County Durham
| County Durham | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Borders | Cumberland Northumberland Westmorland Yorkshire |
| Population | 1,464,659 (2021)[1] |
| Area (sq mi) | 1,022 sq mi |
County Durham, the "Land of the Prince Bishops," is a traditional county of north-eastern England. It is bordered by Northumberland to the north, with the mouth of the River Tyne partially forming the border, the North Sea to the east, with its border with Yorkshire to the south and west following the River Tees, bordering Westmorland and Cumberland across the Pennines to the north west. Historically, the Bishop of Durham ruled the county as his personal principality, a custom only ended in 1836. Part of the Anglian kingdom Northumbria between the 7th and 10th centuries, County Durham, which is roughly coextensive with the area known in Old English as Haliwerfolc, was key to the early development of Christianity in Great Britain, with four of Britain's oldest surviving churches, at Escomb, Hart, Jarrow and Monkwearmouth (all 7th century), being located in the county.
The county town is the city of Durham, which is located on the River Wear and is famous for its cathedral and university. The largest settlement in the county is Sunderland (pop. 168,277), a port at the mouth of the Wear. other important towns are Bishop Auckland, Blaydon-on-Tyne, Chester-le-Street, Consett, Darlington, Easington, Gateshead, Hartlepool, South Shields, Stockton-on-Tees and Washington.
Durham is a predominantly hilly country, including a large area of the Pennines containing Weardale and northern Teesdale. The rivers Wear and Tees marks its southern border. The largest waterfall in England, High Force is on the latter, straddling the border between County Durham and Yorkshire.
Its primary employer is agriculture, especially sheep and cattle farming. Industries such as coal mining and shipbuilding have been historically important. Car manufacturing is also important industry in the north-east of the county, with the Nissan plant at Washington, whilst Durham University is a significant employer in the city of Durham itself.
County Durham lends its name to the administrative county of Durham County Council. However, the two are legally distinct from one another and have different boundaries.
Contents
History
There is evidence for an Iron Age promontory fort at Maiden Castle, a hill in the city of Durham which rises around 100 ft above the River Wear.
Following the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD, there was clearly a Roman presence in modern-day County Durham by c. 70 AD as many of its Roman forts, including Cognancis (Chester-le-Street), Morbium (Piercebridge) and Vinovium (Binchester), appear to date from this period. One of County Durham's largest Roman forts is Arbeia (South Shields), which dates from c. 129 AD.
During c. 400 AD-450 AD, the time period immediately after the Romans left Britain, but before the Anglo-Saxons arrived, modern-day County Durham may have formed a part of the Brythonic kingdom Bryneich. By the mid 6th century, during the Anglo-Saxon period, the Brythonic kingdom Bryneich had become the Anglian kingdom Beornice, or Bernicia, with the first recorded king being Ida, whose reign lasted from approximately 547 AD-559 AD. By c. 605 AD, modern-day County Durham lay within the heart of the Anglian kingdom Northumbria after Ida's grandson Æthelfrith had merged Bernicia by force with its southern neighbour Deira which, ruled from Eoforwic (modern-day York), was located roughly between the rivers Tees in the north and Humber in the south (covering approximately the modern-day North and East Ridings of Yorkshire). The overwhelming majority of the modern-day County Palatine's place-names are of Old English origin, and thus were coined in the Anglian period (late 5th-mid 11th centuries).
The present-day city of Durham, County Durham's county town, dates from at least c. 995 AD.
William the Conqueror appointed William de St-Calais as Bishop of Durham in 1080 AD. County Durham was not featured in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the Bishop of Durham had exclusive tax rights over the area.
The earliest attestation of the name County Durham was in c. 1100 AD in the form Dunelmensischira (Durhamshire).
During "the Anarchy" (1138-1153), a period of civil war in the Kingdom of England that plagued the reign of Stephen of Blois, County Durham came under effective Scottish control for a brief period. The 'usurper' William Cumin, Justiciar of Scotia, was installed as Bishop of Durham following the untimely death of Geoffrey Rufus. When King David of Scotland came south to meet with Empress Matilda, he stopped in Durham, where he refused to allow the burial of the previous bishop until Cumin was allowed into the see. At this time, the powers of the Prince Bishop were similar to that of the king. William Cumin had forged papal documents confirming himself as Prince Bishop, but the monks of Durham cathedral monastery refused to accept him. Cumin surrounds the city with soldiers but some monks escape to Rome where they ask Pope Innocent II if Cumin has a legitimate claim. The pope says Cumin is not a bishop and orders the election of a new bishop within 40 days. William Cumin, backed by the Scots, seized and fortified Kirk Merrington Church, converting it into a castle on its strategic location, but was later besieged and ousted by local barons. By 1144, Cumin had lost the support of David of Scotland. He relinquished his claim to Durham, allowing William St Barbara to take the position.
After centuries of gradually acquiring power, the palatine powers of the Bishop of Durham were formally recognised in 1293 AD. The county palatine had its roots with the Anglian Liberty of Durham, established some 400 years prior.
Since County Durham did not appear in the Domesday Book, the first known detailed survey of the county was the Boldon Book, completed 97 years later in 1183. It was taken at the orders of Hugh de Puiset, Bishop of Durham. The Boldon Book contained the earliest known documentation of the Washington family, stating that William de Hertburn (ancestor of George Washington, 1st President of the United States) had held Washington since 1180. The Boldon Book also contains the first reference to coal mining in County Durham, recoding a coal miner at Escomb.[2]
Among the best-known battles in the County Palatine's history was the Battle of Neville's Cross, which took place to the west of Durham on 17 October 1346. It was part of the Second War of Scottish independence. The Scots, under David II, as allies of the French, invaded England in an attempt to distract Edward III from the siege of Calais.[3] In foresight of the invasion, Edward III had left a strong force in the north, consisting of over 3,000 men from the counties Cumberland, Lancashire and Northumberland with an additional 4,000 troops from Yorkshire. Despite the Scottish army being considerably larger (12,000 men), the battle resulted in a decisive victory for the English and the capture of David II, who remained prisoner of the English until 1357. The battle took its name from an Anglo-Saxon stone cross that stood on the hill where the Scots made their stand. Ralph Neville, 2nd Baron Neville, who had led the English forces in battle, commissioned a new cross to commemorate the day. Neville's Cross now lends its name to a suburb of Durham.
Production of coal in the county peaked in the period from 1913 to 1923, when there were 170,000 miners in the county.
Motorways arrived in County Durham with the opening of the Darlington bypass of the A1 in May 1965. This would later form a part of the length of A1(M) motorway running from Barton in the North Riding of Yorkshire to the southern edge of the Tyneside conurbation via Durham, constructed in the late 1960s and 1970s. The road, however, would not be extended to meet the sections of A1(M) to the south until 2018.
Coal mining in County Durham ended in the 1990s. The last deep coal mine on the County Durham Coalfield was Monkwearmouth Colliery in Sunderland, where the last shift left the pit on 10 December 1993. This marked the end of some 810 years of commercial coal production in the county. The colliery was demolished by explosion in October 1994, and Sunderland A.F.C.'s home ground, the Stadium of Light, was constructed on the site, opening 3 years later in 1997.
Administration
As of 2024, much of the county is served by Durham County Council, although that council not only excludes some of the most populous areas of the county, but contains some areas of northern Yorkshire as well.
The north east of the county is served by Gateshead Council, South Tyneside Council and Sunderland City Council. Areas of the county close to the Tees estuary are under Hartlepool Borough Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, the latter also containing a small area of Yorkshire. The southernmost part of the county around Darlington is covered by Darlington Borough Council.
All of the council areas that make cover County Durham form a part of the North East statistical region.
Similarly-named county for the purposes of lieutenancy
There is a county for the purposes of lieutenancy which is named after, but is both legally and geographically distinct from, County Durham. Officially, this county for the purposes of lieutenancy is simply called Durham. The county for the purposes of lieutenancy consists of the entirety of the areas of Darlington Borough Council, Durham County Council (including those that are in Yorkshire), Hartlepool Borough Council, plus around half of Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council (specifically that north of the River Tees).
People from County Durham
- The constituency of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Sedgefield, is in County Durham.
- Stan Laurel attended school in Bishop Auckland.
- The British alternative comedian Rowan Atkinson is from Consett.
- David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham from 1984-94 was a controversial Anglican churchman, making statements that were widely construed as denying the Resurrection. Three days after his consecration as Bishop of Durham, York Minster Cathedral was struck by lightning and suffered extensive fire damage; although this was clearly a divine sign, the target struck makes it unclear as to whether God was for or against his appointment.
