Facts about Durham City
Above left Durham Cathedral nave courtesy of The Northern Echo
Above right Durham Cathedal courtesy of Freefoto.com
Silver Street : Perhaps where silver was traded or where the unique Durham coins were minted.
Owengate : Possibly the oven gate, close to the site of a medieval bakehouse.
Souter Peth : Shoe maker's street, this was the old name for the street at the western end of Elvet Bridge from where the bridge joins Fleshergate.
Fleshergate : The flesh hewer's street, once the butcher's quarter this was the name of the part of Saddler Street that joins the Market Place.
Claypath : The muddy peth - a peth was a path or a hill.
Crossgate : The street or 'gate' leading to Nevilles Cross.
Smiddy Haughs : An alternative name for the 'race-course' and cricket ground adjacent to the river. It means the smith's meadowland.
Drury Lane : A narrow vennel off Saddler Street. It was once the site of a Georgian theatre.
Millburngate : The Mill Stream street, now demolished and occupied by a shopping centre. The Millburn stream is culverted under North Road.
Gilesgate : The street leading to or from St Giles Church.
Grape Lane : The site of a vineyard or perhaps a corruption of Grope Lane.
Dun Cow Lane : From where the carving of the Dun Cow can be seen on the cathedral.
Quarryheads Lane : Where some of the stone was quarried for the building of the cathedral.
Saddler Street : Perhaps where saddles were made or sold.
Bow Lane : From a bow in the city walls near St Mary le Bow Church, or after an early church built from the boughs of trees. In ancient times it was also known as Kingsgate, the route by which King William the Conqueror is said to have fled from Durham.
Whitesmocks : The site of an inn called Whitesmocks thought to take its name from the travelling waggoners clothing.
Framwelgate : the street leading to the fram well which once supplied the market place with water, or perhaps the street leading from a well, hence from-well-gate.
Palace Green : Once known as Place Green this was the site of Durham's first Market Place before it was cleared of housing by Bishop Flambard in the 12th century. The green is overlooked by Durham Castle - formerly the Prince Bishops Palace.
North and South Bailey : So named because they lay within the castle's defensive walls.
Walkergate : The cloth worker's street
Ratten Raw : The old name for Court Lane near the prison and law courts.
Smithgate : The smith's street, the old name for the section of Silver Street joining Framwelgate Bridge.
Vennel : Narrow passageways and alleys in Durham are known as vennels.
DURHAM CITY PLACE NAMES
Durham : From the Anglo-Viking words Dun and Holm meaning hill and island. It was called Duresme by the Normans and described in Latin as Dunelm.
Elvet : From the Anglo-Saxon Aelfet-ee, the swan island, Elvet is now the site of the Swan and Three Cygnets Pub.
Old Durham : Near Sherburn Road Housing Estate, this was once the site of a Roman Villa.
Kepier : Near the River Wear, Gilesgate, Perhaps `keeps weir' a damn where fish were caught and kept.
Maiden Castle : The site of an ancient fort, probabaly of iron age origin. So called because it was a virgin fort not penetrated by invading forces.
Pelaw Wood : Peel - Law meaning fort hill, perhaps the site of an ancient fort, the wood is very close to Old Durham and Maiden castle.
Newton Hall : The present housing estate of this name was the site of a Georgian mansion called Newton Hall which was demolished in 1926
Mount Joy : From where the monks carrying the coffin of St Cuthbert are said to have first seen Durham in 995.
Belasis : French; Beautiful seat
DURHAM CITY VILLAGE NAMES
See also Durham City Surrounding Places
Shincliffe : The cliff or hill of the scinna - a demon.
Brancepeth : The path of the wild boar or brawn or the road to Brandon - the brawn's den.
Sacriston : The former home of the Sacrist or sexton of Durham Cathedral.
Pittington : Pidda's people's village
Pity Me : A reference to poor quality soil or from the french Petit Mere the site of a small lake.
Witton Gilbert : Once belonged to a Norman called Gilbert de la Ley. The name Witton Gilbert should be pronounced with a soft G.
Sherburn : The bright or shiny stream.
Finchale : Pronounced Finkle, a valley or meadow inhabited by finches.
Dragonville : Site of a house called Dragon Villa, but why ?
Belmont : Site of Belmont Hall, now the Ramside Hotel.
Cassop : Cat's Hop or up, a valley inhabited by wild cats.
See also Durham City Surrounding Places
FACT FILE
Seven famous things
There is an old Durham saying that the city of Durham was famous for seven things Wood, Water and Pleasant Walks, Law and Gospel, Old Maids and Mustard.
Cromwell's University
Durham is the third oldest university in England and was established in 1832, but the idea of a university for Durham was first suggested by Oliver Cromwell in 1650
The First English Mustard
English style of mustard originated in Durham in 1720 when an old woman of the city by the name of Mrs Clements her special recipe was known as Durham Mustard and at one time there were three separate mustard factories in the city.
Champion Boxer and Horse breeder
John Gully (1783-1863) who lived in the North Bailey Durham was a champion on two accounts. Gully had won fame as a champion boxer of all England, later he expanded his wealth as a Durham colliery owner and a racehorse owner. Gully's horses included two Derby winners in 1846 and 1854. He left behind him twenty four children.
The Powers of the Prince Bishops
The medieval Prince Bishops of Durham had powers in Durham equivelent to thoses of a King enabling them to hold their own parliament, raise their own armies, appoint their own sherriffs and Justices, administer their own laws, levy taxes and customs duties, create fairs and markets, issue charters, salvage shipwrecks, collect revenue from mines, administer the forests and mint their own coins.
Cathedral Firsts
Two important features of church architecture, the Flying Buttresses and Ribbed Vaulting are thought to be innovations of the Durham Cathedral masons.
Bede's Bones
The relics of the Venerable Bede were brought to Durham from the ruined Jarrow in 1022 where they had been pinched by a relic colecting monk by the name of Aelfred. The bones of Bede were placed in the tomb of St Cuthbert but were removed in 1370 and placed in a tomb of their own.
Writer's Birthplace
Elizabeth Barrett, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born at Coxhoe Hall near Kelloe, just outside Durham in 1806.
Stone Quarries
The sandstone used in the building of Durham Cathedral was qaurried at Kepier in the valley of the River Wear and at a site near the present Quarryheads Lane.
County Durham not Durham County
Durham is the only county in England which should normally be suffixed with the word County as in the Irish style. This is partly a remnant of the days when County Durham was termed the County Palatine of Durham, that was the realm of the Prince Bishops and partly to distinguish it from Durham, the city.
Highest throne
The Bishop's throne in Durham Cathedral is the highest in Christendom, in keeping with the imporatnt status of the old Prince Bishops of Durham.
Bishops of Chester le Street
There had been a succesion of nine bishops at Chester le street before the Bishopric of Durham came into being. The last bishop of Chester le Street called Aldhun became the first Bishop of Durham in 995. The Bishops of Chester le Street succeeded the ancient Bishops of Lindisfarne who had included St Cuthbert and St Aidan.
Becks and Burns
Streams to the north of Durham City are called Burns in the Scottish style while to the south of the city they are called becks in the Yorkshire and Cumbrian fashion, smaller streams called gills can be found north and south of the city.
Stars and Stripes
A plaque in the cloisters of Durham Cathedral records that John Washington of Washingtonm in the County of Durham was as prior of Durham Cathedral and that his name has gained great fame 'in lands to him unknown'. John Washington was a member of the same family who later produced the first president of the United States. The prior's coat of arms has red stripes and three stars.
OLD CUSTOM
It used to be customary in the City of Durham for an old woman for an old woman to go from house to house on Christmad Day carrying figures of the Virgin and child which was locally known as the 'yule babby' while she sang the carol God rest ye merry gentlemen.
POEMS
THE CITY DESCRIBED
Durham is a little compact neatly contriv'd city, surrounded almost with the River Wear, which with the castle standing on an eminence, encloses the city in the middle of it; as the castle does the cathedral, the bishop's palace, and the fine houses of the clergy, where they live in all the magnificence and splendour imaginable.
Daniel Defoe 1724
The city of Durham appears like a confused heap of stones and brick, accumulated so as to cover a mountain, round which a river winds its brawling course. The streets are generally narrow, dark and unpleasant, and many of them impassable in consequence of their declivity.
Tobias Smollett The Expedition of Humphry Clinker 1771
Durham is one of the great experiences of Europe to the eyes of those who appreciate architecture, and to the minds of those who understand architecture.
Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Durham 1953
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