County of 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. ”

“ The Lambton Worm, partly from the romantic character of its history, partly because it relates to a family of note in the county, seems to have taken deep hold of the popular mind in Durham, and it is peculiarly fortunate in a chronicler. About thirty years ago, Sir Cuthbert Sharpe, the friend of Mr. Surtees, and his assistant in the History of the Palatinate, collected every particular respecting this Worm from old residents in the neighbourhood of Lambton, and placed the whole in the Bishoprick Garland, a collection of legends, songs, ballads, &c., relating to the county of Durham. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Teesdale In the administrative county of Durham— the urban district of Barnard Castle; the rural district of Barnard Castle; the lands common to the parishes of Lynesack and Softley, Hamsterley and South Bedburn in the rural district of Barnard Castle. In the administrative county of Yorkshire, North Riding, the rural district of Startforth. ”

“ The Franchise Association had kept up a close and instructive agitation not only at home, but outside the county, pressing the demand for an assimilation of county to borough. They urged that it was a glaring anomaly for a man to be eligible to vote in a borough, and because he passed over an arbitrary line (yet in all respects the same man in trade and duties of citizenship) he was not permitted to do so. At the Trades Union Congress held in Nottingham in 1883 the following resolution was proposed by the representatives from Durham ”

“ The owners regard it as all-important that the men employed in the collieries in the county of Durham should be afforded, and should avail themselves of, an opportunity of correcting the serious misapprehension under which they labour from regarding the prices quoted in the newspapers for what is but a small proportion of the output as representing the entire volume of trade. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Acre is mentioned, as in Farnacres, in the Boldon Buke; and in later surveys are Longacre and Etheredacres. Barn, berry, beeld, byre, and by, bower, cave, castle, chesters, close, croft, dale, and darg—as six darg, from Anglo-Saxon dæg-weorc, day’s work. Fold, farm, faw, frith, gate, garth, hot, ing, ham, kirk, lodge, park, meadow, pry, shield, stead, ton, and wall, are common in the dales of the county of Durham. ”

“ Delegate meetings were being held, the machinery of the Association was taking shape, and the constitution outlined. The first of these was held on Saturday the 3rd of July 1869, the chairman being Mr J. Richardson of Wearmouth. In his opening remarks he said: "They had met not as delegates of an organised body of miners, but as representatives of collieries not yet united, to devise means whereby an organisation could be established throughout the county of Durham." No attempt was made to transact any business, but a number of addresses were delivered. ”

“ 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. ”

“ That this meeting deplores the oft-repeated statement of coal owners and others relative to the amount of work at present lost by the miners in the county of Durham. We cannot with our present knowledge admit the accuracy of these statements, but believe, on the contrary, that such statements are very greatly overdrawn, and thus an entire false impression is being conveyed to the public mind, and a positive injury done to a large body of men. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ And it is schoolboys, too, who keep Guy Fawkes’ Day in remembrance, for the noise of crackers and fireworks and the excitement of a bonfire do very much appeal to them. Guys are now seldom carried about, but are sometimes burnt.
The "mell-supper" in the county of Durham (from the Norse melr, corn) is akin to the Northumbrian "kirn-feast," and is held when the last sheaf is brought in. When this is done, the farmer’s headman proceeds to "shout the mell":
"Blest be the day that Christ was born. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ R. Waugh. At Birch Carr near Darlington. — Mr. Backhouse. At Prestwick Carr, and on the Muckle Moss near the Roman Wall, N.
22. C. extensa. Long-bracteated Carex. Sm. Eng. Fl. iv. 108; Eng. Bot. 833; Gooden. Linn. Tr. ii. 175, t. 21, f. 7; With. ii. 140; Gr. Fl. Eds. 195.
Near the sea coast in a marsh on the Wear at Hilton Castle, as well as at Hartlepool and Seaton, also in the west of the county of Durham, and on bogs in Waskerley Park, D. In bogs at Spencer's Quarry near Medomsley, D.—Mr. J. Thornhill. On the sea beach north of the town at Holy Island, N, —Thompson's Berwick Plants. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Under the terms of this act the state acting through a Land Settlement Board and with the cooperation of experts from the University of California, has purchased several thousand acres of land at Durham, in Butte County, which it sells to settlers on easy terms. It also lends money to settlers for improvement and equipment for the farmers. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”