County Durham

“ Its area is 647,592 acres, of which two-thirds are under cultivation. The western portion of the county is hilly, enclosing fertile valleys, the eastern portion is more level, and the centre contains extensive coal-fields. Durham is the chief coal county in England, and also produces fire-clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats, turnips, and potatoes. The cattle are esteemed both for the dairy and for fattening. In connection with the commerce of the county may be noticed its foundries, ironworks, potteries, glass-houses, iron-shipbuilding, engine and machine works, and chemical works. ”

“ To-day, Saint Cuthbert avails no man, as the county gaol and the assize courts sufficiently prove, and Durham city is essentially modern, from the coal-grit that powders its dirty streets to the awfully grotesque effigy of a Marquis of Londonderry that lends so diabolical an air to the Market-place, where the Statute Fair is held, and where he sits, a coal-black effigy across his coal-black horse, towering over the steam merry-go-rounds, like Satan amid the revelries of a Walpurgis Night. ”

“ No mayor or aldermen were elected for ten years, but in 1780 Bishop Egerton, on the petition of the burgesses, granted them a new charter, which was practically a confirmation of that of 1602, and remained in force until the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. Being within the county palatine, the city of Durham sent no members to parliament, until, after several attempts beginning in 1614, it was enabled by an act of 1673 to return two members, which it continued to do until 1885, when by the Redistribution of Seats Act the number was reduced to one. ”

“ Other buildings worthy of notice in Durham are the town-hall, a 16th-century building reconstructed in 1851, the police station, and the guildhall, the shire hall and county buildings, and the county hospital. There are ironworks and manufactures of hosiery, carpets and mustard in the city. The parliamentary borough returns one member. The corporation consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 1070 acres.
History of the City.—The foundation of the city followed on that of the church by the monks of Lindisfarne at the close of the 10th century. ”

“ NORTH CAROLINA, Durham County, Durham, Duke Memorial United Methodist Church (Durham MRA) , 504 W. Chapel Hill St. (08/11/85)
NORTH CAROLINA, Durham County, Durham, Durham Cotton Mills Village Historic District (Durham MRA) , Roughly bounded by Byrd and Middle Sts.,E. Frontage Rd. and Reservoir St. (08/11/85)
NORTH CAROLINA, Durham County, Durham, Morehead Hill Historic District (Durham MRA) , Roughly bounded by Jackson St., East-West Expressway, S. Duke St., Lakewood Ave., Shephard St. and Arnette Ave. ”

“ This important work, undertaken at the suggestion of Surtees, and begun shortly after the appearance of Surtees's first volume, is the complement of the latter's ‘History of Durham.’ It embraces the history of certain outlying and detached districts, including Norhamshire and Holy Island, which, when the book was first undertaken, formed a part of the county of Durham, but some of which were subsequently annexed by statute to the county of Northumberland. ”

“ They have been the curse, the withering blighting curse, of thousands of miners in that county.
Again, the county is too wide and extensive for one association. To make the work not only practical, but effective, it ought to be divided into three, or perhaps four separate districts. These districts ought to be thoroughly independent of each other; not only doing their own business, but being self-supporting. Of course, in many instances, one district would find its interests best furthered by rendering assistance to a neighbouring one. ”

“ In 1675 Durham began to be regularly represented in the House of Commons, but that date was subsequent to the founding of the Maryland palatinate. At the time when Lord Baltimore's charter was issued, the bonds of connection between Durham and the rest of England were three: 1. the bishop was a tenant in capite of the crown, besides being an officer of the Church and a member of the House of Lords; 2. the county regularly paid its share of the national taxes; and 3. cases in litigation between the bishop and his subjects could be appealed to the Court of Exchequer in London. ”

“ He reminded them that he and his colleagues had only been trying to organise the county. They had met with great difficulties, but they were still alive, and more likely to continue alive than ever. "I can assure you," he said,35 "that on this, the 12th day of August 1871, the Durham Miners' Association was never in a more healthy position; never more healthy with regard to its feeling and determination to carry on its great work of organising the county; never more healthy with respect to its funds ”

“ John!” said he in a loud voice, turning to the lad, “why don’t you offer to carry the gentleman’s knapsack?”
“Don’t let him trouble himself,” said I. “As I was just now saying, a capital county is Durham county.”
“You really had better let the boy carry your bag, sir.”
“No!” said I; “I would rather carry it myself. I question upon the whole whether there is a better county in England.”
“Is it long since your honour was in Durham county?”
“A good long time. A matter of forty years.”
“Forty years! why that’s the life of a man. That’s longer than I have been out of the county myself. ”

“ There are 288 civil parishes. The county is divided into eight parliamentary divisions, each returning one member—Jarrow, Chester-le-Street, Houghton-le-Spring, Mid, North-west, Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, South-east. It also includes the parliamentary borough of Sunderland, returning two members, and the boroughs of Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, South Shields and Stockton-on-Tees, returning one member each. Among educational establishments there may be mentioned the university and the grammar school in the city of Durham, and the Roman Catholic college of Ushaw near Durham. ”

“ One of the most prominent men in the early history of Marion, and we might add of the county, was Samuel W. Durham. A courtly gentleman of the old school, honored and respected by every one who knew him, he died at his home in Marion, May 2, 1909, at the ripe old age of ninety-two years. He was sheriff of Linn county from 1846-1848, county surveyor in 1841, serving one term, in 1851 serving one term, in 1871 serving two terms, and in 1889 serving two terms. He was also a member of the first constitutional convention of Iowa, which convened at Iowa City October 7, 1844. ”

“ A resolution that Wearmouth, Thornley, and Houghton form the nucleus of an organisation or union among the miners of the county, and that a paid agent be appointed to explain to the men the aim, object, and principles of the proposed association, was then passed. The following is the district set out for the lecturer to visit:—Ryhope, Seaton (and Seaham) , Hetton, South Hetton, Haswell, Shotton, Castle Eden, Wingate, Trimdon, Fire Houses (Trimdon Grange) , and Thornley. The agitation of the proposed organisation to be directed against the yearly bond. ”

“ Gateshead has always been one of the principal commercial centres of the county, and, though there are no signs of craft gilds there, trade companies second in importance only to those of Durham existed from the reign of Elizabeth till the end of the eighteenth century. ”

“ Consider seriously every step we as an organisation take, and let all we do tend towards the attainment of the much-needed object." The result of the second ballot was against the Board, the numbers being in close similarity to the previous vote—the miners being very largely against, while the other three sections were in favour. We may add here that it terminated on August 4th, and for a short time the county entered the region of uncertainty again, which all must acknowledge is no help to trade or district. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Durham is served by the Southern, the Seaboard Air Line, the Norfolk & Western, and the Durham & Southern railways, the last a short line connecting at Apex and Dunn, N.C., respectively with the main line of the Seaboard and the Atlantic Coast Line railways. Durham is nearly surrounded by hills. Its streets are shaded by elms. The city is the seat of Trinity College (Methodist Episcopal, South) , opened in 1851 as a normal college, growing out of an academy called Union Institute, which was established in the north-western part of Randolph county in 1838 and was incorporated in 1841. ”

“ The absolute order was to give in notices, the aim being to bring all into the struggle which was impending, and these had to be given within a fortnight. When these proceedings were reported to the county a circular was sent out by the Executive Committee, in which they commented upon the situation, and asked the members what should be done. They said there were two questions for them to decide upon—first, the position in the south; and second, the demand they had to make for fifteen per cent. advance, as per the Birmingham resolution. ”

“ The programme for a Council meeting held on 21st August 1875 contained a resolution dealing with the providing of a better class of houses.
"That we appeal to the owners to have better houses right throughout the county for the members of the Durham Miners' Association, and not to make such difference between brakesmen and members of the Association. We believe that one man has the same right to a good house as another." ”

“ America, on the contrary, is not in the realm, never was subject to the authority of parliament, by any principle of law, is so far from Great Britain, that she never can be represented; yet she is to be bound in all cases whatsoever.
The first statute, which appears in which Durham is named, is 27 Henry 8th. c. 24, § 21. Cuthbert, bishop of Durham, and his successors, and their temporal chancellor of the county palatine of Durham, are made justices of the peace. ”

“ The bishops of Durham were invested with temporal and spiritual powers, exercising the royal prerogatives, such as paramount property in lands, and supreme jurisdiction, both civil and military, waging war, right of forfeiture, and levying taxes. These privileges were granted, owing to the remoteness of Durham from the metropolis and its proximity to the warlike kingdom of Scotland, and allowed of justice being administered at home, thereby doing away with the obligation of the inhabitants quitting their county, and leaving it exposed to hostile invasions. ”

“ Durham is a corruption of Dunholm, signifying a hill-fort on an island in the river; dun being Celtic for a hill, or fort on a hill, and holm the Scandinavian for an island. The Shire, or County, of York, in common with the majority of the Midland and Welsh counties, is named after its chief town ”

“ We have quite enough to do at present without wasting our energies in useless and pernicious quarrelling amongst ourselves.
The result of the special meeting proved the Committee right. A tabulated vote was taken—the voting being against restriction 130, for 117; majority against, 13. Thus ended the only county attempt to carry out a uniformity in piecework. It ended as all such will end. Human nature is too strong for such arrangements.
WORKING HOURS ARBITRATION
This case arose out of the hewers' hours at some of the collieries. Amongst them were Gurney Pit, Leasingthorne, Letch, and Wingate. ”

“ This eastern side of the county of Durham is a vast busy workshop—a Northern “Black Country;” and earth and air and water, and even the minds and thoughts of the inhabitants, seem to have an impregnation of coal-dust and engine-smoke. Finchale, three or four miles below Durham, is still, however, a lonely and retired spot; and a charming road throu [Pg 192] gh Kepyer Wood leads to the interesting ruins of the Priory erected by Bishop Pudsey’s son, near the place where the good Saint Godric dwelt in hermitage. ”

“ The Derwent does not attain the county boundary, and this 10 miles includes the whole breadth of the tract drained by the Wear and half of that drained by the Tees, the other half belonging to Yorkshire. The Wear watershed forms the eastern boundary of Cumberland for 6 miles, and for the same distance on the north separates Durham and Northumberland. Round the head of the dale sweeps a continuous crescent of high barren grassy or heathery fell, several of the peaks of which exceed 700 yards, whilst the passes into Cumberland, Teesdale, and Allendale are all from 500 to 600 yards in elevation. ”

“ The situation in which we as a county find ourselves makes it imperative that we should address you. We do not refer to our own organisations, for these are strong, but to our relation with the employers and the settlement of our transactions with them. How are these to be managed in the future? Has our attitude to be one of repulsion or attraction? ”

“ No Tudor sovereign, it seems, entered the county, but James I., Charles I., and James II. when Duke of York, paid ceremonious visits to Durham, and in general upheld the prestige of the see, though they never completely restored its independence. One of the most interesting episodes of the seventeenth century is the religious revolution carried out during the first forty years. Bishop Neile is credited with introducing to Durham a series of prebendaries who altered the aspect of the cathedral and produced great changes in the services. ”