the Norse era The first known ...

granted the community of St Cuthbert the area between the Tyne and the

Wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in m ...

. In 995 the see was moved again to Durham. During the medieval period,

became politically important in defining the identity of the people living in the semi-autonomous region. Within this area the saint became a powerful symbol of the autonomy the region enjoyed. The inhabitants of the Palatinate became known as the ''haliwerfolc'', which roughly translates as "people of the saint", and Cuthbert gained a reputation as being fiercely protective of his domain. The Liberty of Durham enjoyed the "highest liberty in private hands" during the Middle Ages. In England, "liberty" usually meant a territorial area that was, in some sense, free from royal jurisdiction. Most of these territorial liberties extended as far back as the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

period. Previously a

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

of the Earldom of Northumberland, the wapentake of Sadberge was purchased by bishop

Hugh de Puiset Hugh de Puiset ( c. 1125 – 3 March 1195) was a medieval Bishop of Durham and Chief Justiciar of England under King Richard I. He was the nephew of King Stephen of England and Henry of Blois, who both assisted Hugh's ecclesiastical ca ...

in 1189 and gradually incorporated into the County Palatine; it retained separate

assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

until 1586.;

County recognition

Durham city was captured by a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

army in 1069. There was a rebellion against the new Norman earl

Robert de Comines Robert de Comines (died 28 January 1069) (also Robert de Comines, Robert de Comyn) was very briefly Earl of Northumbria. Life His name suggests that he originally came from Comines, then in the County of Flanders, and entered the following of W ...

, who was killed. However, County Durham largely missed the

Harrying of the North The Harrying of the North was a series of campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate northern England, where the presence of the last House of Wessex, Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encouraged An ...

that was designed to subjugate such rebellions.Douglas, D.C. ''William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England'' The best remains of the Norman period are to be found in

and in the castle, also in some few parish churches, as at Pittington and Norton in Stockton. Of the

Early English period English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ...

are the eastern portion of the cathedral, the churches of Darlington, Hartlepool, and St Andrew, Auckland, Sedgefield, and portions of a few other churches. The

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

of Durham ranked first among the bishop's barons. He had his own court, and almost exclusive jurisdiction over his men. There were ten palatinate barons in the 12th century, the most important being the Hyltons of

Hylton Castle Hylton Castle ( ) is a stone castle in the North Hylton area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally built from wood by the Hilton (later Hylton) family shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1066, it was later rebuilt in stone in ...

, the Bulmers of

Brancepeth Brancepeth is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in England. It is situated about from Durham on the A690 road between Durham and Weardale. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 414. Brancepeth Castle was unt ...

, the Conyers of Sockburne, the Hansards of Evenwood, and the Lumleys of

Lumley Castle Lumley Castle is a 14th-century quadrangular castle at Chester-le-Street in the North of England, near the city of Durham and a property of the Earl of Scarbrough. It is a Grade I listed building. It is currently a hotel. History It is named a ...

. Following the

Norman invasion The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

, the administrative machinery of government was only slowly extended to northern England. In the twelfth century a county of

was formed, Durham was considered to be within its bounds even when the liberty had an

exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's ''current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reven ...

. The authority of the sheriff of Northumberland and his officials was disputed by the bishops. The crown still regarded Durham as falling within Northumberland until the late thirteenth century. Matters came to a head in 1293 when the bishop and his steward failed to attend proceedings of

quo warranto In law, especially English and American common law, ''quo warranto'' (Medieval Latin for "by what warrant?") is a prerogative writ requiring the person to whom it is directed to show what authority they have for exercising some right, power, or ...

held by the justices of Northumberland. The bishop's case was heard in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, where he stated that Durham lay outside the bounds of any English shire and that "from time immemorial it had been widely known that the sheriff of Northumberland was not sheriff of Durham nor entered within that liberty as sheriff... nor made there proclamations or attachments". The bishop's arguments appear to have been accepted, as by the fourteenth century Durham was accepted as a liberty which received royal mandates direct. In effect it was a private shire, with the bishop appointing his own

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

. An assembly represented the whole palatine, and dealt chiefly with fiscal questions. The bishop's council, consisting of the clergy, the sheriff and the

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

s, regulated the judicial affairs, and later produced the Chancery and the courts of Admiralty and

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...

. The term ''palatinus'' is also applied to the bishop in 1293, and from the 13th century onwards the bishops frequently claimed the same rights in their lands as the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

enjoyed in his kingdom. The area eventually became known as the "

County Palatine In England, Wales and Ireland a county palatine or palatinate was an area ruled by a hereditary nobleman enjoying special authority and autonomy from the rest of a kingdom. The name derives from the Latin adjective ''palātīnus'', "relating to ...

of Durham".

Early administration

As a palatinate under ecclesiastical jurisdiction the Bishop of Durham enjoyed exemption from taxation and the right to pardon life and limb. Both

Bracton Henry of Bracton, also Henry de Bracton, also Henricus Bracton, or Henry Bratton also Henry Bretton (c. 1210 – c. 1268) was an English cleric and jurist. He is famous now for his writings on law, particularly ''De legibus et consuetudinibus ...

and Blackstone considered the "right to pardon life and limb" the "essential mark" of a palatinate. It was divided by the 13th century into four "

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

" named, after its chief towns,

, Easington and Stockton. Each had its own

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

and a three-weekly court.

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

's ''

'' proceedings of 1293 showed twelve lords enjoying more or less extensive franchises under the bishop. At the

Battle of Neville's Cross The Battle of Neville's Cross took place during the Second War of Scottish Independence on 17 October 1346, half a mile (800 m) to the west of Durham, England. An invading Scottish army of 12,000 led by King David II was defeated with heavy loss ...

in 1346, the Prior of the Abbey at Durham received a vision of Cuthbert, ordering him to take the corporax cloth of the saint and raise it on a spear point near the battlefield as a banner. Doing this, the Prior and his monks found themselves protected "by the mediation of holy St Cuthbert and the presence of the said holy Relic." Whether the story of the vision is true or not, the banner of St Cuthbert was regularly carried in battle against the Scots until the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, and it serves as a good example of how St Cuthbert was regarded as a protector of his people. The Nevilles owned large estates in the county.

Raby Castle Raby Castle () is a medieval castle located near Staindrop in County Durham, England, among of deer park. It was built by John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, between approximately 1367 and 1390. Cecily Neville, the mother of the Kings Ed ...

, their principal seat, was rebuilt by

John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville, (c.1337 – 17 October 1388) was an English peer, naval commander, and soldier. Origins He was born between 1337 and 1340 at Raby Castle, County Durham, the eldest son of Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville de ...

in 1377. During the

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These wars were fought bet ...

, Henry VI passed through Durham. Until the 15th century the most important administrative officer in the palatinate was the steward. Other officers were the sheriff, the coroners, the

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

and the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

. The repeated efforts of

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

to check the powers of the palatinate bishops culminated in 1536 in the Act of Resumption, which deprived the bishop of the power to pardon offences against the law or to appoint judicial officers. Moreover, indictments and legal processes were in future to run in the name of the king, and offences to be described as against the peace of the king, rather than that of the bishop. In 1596 restrictions were imposed on the powers of the chancery. In 1614 a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

was introduced in Parliament for securing representation to the county and city of Durham and the borough of

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

. The movement was strongly opposed by the bishop, as an infringement of his palatinate rights. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion Durham inclined to support the cause of

, and in 1640 the high sheriff of the palatinate guaranteed to supply the Scottish army with provisions during their stay in the county. In 1642 the

Earl of Newcastle Earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a title that has been created twice. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1623 in favour of Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. He was made Duke of Richmond at the same time. For information on thi ...

formed the western counties into an association for the King's service, but in 1644 the palatinate was again overrun by the Scottish army, and after the

Battle of Marston Moor The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639 – 1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters und ...

fell entirely into the hands of Parliament. In 1646 the palatinate was formally abolished, the county first summoned to return members to Parliament in 1654. After the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1660, both county and Durham city returned two members each and the palatine re-established.

Prince-bishopric abolished

At its

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

extent, Durham includes a main body covering the

Catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

of the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

in the west, the

River Tees The River Tees (), in Northern England, rises on the eastern slope of Cross Fell in the North Pennines and flows eastwards for to reach the North Sea between Hartlepool and Redcar near Middlesbrough. The modern day history of the river has be ...

in the south, the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

in the east and the Rivers Tyne and Derwent in the north.Vision of Britain �
Durham historic boundaries
Retrieved 30 November 2007. The county had a number of

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

s: Bedlingtonshire,

Islandshire Islandshire was an area of Northumberland, England, comprising Lindisfarne or Holy Island, plus five parishes on the mainland. It is historically associated with the Bishop of Durham, and was administratively an exclave of County Palatinate of D ...

Vision of Britain �
Islandshire

historic map
. Retrieved 1 December 2007. and

Norhamshire Norhamshire was an exclave of County Durham in England. It was first mentioned in 995, when it formed part of the lands of the priory at Lindisfarne. When the lands north of the River Tees were partitioned into Northumberland and County Durham it ...

Vision of Britain �
Norhamshire

historic map
. Retrieved 1 December 2007. within Northumberland, and

Craikshire Crayke is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England, about east of Easingwold. Etymology The name ''Crayke'' is of Brittonic origin, derived from the neo-Brittonic Cumbric ''crẹ:g'', meaning "a crag" o ...

within the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831 the county covered an area of Vision of Britain �
Durham (Ancient): area
Retrieved 30 November 2007 and had a population of 253,910.National Statistics �
200 years of the Census in... Durham
Retrieved 2 December 2007. The boundaries were used for parliamentary purposes until 1832, and for judicial and local government purposes until the coming into force of the

Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 The Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61), which came into effect on 20 October 1844, was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which eliminated many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes. ...

, which merged most remaining exclaves with their surrounding county. By the

Reform Act In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

of 1832 the county returned two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

and

acquired representation. The county paltine continued with much the same power until 5 July 1836, when the

Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 The Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will 4 c 19) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished the temporal authority of the Bishop of Durham within the County Palatine of Durham, placing the county under lay administ ...

provided that the palatine jurisdiction should in future be vested in the Crown. Doubts about the construction of this Act led to the enactment of the Durham County Palatine Act 1858. ''The Durham County Palatine Acts 1836 to 1889'' was the

collective title A collective title is an expression by which two or more pieces of legislation may, under the law of the United Kingdom, be cited together. A famous example is the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949. Construction of references to citation with a group ...

of the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836, the Durham County Palatine Act 1858, the Durham Chancery Act 1869 and the

Palatine Court of Durham Act 1889 The Palatine Court of Durham Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict c 47) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was one of the Durham County Palatine Acts 1836 to 1889. The Bill for this Act was the Palatine Court of Durham Bill. Lely said that ...

. * The

Court of the County of Durham The Court of the County of Durham was a court that exercised jurisdiction within the County Palatine of Durham. It was abolished, subject to certain savings, on 5 July 1836. The sole roll of this court known not to have been lost is DCM Misc Ch ...

was abolished by section 2 of the

. * The

Court of Pleas of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge The Court of Pleas of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge, sometimes called the Court of Pleas or Common Pleas of or at Durham was a court of common pleas that exercised jurisdiction within the County Palatine of Durham (including the Sadber ...

, abolished by the

Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 The Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 (sometimes known as the Judicature Act 1873) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1873. It reorganised the English court system to establish the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and ...

. The boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

returned one member each from 1868 until the Redistribution Act of 1885. The

Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge The Court of Chancery of the County Palatine of Durham and Sadberge was a court of chancery that exercised jurisdiction within the County Palatine of Durham (including the wapentake of Sadberge) until it was merged into the High Court in 1972. C ...

abolished by the

Courts Act 1971 The Courts Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the purpose of which was to reform and modernise the courts system of England and Wales. It established the Crown Court, introduced the posts of circuit judge and recorde ...

Culture

Mining and heavy industry

A substantial number of colliery villages were built throughout the county in the nineteenth century to house the growing workforce, which included large numbers of migrant workers from the rest of the UK. Sometimes the migrants were brought in to augment the local workforce but, in other cases, they were brought in as strike breakers, or "blacklegs". Tens of thousands of people migrated to County Durham from Cornwall (partly due to their previous experience of tin mining) between 1815 and the outbreak of the First World War, so much so that the miners' cottages in east Durham called "Greenhill" were also known locally as "Cornwall", and Easington Colliery still has a Cornish Street. Other migrants included people from Northumberland, Cumberland, South Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Coal mining had a profound effect on trade unionism, public health and housing, as well as creating a related culture, language, folklore and sense of identity that still survives today. The migrants also were employed in the railway, ship building, iron, steel and roadworking industries, and the pattern of migration continued, to a lesser extent, up until the 1950s and 1960s. Gateshead was once home to the fourth-largest Irish settlement in England, Consett's population was 22% Irish and significant numbers of Irish people moved to Sunderland, resulting in the city hosting numerous events on St. Patrick's Day due to the Irish heritage. Durham_Miners_Gala_2008_Old_Elvet_Bridge

Durham_Miners_Gala_2008_Old_Elvet_Bridge

The culture of coal mining found expression in the

Durham Miners' Gala The Durham Miners' Gala, founded by Pete Doherty, is a large annual gathering and labour festival held on the second Saturday in July in the city of Durham, England. It is associated with the coal mining heritage (and particularly that of miners ...

, which was first held in 1871,Miner's Advice �
Moving on seamlessly...
. Retrieved 2 December 2007. developed around the culture of trade unionism. Coal mining continued to decline and pits closed. The UK miners' strike of 1984/5 caused many miners across the county to strike. Today no deep-coal mines exist in the county and numbers attending the Miners' Gala decreased over the period between the end of the strike and the 21st century. However recent years have seen numbers significantly grow, and more banners return to the Gala each year as former colliery communities restore or replicate former banners to march at the Gala parade.Heritage Lottery Fund �
Durham Miners' Gala
. Retrieved 2 December 2007.

Art

In 1930, the

Spennymoor Settlement Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe. History Origins The l ...

(otherwise known as the Pitman's Academy) opened. The settlement, initially funded by the

Pilgrim Trust The Pilgrim Trust is a national grant-making trust in the United Kingdom. It is based in London and is a registered charity under English law. It was founded in 1930 with a two million pound grant by Edward Harkness, an American philanthropist. T ...

, aimed to encourage people to be neighbourly and participate in voluntary social service. The settlement operated during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, when unemployment was widespread and economic deprivation rife; Spennymoor was economically underprivileged. The settlement provided educational and social work, as well as hope; this included providing unemployed miners with on outlet for their creativity, a poor person's lawyer service, the town's first library and the Everyman Theatre. The output included paintings, sewing, socially-significant plays, woodwork and sculptures. Several members went on to win adult scholarships at Oxford University when such a route would normally be closed to the underprivileged. Former members include artists

Norman Cornish Norman Stansfield Cornish (18 November 1919 – 1 August 2014) was an English mining artist. Career Cornish was the last surviving member of the "Pitman's Academy" art school at the Spennymoor Settlement in County Durham in North East Engla ...

and Tom McGuinness, writer

Sid Chaplin Sid Chaplin (20 September 191611 January 1986) was an English writer whose works (novels, television screenplays, poetry and short stories) are mostly set in the north-east of England, in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Chaplin was born into ...

OBE and journalist Arnold Hadwin OBE. The Spennymoor Settlement at its home in the Everyman Theatre (Grade 2 listed) is still operating, administered by the current trustees, offering community events and activities, including Youth Theatre Group, an Art Group and various classes, as well as offering community accommodation facilities. Several Durham miners have been able to turn their former mining careers into careers in art. For example, Tom Lamb, as well as the aforementioned Tom McGuinness and Norman Cornish. Their artworks depict scenes of life underground, from the streets in which they lived and of the people they loved; through them, we can see, understand and experience the mining culture of County Durham. In 2017, The Mining Art Gallery opened in Bishop Auckland in a building that was once a bank. Part of the Auckland Project, the gallery includes the work of artists from within County Durham and beyond, including such other North-Eastern mining artists as

Robert Olley Robert "Bob" Olley (born 16 January 1940) is an artist and sculptor best known for his mining subjects, humorous drawings and paintings of everyday life, especially his iconic painting and internationally acclaimed ''Westoe Netty''. Career ...

, as well as contributions from outside the region. It features three permanent areas and a temporary exhibition area; the gallery's Gemini Collection includes 420 pieces of mining art. Much of the artwork was donated, by Dr Robert McManners and Gillian Wales, for example. In 2019, 100 years after his birth, a permanent tribute to the work of the artist Norman Stansfield Cornish MBE was opened within the Town Hall, and a Cornish Trail around the town was established to include areas of the town depicted in Cornish's artwork.

Music

As with neighbouring Northumberland, County Durham has a rich heritage of

Northumbrian music Here Northumbria is defined as Northumberland, the northernmost county of England, and County Durham. According to 'World Music: The Rough Guide', "nowhere is the English living tradition more in evidence than the border lands of Northumbria, the ...

, dating back from the Northumbrian Golden Age of the 7th and 8th centuries.

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

made references to harp-playing, and abundant archeological evidence has been found of wooden flutes, bone flutes, panpipes, wooden drums and lyres (a six-string form of harp). North-East England has a distinctive folk music style that has drawn from many other regions, including southern Scotland, Ireland and the rest of northern England, that has endured stably since the 18th century. Instruments played include, in common with most folk music styles, stringed instruments such as the guitar and fiddle, but also the Northumbrian smallpipe, which is played and promoted by people including the

Northumbrian Pipers' Society The Northumbrian Pipers' Society was founded to promote both types of Northumbrian bagpipes – the Northumbrian smallpipes and the half-long pipes, now generally known as the Border pipes. There had been several attempts to encourage the pipes a ...

throughout the North East, including County Durham, with the society having an active group in Sedgefield. Contemporary folk musicians include

Jez Lowe John Gerard "Jez" Lowe (born 14 July 1955) is an English folk singer-songwriter. Lowe was born and raised in County Durham, in a family with Irish roots. He is known primarily for his compositions dealing with daily life in North-East England, ...

and Ged Foley. In 2018, The Arts Council funded the Stories of Sanctuary project in the city of Durham. The project aims to assist people living in the city to share their stories about seeking sanctuary in the North East through photography, stories, poetry and music. The art is based on a history of sanctuary in Durham, from St Cuthbert's exile, through to the miners' strike of 1984, and to refugees escaping civil war in the Middle East. The music produced as part of the project includes contributions from singer-songwriter Sam Slatcher and viola player Raghad Haddad from the National Syrian Orchestra. Other notable performers/songwriters who were born or raised in the county include

Paddy McAloon Patrick Joseph McAloon (born 7 June 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and a founder of the band Prefab Sprout. Early life McAloon was born and grew up in Witton Gilbert in County Durham, England. He was trained to be a Catholic priest bef ...

, Eric Boswell,

Jeremy Spencer Jeremy Cedric Spencer (born 4 July 1948) is a British musician, best known for playing slide guitar and piano in the original line-up of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. A member since Fleetwood Mac's inception in July 1967, he remained with the ...

Alan Clark Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Tra ...

Martin Brammer Martin Brammer (born 13 May 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the pop trio Kane Gang. Brammer later developed his songwriting abilities to pen many s ...

Robert Blamire Robert Blamire (born c. 1959) is known primarily as bassist for the punk and new wave band Penetration. He founded the band along with singer Pauline Murray in 1976 after seeing a performance by The Sex Pistols. After the band split up, he and ...

Thomas Allen Thomas Allen may refer to: Clergy *Thomas Allen (nonconformist) (1608–1673), Anglican/nonconformist priest in England and New England *Thomas Allen (dean of Chester) (died 1732) *Thomas Allen (scholar) (1681–1755), Anglican priest in England * ...

Zoe Birkett Zoe Birkett (born 16 June 1985) is an English singer and musical theatre performer. Birkett was the highest placing female contestant on Pop Idol in 2001 and later appeared on Big Brother. Her first single, Treat Me Like A Lady, was release ...

, John O'Neill,

Karen Harding Karen Harding (born 18 November 1991) is an English singer and songwriter from Consett, County Durham. Her first single, " Say Something", released in February 2015, entered the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart. Early life Born to an English fat ...

and

Courtney Hadwin Courtney Hadwin is an English singer-songwriter. She rose to fame by competing prominently on ITV's '' The Voice Kids UK 2017'' and the 13th season of the NBC competition show '' America's Got Talent''. Early and personal life She lives in ...

Flag

County Durham has its own

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...

, registered with the

Flag Institute The Flag Institute is a UK membership organisation headquartered in Kingston upon Hull, England, concerned with researching and promoting the use and design of flags. It documents flags in the UK and internationally, maintains a UK Flag Registr ...

on 21 November 2013. Katie, Holly and James Moffatt designed the flag and entered their design into a competition launched by campaigner

Andy Strangeway Andy Strangeway (born 1965 in Londesborough, East Riding of Yorkshire) is a decorator and adventurer from the Yorkshire Wolds. He has landed and slept on all 162 of Scotland's islands of 100 acres (40 hectares) and above. He completed this challe ...

, who spoke of the flag as ''"free, public symbol for all to use, especially on 20th March each year, which is not only County Durham Day but also St. Cuthbert’s birthday.”'' ic - 20th March is actually the date of Cuthbert's death The flag consists of St Cuthbert's cross counterchanged with the county's blue and gold colours.

Landmarks

File:Durham Cathedral from Durham School.jpg,

is a UNESCO

. Construction began in 1093. File:Angel of the North, Gormley 5.jpg, The

Angel of the North The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and is viewed by an estimated 33 m ...

File:Tyne Bridge (6710172163).jpg,

Tyne bridge The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...

between

and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Northumberland File:Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge.jpg, The Transporter Bridge between

Port Clarence Port Clarence is a small village now within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated on the north bank of the River Tees, and hosts the northern end of the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge. ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Yorkshire File:Bowes Museum.jpg, The

Bowes Museum The Bowes Museum is an art gallery in the town of Barnard Castle, in County Durham in northern England. It was built to designs by Jules Pellechet and John Edward Watson to house the art collection of John Bowes and his wife Joséphine Benoît ...

File:Penshaw Hill.jpg, The

Penshaw Monument The Penshaw Monument (officially the Earl of Durham's Monument) is a memorial in the style of an ancient Greek temple on Penshaw Hill in the metropolitan borough of the City of Sunderland, North East England. It is located near the village of ...

. File:Yarm Viaduct - geograph.org.uk - 6000189.jpg,

Yarm Viaduct Yarm Viaduct carries railway traffic above the town of Yarm and across the River Tees straddling the boundary between North Yorkshire and County Durham in northern England. The railway it is situated on, runs between and , and was opened in 18 ...

between

Eaglescliffe Eaglescliffe is a village in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. It is in the civil parish of Egglescliffe. The village was formerly known as Eaglescliffe Junction, being formed around . In 2011, the Office for National S ...

and

Yarm Yarm, also referred to as Yarm-on-Tees, is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. It was previously a port town before the industry moved down the River Tees to more accessible settlements ne ...

, Yorkshire

Sport

Cricket

Durham Cricket represent the historic county in the domestic first class cricket

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

; with 3 championship titles. The two amateur

ECB Premier Leagues The ECB Premier Leagues are a series of regional cricket leagues organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that form the top tier of club cricket in England and Wales. The ECB published "Raising the Standard" in 1997, the ECB Manageme ...

in the county are

North East Premier League The North East Premier League is the top level of competition for recreational club cricket in the North East, serving the historic counties of Durham and Northumberland. Since 2000 it has been a designated ECB Premier League The Premie ...

and NYSD Cricket League. Durham County Cricket Club formed in 1882. After years of success in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

, Durham was accepted into the senior counties championship in 1992. The Riverside cricket ground regularly hosts international cricket; its first "Ashes" Test Match between England and Australia was in August 2013. With 320 runs and 15 wickets on the last day of the match, the venue provided "the most high-octane day of a thrilling Test match", and England took an unassailable 3-0 lead against the Australians in the five-match Ashes Test series.

Association football

Male league football clubs founded in County Durham include: Below the Northern Premier League, is the

Northern Football League The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division ...

. At county-level, the area is governed by the

Durham County Football Association The Durham County Football Association (also simply known as the Durham FA) is the governing body of football in the historic county of Durham. The Durham FA was founded on 25 March 1883 and is the governing body for football in Durham from gras ...

. The next step down, after the NFL, play in the

Northern Football Alliance The Northern Football Alliance is a football league based in the North East, England. It has four divisions headed by the Premier Division, which sits at step 7 (or level 11) of the National League System. The top club in the Premier Division ...

or the

North Riding Football League The North Riding Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2017 by the merger of the former Teesside Football League and Eskvale & Cleveland League. The league has four divisions – the Premier Division (which stand ...

. The system is then multiple Sunday or Saturday leagues. Female league football clubs in the county include;

(play in Billingham) and

Heritage

Alf Common the World's first £1000 footballer

A precursor of modern football is the Sedgefield Ball Game which has been a long standing tradition.

Sunderland Association Football Club Sunderland Association Football Club (, ) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Formed in 1879, Sunderland play in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club has won six t ...

was formed in 1879. Darlington formed in 1861 (re-formed 1883 and in 2012) and West Hartlepool of 1881 became

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

in 1908. Sunderland was rivalled by a break-away team called Sunderland Albion, which were lost before the 20th century began. Sunderland won the league championship three times in the 1890s. Today top quality professional football remains in County Durham. In 2017–18 season, Sunderland were in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

, Hartlepool and

Gateshead FC Gateshead Football Club is a professional football club based in Gateshead, England. The team compete in and play at the Gateshead International Stadium. Established in 1977 after Gateshead United folded, the club are known as the "Tyneside ...

compete in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. The

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

in Sunderland is a first class football venue is used for some international games at every levels. Amateur and semi-professional football clubs like

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland () is a market town and civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, northern England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham. Much of the town's early history surro ...

has had success and public attention through its Football Association Cup runs, but the most famous achievement was by

West Auckland Town FC West Auckland Town Football Club is a football club from West Auckland, near Bishop Auckland in County Durham, England, competing in the Northern League, in the ninth tier of the English football league system. The club is most famous for be ...

in 1910: they were invited to take part in a competition in Italy to compete for what was then labelled the soccer World Cup. West Auckland won the competition against some of Europe's biggest sides; they defeated the mighty

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

2–0 in the final. They even successfully defended the title the following year. The first World Cup trophy played for in these tournaments,

Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy was an association football competition that took place twice, in Turin, Italy, in 1909 and 1911. It is regarded as an early European trophy.Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the theme tunes of the ...

as club captain Jones. Players from some of the counties minor league teams have gone on to influence football on the world stage.

Jack Greenwell John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English football manager and former player. He is Barcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as m ...

(John Richard Greenwell), an ex-coal miner who played non-league football for

Crook Town A.F.C. Crook Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Crook, County Durham, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Sir Tom Cowie Millfield. The club won the FA Amateur Cup five times. History Crook Town Football ...

from 1901 to 1912, went to Spain and played 88 games for Barcelona before becoming their manager in 1917. Greenwell's achievements at Barcelona include winning five Catalan championships and two Copas del Rey. He also managed Espanyol, Mallorca and Valencia. On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he moved to South America to manage the Peruvian and Colombian national teams; he died in 1942 in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

Notable footballers

There are many notable footballers from the county of Durham . Sunderland's

Alf Common Alfred Common (25 May 1880 in Millfield (Sunderland) – 3 April 1946 in Darlington) was an English footballer who played at inside forward or centre forward. He is most famous for being the first player to be transferred for a fee of £1,000 ...

became the world's first £1,000 player when he was signed by Middlesbrough in 1905. Other pre Second World War and immediate post war greats were

Charlie Buchan Charles Murray Buchan (22 September 1891 – 25 June 1960) was an English footballer, sporting journalist and commentator. Buchan started his career in 1909 with Woolwich Arsenal (later renamed Arsenal F.C.). He is known for his career with S ...

, who created and edited the iconic magazine "Football Monthly",

George Camsell George Henry Camsell (27 November 1902 – 7 March 1966) was an English footballer who scored a club record 325 league goals in 419 games for Middlesbrough, and 18 goals in nine appearances for England. His 59 goals in one season (1926–27) fo ...

Hughie Gallacher Hugh Kilpatrick Gallacher (2 February 1903 – 11 June 1957) was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 624 senior games, Gallacher scored 463 goals, playing senior league football for Airdrieonians, Newcastle United, Chelsea, ...

Raich Carter Horatio Stratton "Raich" Carter (21 December 1913 – 9 October 1994) was an English sportsman who played football for Sunderland, Derby County and Hull City, as well as representing England on thirteen occasions. He also played first-class cri ...

Bobby Gurney Bobby Gurney (13 October 1907 – 14 April 1994) was a football forward who is the highest goal scorer in the history of his only senior club as a player, Sunderland. Early years Born in Stewart Street, Silksworth, Sunderland, his father J ...

all of whom are described in a famous book by the "Clown Prince of Football"

Len Shackleton Leonard Francis Shackleton (3 May 1922 – 28 November 2000) was an English footballer. Known as the "Clown Prince of Football", he is generally regarded as one of English football's finest ever entertainers. He also played cricket in the Minor ...

. Shackleton's book shot to immediate fame and caused a storm when first published because chapter 9, named "The Average Director's Knowledge of Football", was produced as a blank page. After the Second World War notable footballers included

Joe Harvey Joseph Harvey (11 June 1918 – 24 February 1989) was an English football player and later manager. He spent much of his career at Newcastle United; he was the club's longest serving captain, manager, and, as of 2022, the last to win a major ...

(Crook manager from 1954–1955),

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

, and Sunderland goalkeeper Jim Montgomery, who helped the then Second Division club Sunderland beat Leeds United to win the 1973 FA Cup Final.

Rugby Union

Rugby union teams based in Durham County: The Durham County RFU is affiliated with the Durham/Northumberland divisions.

Horse racing

Sedgefield Racecourse Sedgefield Racecourse is an English left-handed horse racing course, used for jump racing. It is owned by Arena Racing Company and located close to the town of Sedgefield, County Durham. The finishing straight is about three furlongs in length, wi ...

is the only operating course in the county. Early races were mentioned in 1613 at Woodham near Aycliffe. Georgian races were held at places like

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the postal town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blay ...

, Gateshead,

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the south ...

, Heighington, Lanchester,

Ryton Ryton may refer to: Places in England * Ryton, Gloucestershire, a location *Ryton, North Yorkshire *Ryton, Shropshire *Ryton, Tyne and Wear *Ryton, Warwickshire (in Bulkington) *Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire *Great Ryton, Shropshire People ...

, Sedgefield,

Shincliffe Shincliffe is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. The parish population (according to the 2011 census) was 1,796. It is situated just over to the south-east of Durham city centre, on the A177 road to Stockton. Shincliffe is ...

, South Shields, Stockton, Sunderland, Tanfield,

Whickham Whickham is a village in Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. The village is on high ground overlooking the River Tyne and south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was formerly governed under the histo ...

and

Witton Gilbert Witton Gilbert is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. Geography Witton Gilbert is situated about to the north-west of Durham. River Browney passes to the south of the village, while Dene Burn, one of its tributaries, runs th ...

. A 1740 Act banned smaller meetings but some meetings like Durham survived into the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Horse racing is still takes place at Sedgefield Racecourse.

Golf

There is one old links course in the county at Seaton Carew, which opened in 1874. The Seaton Carew Golf Club was the only course in the whole of Durham and

, it was therefore originally called the Durham and Yorkshire Golf Club, a reference to this today remains in the Club's badge. Seaton Carew is the 10th oldest Golf Club in England. The Club was set up by a newly qualified surgeon from Edinburgh, who played at Musselburgh, when he realised there was nowhere for him to continue to practice his passion for the game. This was Dr. Duncan McCuaig, after qualifying at University of Edinburgh. His memory can be recalled when one plays the third hole, a challenging par 3, named "The Doctor". Over the years some of the finest golfers in the country have played the links at Seaton Carew, including the legendary "Great Triumvirate (golf), Great Triumvirate" of Golf Harry Vardon, John Henry Taylor, John Henry "J H" Taylor and James Braid (golfer), James Braid and several other Open Champions. Alister MacKenzie, Dr Alister MacKenzie, the designer of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, home of Masters Tournament, The Masters, and the Cypress Point Club, Cypress Point golf course in California, lengthened the Seaton Carew Course in 1925 to 6,500 yards and designed new holes eastwards including the planting of over 2,000 buckthorn bushes. In 1937, Walter Hagen played an exhibition match at Seaton Carew during a tour of Europe and commented "It is a splendid course, the links are well groomed. It is not an easy course and provides a good test of golf. It is one I would like to play quite often". This Club by varying the playing sequence of the 22 holes can create 5 different course layouts. In 2014, "flyovers" of all 5 Seaton Carew Golf Course layouts were created with commentaries by TV commentator Peter Alliss. Alliss comments: "The tenth oldest in England and a true championship links to challenge all levels of players." Seaton Carew Golf Club is regular host to top amateur golf competitions. Golf England's Brabazon Trophy was held at this Club in 1985 and the winner, Peter Baker (golfer), Peter Baker, went on to Ryder Cup and European Tour success after sharing this amateur title with the North East's Roger Roper (Roper turned professional at the age of 50 in 2007 to compete on the Seniors Professional Tour). In June 2014, The Brabazon Trophy tournament returned to Seaton Carew and in line with the illustrious outcomes for past winners on this course a bright future is predicted for the winner Ben Stow from Wiltshire. Stow equalled the course record on the final day with a "birdie" on the final hole to win the Barabzon Trophy by one shot. They is multiple inland golf courses in the county, those courses created in the late 20th and early 21st centuries are

Golf Club, Wynyard Golf Club, Wynyard, Rockciffe Hall, Slalely Hall and Close House have an international reputation and regularly hold professional events such as the Seve Trophy and the Seniors Tour. Graeme Storm from Hartlepool has won events on the European Tour.

Athletics

Athletics (sport), Athletics in the county has had olympic and international success of athletes Brendan Foster in the 1970s and Steve Cram in the 1980s. Both won international medals and broke world records in middle and long distance running. Brendan Foster established the annual Great North Run, one of the best known half marathons in which thousands of participants run from Newcastle to South Shields. Brendan Foster, a former school teacher in this region, is also recognised as the driving force behind the creation of the Gateshead International Stadium, Gateshead International Athletics Stadium which now regularly hosts International Athletics meets and other sporting events. In 2013 the 33rd Great North Run had 56,000 participants most of whom were raising money for charity. The elite races had Olympic gold medalists and world champion long distance runners participateing including in the men's race, Mo Farah, Kenenisa Bekele and a regular supporter of the event Haile Gebrselassie. Ethiopian Bekele won the men's event just ahead of Farah. Kenya's Priscah Jeptoo came first the women's race and multi Olympic gold medalist David Weir (athlete), David Weir won the wheelchair event. The 2014 Great North Run had its millionth finisher – becoming the first IAAF, International Athletics Association Event (IAAF) event in the world to reach such a milestone. The 2014 Great North Run also saw Mo Farah win the men's race in an hour. The millionth finisher was a Tracey Cramond of Darlington. 51 year old Tracey ran the race to raise funds for Butterwick Hospice.

Economy

Economic history

County Durham has long been associated with coal mining, from medieval times up to the late 20th century. The Durham Coalfield covered a large area of the county, from Bishop Auckland, to Consett, to the River Tyne and below the North Sea, thereby providing a significant expanse of territory from which this rich mineral resource could be extracted. Stephen of England, King Stephen possessed a mine in Durham, which he granted to Bishop Pudsey, and in the same century Coal miner, colliers are mentioned at Coundon, Bishopwearmouth and Sedgefield. Cockfield Fell was one of the earliest Landsale collieries in Durham. Richard II of England, Richard II granted to the inhabitants of Durham licence to export the produce of the mines, the majority being transported from the Port of Sunderland complex which was constructed in the 1850s. Among other early industries, lead-mining was carried on in the western part of the county, and Mustard plant, mustard was extensively cultivated. Gateshead had a considerable Tanning (leather), tanning trade and shipbuilding was undertaken at Sunderland, which became the largest shipbuilding town in the world – constructing a third of Britain's tonnage. The county's modern-era economic history was facilitated significantly by the growth of the mining industry during the nineteenth century. At the industry's height, in the early 20th century, over 170,000 coal miners were employed, and they mined 58,700,000 tons of coal in 1913 alone. As a result, a large number of colliery villages were built throughout the county as the industrial revolution gathered pace. The railway industry was also a major employer during the industrial revolution, with railways being built throughout the county, such as The Tanfield Railway, The Clarence Railway and The Stockton and Darlington Railway. The growth of this industry occurred alongside the coal industry, as the railways provided a fast, efficient means to move coal from the mines to the ports and provided the fuel for the locomotives. The great railway pioneers Timothy Hackworth, Edward Pease, George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson were all actively involved with developing the railways in tandem with County Durham's coal mining industry.

and

became thriving 'railway towns' and experienced significant growths in population and prosperity; before the railways, just over 100 people lived in Shildon but, by the 1890s, the town was home to around 8,000 people, with Shildon railway works, Shildon Shops employing almost 3000 people at its height. However, by the 1930s, the coal mining industry began to diminish and, by the mid-twentieth century, the pits were closing at an increasing rate. In 1951, the Durham County Development Plan highlighted a number of colliery villages, such as Blackhouse, as 'Category D' settlements, in which future development would be prohibited, property would be acquired and demolished, and the population moved to new housing, such as that being built in Newton Aycliffe. Likewise, the railway industry also began to decline, and was significantly brought to a fraction of its former self by the Beeching cuts in the 1960s. Darlington railway works, Darlington Works closed in 1966 and Shildon Shops followed suit in 1984. The county's last deep mines, at Easington, Vane Tempest, Wearmouth and Westoe, closed in 1993.

Post markings

Postal Rates from 1801 were charged depending on the distance from London. Durham was allocated the code 263 the approximate mileage from London. From about 1811, a datestamp appeared on letters showing the date the letter was posted. In 1844 a new system was introduced and Durham was allocated the code 267. This system was replaced in 1840 when the first postage stamps were introduced.

Demography

Employment

The proportion of the population working in agriculture fell from around 6% in 1851 to 1% in 1951; currently less than 1% of the population work in agriculture. There were 15,202 people employed in coal mining in 1841, rising to a peak of 157,837 in 1921.

Exclaves

Throughout the 1800s exclaves of the historic county were given to surrounding shires and lands they were closer associated with: *

(East Riding of Yorkshire, East Riding): Howdenshire *

(North Riding): Allertonshire *

: Bedlingtonshire,

(included Berwick-upon-Tweed)

References

{{coord missing, County Durham History of County Durham Prince-bishoprics Counties of England established in antiquity