County Durham

County Durham
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Borders	Cumberland Northumberland Westmorland Yorkshire
Population	1,464,659 (2021)
Area (sq mi)	1,022 sq mi

County Durham, the "Land of the Prince Bishops," is a county in the North East of 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 occupations are sheep and cattle farming, and various industries, amongst which 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.

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.

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.

• In 1909, a team of coal miners from West Auckland in the county won the first football World Cup.