DURHAM (COUNTY), a county (maritime and palatine),
bounded on the north by the county
of Northumberland, on the east by the German ocean,
on the south by the county of York, and on the west
by the counties of Westmorland and Cumberland: it
extends from 54° 29 to 55° 3 (N. Lat.), and from
1° 12 to 2° 20 (W. Lon.), and includes, without
the detached portions, about six hundred and ten thousand
acres, or nine hundred and fifty-three square miles.
The -population, in 1821, amounted to 207,673. That
portion 6 the present county palatine of Durham which
lies between the rivers Tees and Tyne, formed part of
the extensive territories held by the powerful British
tribe, whom the Romans denominated Brigantes. The
districts of Norham, Holy Island, and Bedlington, were
included in the possessions of the Ottadini, who occupied
the eastern coast from the Tyne to the Frith of
Forth. In the Roman division of Britain, these districts
were all included in Maxima C&sariensis; and in the
time of the Heptarchy they constituted part of the Anglo-
Saxon kingdom of Northumberland. That kingdom
itself was generally sub-divided into the two petty states
of Bernida, including the northern, and Deira, the southern
portion, Durham appearing to have formed part of
the latter. Although Christianity had been embraced
by Edwin, King of Northumberland, yet its general introduction
into that country, and the consequent origin
of the see of Lindisfarne, from which that of Durham is
derived, cannot be dated earlier than the reign of the
Northumbrian, king, Oswald. Aidan, a Scottish monk,
who, after Oswald had embraced Christianity, had vo~
luntarily undertaken the task of converting the rest of
the Northumbrian nation, chose for the residence of
himself and his brethren, the small island of Lindisfarne,
separated twice each day from the coast of Northumberland
by the influx of the tide, and situated within
view of the town of Bambrough, at that time the residence
of the Northumbrian kings. Finan, the successor
of Aidan, is said to have erected a church in Lindisfarne,
built of timber, and covered with reeds, after the manner
of those in Scotland. At this period the Scottish church
had not acknowledged the ecclesiastical superiority
claimed by the bishops of the Romish church; for, at a
synod held in the abbey of Whitby, in 664, in the presence
of Oswy, King of Northumberland, Colman, the successor
of Finan, defended the regulations and the independence
of his own church, against Wilfrid, afterwards
Archbishop of York, who contended for the supremacy of
Rome: the decision of the assembly, however, was in
favour of the latter -, the observance of the Romish rites
was established, and Colman, in consequence, relinquished
the see, and returned into Scotland: he was succeeded
by Tuda, who died within the same year, and was the
last of the Scottish bishops of Lindisfarne; his successors
in the Northumbrian diocese, fixing their residence
at York. On pretence, however, of the inconvenient
extent of that diocese, Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury,
erected Lindisfarne into a separate see, bestowing
on it the spiritual jurisdiction of the province of Bernicia,
and confining that of the see of York to the
southern province of Deira. The Danish conquests
and devastations in that part of England, about the
close of the eighth century, occasioned the cathedral
and monastery of Lindisfarne to be abandoned, and
when the exertions of Alfred had triumphed over the
invaders, Chester le Street, as being more securely situated,
was chosen for the future residence of the ecclesiastics,
and the whole county between the Tees and the
Tyne was added to the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, who
had been the second bishop of the new diocese of Lindisfarne,
and who, having been for his great sanctity canonized
after his death, was now regarded as the patron
saint of the diocese; it was at the same time provided,
that whatever lands should thereafter accrue to the see
by purchase or benefaction, should be held by the successors
of St. Cuthbert, discharged of every temporal
service. The Danish invasions in the reign of Ethelred
compelled the bishop and his ecclesiastics, in 995, to desert
Chester le Street, and take shelter in the monastery
of Ripon; and on the return of peace the see was again,
removed from Chester to a place called Dunholme, still,
more strongly and securely situated. The gifts and oblations
of the wealthy here flowed in profusely; and this
was the origin of the present city of Durham. At the
same time the patrimony of St. Cuthbert also received
large accessions of territory from the donations of two
individuals. The Danish sovereign, Canute, visited the
shrine of St. Cuthbert, and made munificent donations
of territory to the bishoprick. In the twentieth year
of Bishop Eadmund, the Scots made an irruption as far
as Durham, where they lost most of their troops.
At the time of the Norman Conquest, Bishop Egelwin,
together with the Earls Edwin and Morcar, submitted
to William, and swore allegiance to him at York. The
possession of the northern portion of the Northumbrian
province, however, was considered as very insecure, and
the task of its entire subjugation was soon after entrusted
by the Conqueror to Robert Comyn, a Norman
nobleman, who, in carrying the design into execution,
was met on the confines of the bishoprick by Egelwin,
who is said to have warned him of the turbulent stateof
the people, notwithstanding which he persisted in
marching to Durham with seven hundred troops, where,
after a. series of oppressive and cruel acts and continued.
licentiousness, he and his followers were massacred in
an insurrection of the inhabitants. William, enraged at
this, marched northward in person, and devastated the
whole country, devoting the inhabitants to military execution.
The royal troops were scarcely withdrawn when
Malcolm, King of Scotland, at the head of a marauding
army, penetrated through Cumberland into Cleveland
and the bishoprick, ravaged Teesdale, and burned the
towns and monasteries of Hartlepool andWearmouth.
Under the Norman yoke, the patrimony of the church
was obliged, equally with the possessions of the laity, to
provide soldiers and military aids; and Bishop Egelwin,
having once more engaged in the enterprise of the
Earls Edwin and Morcar, was taken, through treachery,
with the other heads of his party, in the Isle of Ely, and
sent prisoner to Abingdon, where he died in confinement.
Shortly afterwards occurred the remarkable insurrection,
in which the prelate Walcher, who had been appointed
by the Conqueror to succeed the last mentioned bishop,
was put to death by the insurgents at Gateshead. A second
plundering of the bishoprick ensued, no less dreadful
than the first; the Norman army being led by Eudes,
or Odo, the military bishop of Baieux. After the permanent
establishment of the Norman rule over all the
provinces of England, the calamities which for several
centuries most seriously afflicted this county, were
owing to the frequent incursions of the Scots, to whose
devastations it was exposed by its vicinity to the border;
hence the military transactions within the county during
that long period, including the various marches of the
English forces through this territory in their operations
against the Scots, are much too numerous to recount ,
the most remarkable of them seems to have been the
battle of Nevill's Cross, fought on Red hills, on the 17th
of October, 1346, between David, King of Scotland, and
Philippa, Queen of Edward III., assisted by Ralph, Lord
Nevill, in which the Scottish uking was taken prisoner,
with the loss of from fifteen to twenty thousand men.
During the parliamentary war, the Scottish army,
under Lesley, passed the Tyne at Newburn, on the 28th
of August, 1640, after defeating the king's troops under
Lord Conway, stationed there to oppose them; and the
next morning the latter abandoned Newcastle, and pursued
their march through this county into Yorkshire,
to join the main body of the royal army, which was advancing
under Lord Strafford. The Scots, entering Newcastle
the same day, thus obtained possession of Northumberland
and Durham; and the people, panic-struck
and deserted by the regular troops, seem to have
offered no farther opposition. In the accommodation
which was soon after entered into with Scotland, the
first preliminary article was, that the counties of Durham
and Northumberland, and the town of Newcastle,
should be charged with the sum of £850 per day, by
weekly payments, for the maintenance of the Scottish
army; under which burden the two counties continued
until the conclusion of the definitive treaty with Scotland,
on the-7th of August, 1641, when the British
government was indebted to the bishoprick of Durham
in a balance of £25,663. 13. 10. The day after the defeat
at Newburn, Bishop Morton fled from Durham to
his castle at Stockton, and from that place, soon after,
to York and London, whence he never again returned
to his diocese. At the same time nearly the whole of
the clergy deserted the cathedral, and the see and episcopal
government of Durham were now virtually dissolved;
the whole revenue of the former was seized by
the Scots, the bishop's officers fled or were displaced,
and the administration of the county passed entirely
into the hands of the invaders, who, not long after, -were
succeeded by the parliamentary commissioners for treating
with the second Scottish army, under David Lesley.
In November, 1642, the Earl of Newcastle formed the
counties of Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, and
Westmorland, and the town of Newcastle, into an association
for the king's service; in the month of December,
having been ordered to lead his forces towards York,
he began his march from Newcastle, and the next day,
after a skirmish of several hours with Captain Hotham,
passed the Tyne at Pier's bridge. This county was
not subsequently the scene of any action of importance
until the second entry of the Scottish army into
England, which crossed the Tyne on the 28th of February,
1644, at the three fords of Ovingham, Bywell,
and Eltringham, and entered Sunderland on the 4th of
March. The Marquis of Newcastle, with the Yorkshire
cavalry under Sir George Lucas, being in possession of
the city of Durham, kept them in check until the disasters
of the royal party in Yorkshire occasioned the. recal
of the marquis from the north, and his departure
from this county, by way of Pier's bridge, on the 14th
of April. On the 20th, Lesley joined the parliament'sforces
vinder Fairfax at Tadcaster. The capture of
Newcastle on the 19th of October following, placed the
bishoprick of Durham entirely under the power of the
parliament; and from that time it was, in effect, governed
by Sir William Armine, and the rest of the par-
liamentary commissioners, and by the noted family of
Lilburne, and Sir Arthur Haslerigg, whose extensive purchases
of lands belonging to the see, sold by order of
parliament, acquired him the nickname of the Bishop
of Durham. In 1646, when the Scots had determined
on delivering up King Charles to the English parliament,
he was removed on the 3rd of February from Newcastle
to Durham, on the 4th to Auckland, and on the 5th to
Richmond, on his way to Holdenby House. This was one
of the seven northern counties which, in 1648, when
a last attempt was made by the royalists in the north
to seize some of the strong places, was ordered by parliament
to be associated forthwith, and put in a posture
of defence. In 1651 and 1652, two acts were
passed for the sale of the estates of several royalist gentlemen
in the bishoprick, who had refused to compound
for them. In 1653, the county of Durham, or a committee
so styling themselves, presented an address to
the Lord General Cromwell and his council of officers,
expressing their adherence to his person and govern
ment, but it was signed by only one person of considerable
family or connexions in the county; which, indeed,
was one of those to which the restoration of royalty
gave the greatest satisfaction.
This county lies within the diocese of Durham, and
province of York, and forms an, archdeaconry, com-
prising the deaneries of Chester le Street, Darlington,
Easington, and Stockton, and containing seventy-five,
parishes, of which thirty-two are rectories, twenty-three
vicarages, and twenty perpetual curacies: there ,are
also twenty-four dependent chapels. For civil pur
poses it is divided into the four wards of Chester, Dar-
lington, Easington, and Stockton. It rose gradually out
of the ancient province of Northumberland, together
with the increasing patrimony of the church of St.
Cuthbert, and besides its principal portion, lying between
the rivers Tyne, Tees, and Darwent, includes
several -scattered members of that patrimony, viz.,
Norhamshire and Islandshire, including Holy Island
and the Fame Isles, and a portion of the mainland,
extending from the Tweed on the north and north-west,
to the sea on the east, and separated from Northumberland
on the south, partly by the course of the Till,
and partly by an imaginary line,- and Bedlingtonshire,
lying in the heart of Northumberland, betwixt the
rivers Blyth and Wansbeck: these are usually termed
the north bishopriclc, and are included in Chester ward
besides the insulated territory of Craike, locally in the wapentake
of Bulmer, in Yorkshire. The county contains the
city of Durham, and the market-towns of Barnard-Castle,
Bishop-Auckland, Sunderland, Darlington, Gateshead,
Hartlepool, Sedgefield, South Shields, Staindrop, Stanhope,
Stockton upon Tees, and Walsingham, of which
number, Hartlepool, South Shields, Stockton upon Tees,
and Sunderland, are sea-ports. Two knights are returned
to parliament for the county palatine, and two representatives
for the city of Durham. The county members
are elected at Durham. This county is included in the
northern circuit: the assizes and the quarter sessions are
held at Durham, where stands the county gaol and house
of correction. There are seventy-four acting magistrates.
The rates raised in the county for the year ending
March 25th, 1827, amounted to £ 94,417 13., the expenditure
to £94,181. 6., of which £76,702. 17., was
applied to the relief of the poor.
Although the present county of Durham is considered
to be a county palatine by prescription, yet the
first prelate who is known to have exercised the palatine
jurisdiction was Bishop Walcher, who, soon after his
elevation to this see, received also from the Conqueror
the earldom of Northumberland, vacant by the wellknown
deposition and death of the Saxon earl, Waltheof:
it is probable that either then, or at some period
very soon after, by grant, or tacit permission, the
palatine powers were assumed by Walcher to the same
extent in which they were constantly exercised by his
successors. For the extent of these powers at that
period, the situation of Durham as a border county, and
the general disaffection of the Northumbrian province
to" the Norman government, appears sufficiently to ac»
count. From this time owning, within the limits of
the palatinate, no earthly superior, the successive pre--
lates continued for four centuries to exercise every right
attached to a distinct and independent sovereignty,
These rights included the paramount seignorial property
of all lands; the supreme jurisdiction, as well civil as
military, the former exercised by the establishment of
courts of law and equity, the appointment of officers,
and the levying of taxes and subsidies) the latter by
the power of array; together with a jurisdiction of
admiralty, as] well along the coast as in the navigable
and other waters; and the privilege of coining money.
These privileges continued unabridged until the passing
of the statute of- resumption in the 27th of Henry VIII.,
the most- important provisions of which were as follows:
the bishop was deprived of the privilege of pardoning
treason, murder, manslaughter, felony, reversing ou
lawries, and of the appointment of the justices of the
peace and of assize; all writs were directed to ruri in
the king's name, and the ancient form of indictment,
" Contra pacem Episcopi" was altered to the usual one,
"Against the King's peace;" and all sheriffs, bailiffs,
and other officers, were made amenable to the general
laws of the realm. The right of altering all processes
within the franchise was reserved to the bishop, and
it was directed that the bishop and his temporal chancellor
should be always, ipso facto, two of the justices
of the peace. The next invasion of the rights of the
bishoprick was in the following reign, by the contrivance
of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, when, oil the 21st
of March, 1553, a bill was read for suppressing the
bishoprick of Durham; and "for the better preaching of
God's Holy Word in those parts," it was proposed that
two bishopricks should be endowed in that diocese,
one at Durham, with a revenue of two thousand marks,
the other at Newcastle, with a revenue of one thousand
marks; and by a patent, dated in May of the same
year, the duke was appointed steward of all the remaining
revenues of the bishoprick. On the accession of
Mary, the bishoprick of Durham was restored by act of
parliament; but the influence of its bishop, Tunstall,
was successfully exerted in screening the objects of religious
persecution, so that no person suffered for heresy
within the limits of his extensive diocese. In conse
quence of the ordinance for the total abolition of episcopacy,
which passed both houses of parliament on the
9th of October, 1646, followed by an order for the sale
of bishops lands for the use of the commonwealth, the
palatinate of Durham was dissolved, and from that year
a sheriff for the county was annually appointed by parliament,
who accounted to the public treasury; the ancient
palatine courts of law and equity were suspended,
and commissioners appointed to sit on gaol deliveries;
a seneschal was also appointed for the court of halmote,
who acted as such in the name of the different persons
by whom the copyhold manors of the see had been
purchased. The county, which, owing to its palatine privileges,
had never before sent knights or burgesses to
parliament, was represented in Cromwell's three parliaments
of 1653, 1654, and 1(556. The Restoration produced
the restitution of the temporalties and privileges
of the see, on the 14th of December, 1660. In the reign
of Charles II., a bill was passed to enable the county
palatine and city of Durham to send knights and burgesses
to parliament, the first elections in pursuance of
which took place in 1675.
The general aspect of the coast is bare and dreary;
but between the swells of country lie numerous deep
and narrow dells, the scenery of which is of a more
pleasing character. Every brook which falls into the
sea has its banks adorned with a profusion of romanticobjects;
the vales commencing imperceptibly together
with the course of their streamlets, sometimes contract
into narrow glens, scarcely affording a single rugged
foot-path; sometimes open into irregular amphitheatres
of rock, covered with native ash or hazel, or deepen into
ravines resembling the bed of a rapid river, terminating
on the coast, either in wide sandy bays, or in narrow
outlets, where the stream mines its way under crags of
the wildest and most grotesque appearance. In a district
extending from the sea coast nearly to the top of
Cross Fell, which is-the highest land in England, (being
three thousand four hundred feet above the level of the
sea), and in which the rise is tolerably uniform from
the coast to the western mountains, there is necessarily
a considerable variety of climate.
The soil varies by such imperceptible degrees, as to
vender it difficult to describe all its diversities; clay, loam,
and peat, may, however, be considered as the principal
heads of classification. The south-eastern part of the
county, from the mouth of the Tees to a few miles west
of Stockton, and thence by Redmarshall, Wolviston,
Elwick, and as far north as Hart, consists of a strong,
fertile, clayey loam, which produces good crops of
wheat, beans, and clover, and has rich old grazing pastures.
Westward from this, as far as Sedgefield, Trimdon,
and Eppleton, and northward nearly to Sunderland,
the soil is chiefly a stubborn unprofitable clay,
which produces thin crops of corn, and, when suffered
to remain in grass, yields a herbage which scarcely any
kind of stock will eat, except when compelled by hunger.
A clayey soil, of an intermediate quality exists in numerous
parts of the county. The deep, dry, fertile
loams are generally found in the vicinity of rivers, as
in the vales of Tees, Skern, Tyne, and their tributary
streams; those on the Wear are of a more sandy nature:
dry fertile loams are also found in small patches in
many other parts of the county. The limestone district,
extending from near Sunderland, by Houghton le Spring,
Kelloe, Coxhoe, Ferry-Hill, and to Merrington, is mostly
a dry, but not a productive loam, being very different
from that, which covers the limestone in the western
parts of the county, where there are some of the most
fertile soils and best grazing lands in the north of England.
A moist soft loam, lying on a yellow ochreous clay,
impervious to water and unfavourable to vegetation, is
very extensively distributed through many parts of the
county, and is known by the provincial epithet of "watershaken
:" it is generally thin, and the water being kept so
near the surface occasions the plants to be thrown out
by frost. The peaty soil is most prevalent in the western
parts of the county, the greater portion of the moors
which have been enclosed being of that description; it is
generally accompanied with sub-strata of yellow ochreous
clay, or white sand, in both cases unproductive. With
respect to the [agricultural peculiarities of this county,
it may be mentioned that rye is very rarely cultivated
alone, as the proportion of sandy soil suitable to the
growth of that species of grain, is very small; but a mixture
of rye and wheat, provincially termed maslin, or mislen
is very generally produced. Mustard was formerly
much cultivated in the county, and the "Durham mustard"
was proverbial for its excellence, but the practice has
almost wholly declined. The old meadow lands are nearly
all upland meadows; the best old grazing pastures are
on Skernside, and at Binchester, Stanhope, Billingham,
Staindrop, Barnard-Castle, and a few other places. The
climate is not favourable for orchards, so that the fruit
produced is not nearly equal to the consumption, a
considerable quantity being imported. The best wooded
part is the vale of Derwent, the soil of which is peculiarly
favourable to the growth of wood, especially of
oak; in this vale is also a considerable quantity of underwood,
particularly hazels. Within the last eighty
years plantations have been made to a great extent,
especially in the vicinity of gentlemen's seats. The
cattle bred here for a great number of years have
been of the short-horned kind, the best variety of
which having been long found on both sides of the
river Tees, has for a considerable period been known by
the appellation of " the Tees-water breed." The lower
parts of the county were formerly famed for having the
largest breed of sheep in the kingdom, many of them
weighing from fifty pounds to sixty pounds a quarter;
but of late years, the introduction of the Leicestershire
breed has reduced the size of the Durham sheep, and
improved the quality of their mutton; the rot is a malady
in this animal very extensively felt over a large
portion of the county. The south-eastern part of Durham,
like the adjoining part of Yorkshire, has long been
celebrated for a valuable breed of draught horses, with
well-formed carcases, and strong, sinewy, light legs,
known by the name of " Cleveland bays." The most
prevailing breeds of swine are, the Berkshire black and
white, which are large-boned, and a small white sort,
bred in Liecestershire and Norfolk, which have a great
propensity to fatten, and have very little offal. The
wastes, with very few exceptions, consist of heathy
moors; they are all situated in the western and mountainous
part of the county, and are almost invariably
covered with the common heath, or ling: the use
of the greater part is in depasturing sheep of the
black-faced kind. The improvable moors, fells, or
commons, have chiefly been divided and enclosed. The
principal embankment is that of Saltholm and Billingham
marsh, near the mouth of the Tees, extending four
miles, and enclosing one thousand four hundred acres.
The first agricultural society established in the county
was at Darlington, in 1783, and was denominated the
Agricultural Society for the county of Durham; they had
four general meetings annually; two at Durham, and
two at Darlington. In 1802, an agricultural society was
formed at Barnard-Castle, and, in 1806, another at Walsingham;
and, between that year and 1810, another at
Shiney-Row, near Chester le Street. In 1805, one was
established by a number of gentlemen on both sides of
the Tyne j and, being limited to that district, was called
the Tyne-side Society. Besides these, a society for agricultural
experiments was formed in 1803, and agreed to
meet four times a year at Rusheyford.
Coal is found throughout a considerable portion
of the county; it is of the caking kind, burns into
excellent cinders, and leaves few ashes; that in the
western part of the county is of the best quality. The
coal district is chiefly bounded on the east by the
collieries of Jarrow, Penshaw, Rainton, Crowtrees, and
Ferry Hill; on the west, by Wylam, Consit, Thornley,
West Pits, and Woodlands; on the north by the river
Tyne; and on the south by Ferry Hill, Brusleton,
Cockfield, and Woodlands; including a space twentytwo
miles long, eleven miles and a half broad, and comprising
one hundred and sixty thousand acres, of which
the water-sale collieries are about one-third, and the
land-sale collieries two-thirds. In this space are found
various strata, or seams of coal, differing in thickness
and quality. Many of the collieries in the northern parts
of the county are wrought for exportation, but those in
the south and west are -worked for land sale only. I"
1810, there were employed in the" coal trade upon the
river Wear, six hundred and thirty-four keels, and one
thousand two hundred and fifty-seven men: at the
same time, the number of men employed in the
trade on the Tyne, was about two thousand. The coal
trade also affords employment to a great number of workmen
of various descriptions, such as carpenters, masons,
smiths, founders, rope-makers, ship-builders, &c. Of
the land-sale collieries the most valuable are those
on the south side of the county, from which the southern
part of Durham, and the northern parts of Yorkshire,
are supplied. The quantity of coal obtained in. the
county annually, has been estimated to be, in the
water-sale collieries, one million three hundred and
thirty-three thousand chaldrons, of thirty-six bushels,
affording employment to seven thousand and eleven
pitmen; and- in the land-sale collieries, one hundred
and forty-seven thousand and eighty  chaldrons, employing
three hundred and eighty-two pitmen: the
total number of men employed, including the keelmen,
&c., on the two rivers, was ten thousand six hundred
and fifty. The coal was formerly drawn out of the pits
by horses, eight being frequently employed for that
purpose where the shafts were deep; but within the last
thirty years, machines have been erected for drawing
them by steam, which are now in general use. The lead
mines are situated in the western part of the county;
and-begin a little westward of the line where the coal
district terminates. .The number of lead mines in
operation in 1809 was, in Tees dale,; forty-eight; in
"Wear dale, thirty-eight; and in the vale of Derwent
four; from;many of these little ore was obtained, and
some were being worked at a considerable loss. The
ore is wrought by the. bing of eight hundred weight,
and four bings of clean ore generally produce a ton of
lead. The rent paid to the proprietors of lead mines
is usually one-fifth of the ore; the total number of
smelting-mills, in the same year, was ten. Iron-ore is
found in abundance in the western parts ofi the coal
district, and great quantities have been smelted a.t some
remote period, as is evident from the immense heaps of
iron slag found .in various places on the commons of
Lanchester, Tanfield, Hamsterley, Evenwood, &c., arid
traditionally said to have been works of the.Danes.
Freestone for building, and grey slate for roofing, are
met with in various parts of the county. In the southeastern
partis a limestone district bounded by Pierse-
Bridge, Consley, Umby, Denton, Killerby, Langton, and
Morton; farther north is another, on the ridge extending
from Houghton, by Heighington, to Aykley;
and farther still is a third, forming that hilly tract
which extends from Merrington, by Ferry Hill, Bishop-
Middleham, Coxhoe, Sherburn, Ellemore, Houghton
le Spring, Pallion, Boldon, and Cleadon, and thence
southward along the coast, to near Hartlepool.
Limestone of the best quality abounds also in the
lead-mining district; and in Wear dale, near Frosterley,
is a vein which, from the stone being variegated, and
taking a fine polish, is denominated marble, and is used
for chimney-pieces and tomb-stones. Whin-stone is got
in different parts of the Cockfield Fell dyke, and in many
other similar places, for repairing roads, for which purpose
it is siiperior to any other material yet discovered.
The manufactures are various; Darlington has long
been noted for that of linen, which is also carried
on at Bishop-Auckland, Stanhope, and Stockton. Carpets
are made at Barnard-Castle and Durham. The
worsted manufacture is considerable at Durham and
Darlington, and, to a limited extent, at Bishop-Auck-
land. There are iron manufactories at Darlington,
Stockton, and Sunderland, and several for nails at each
of these towns, and at Durham; spades and edge-tools
are made at Walsingham. Paper is made to a considerable
extent at Durham; glass, including crown
and flint-glass, and glass bottles, at Sunderland and
South Shields; and earthenware, both for home sale
and exportation, on Gateshead Fell. Ship-building is
also extensively carried on at Sunderland and South
Shields, which, with Stockton, are the chief ports. The
principal articles of exportation are the mineral and
manufacturing produce of the county; the imports are
timber, deals, flax, hemp, hides, bar iron, linseed, oak -
bark, and linen-yarn.
The principal rivers are, the Tees, the Tyne, and the
Wear. The Tees, rising in Cumberland, forms the whole
south and south-western boundary of this county, separating
it from Westmorland and Yorkshire; it flows by
Barnard-Castle, and near Darlington, and falls into the
German ocean a few miles below Stockton, being navigable
to some distance above Yarm. Among the more
striking features of the romantic scenery for which Tees
dale is distinguished, are several very picturesque waterfalls.
The Tyne forms the northern limit of the county,
separating it from Northumberland, from about  two
miles above Ryton to its mouth, a little below South
Shields, and is navigable up to a little above Newcastle.
The Wear is formed by the junction of several small
streams in the north-western part of the county, and
runs from west to east, with a circuitous course, through
the centre of it, passing by Stanhope, Walsingham,
Bishop-Auckland, Durham, and Chester le Street, and
falling into the German ocean at Sunderland: it is
navigable nearly as far as Chester le Street. The
Derwent is formed by the junction of several streams
near Hunstonworth, and constitutes the northern
limit of the county to about three miles below Eb-
Chester, then crossing a portion of it, it falls into the
Tyne about a mile below the village of Swalwell. The
Skerne, rising near Kelloe, in Easington ward, flows
southward by Bishop-Middleham and Darlington, and
falls into the Tees opposite the village of Croft, in Yorkshire.
The fish in these rivers are, salmon, trout, eels,
chevins, dace,- pike (especially in the Skerne), and sparlings
(in the Tees). The Darlington and Stockton
railway was constructed pursuant to an act obtained in
1821, and completed in September, 1825, at an expense
of £125,000, advanced by sixty shareholders; the entire
length of the main line, from Witton Park colliery
to Stockton, is twenty-five miles, and it has various
branches diverging from it: coal, lime, and mmeralogical
productions are conveyed along it at the rate of three
halfpence per ton per mile, and merchandise at threepence
per ton; coaches drawn by horses are charged at
the rate of threepence per mile; the line is worked by
two fixed locomotive engines, working four inclined
planes half a mile in length. The great road from London
to Berwick enters the county from Croft, in Yorkshire,
and passing through Darlington, Durham, and
Chester le Street, quits it at the passage of the Tyne,
for Newcastle.
The Roman stations are, Lanchester, where numerous
remains of that people have been found, and
where Horsley places the Glannibanta of the Notitia;
Binchester, the Vinomum of Antoninus; Ebchester
and Cunscliffe, which Horsley identifies with the Maga
of the Notitia, and where numerous Roman coins, &c.,
have been found. Considerable remains of the Watling-
street,, and of other Roman roads connecting the
different stations, are yet visible. The principal ancient
encampment is Maiden Castle. The chief specimens of
ancient ecclesiastical architecture are to be seen in the
magnificent cathedral church of Durham, and in the
churches of Chester le Street, Brancepeth, Darlington,
Hartlepool, and Bishop-Wearmouth. Before the Reformation,
the religious houses in this county were, six
monasteries, six colleges, and five hospitals, of which
the most interesting remains are those of Jarrow and
Finchale monasteries, and of St. Edmund's hospital at
Gateshead. Of ancient ca&tles, the most remarkable remains
are those of Barnard-Castle, and of the castles of
Brancepeth, Durham, and Norham. The finest specimens
of old castellated mansions are seen in Raby, Lumley,
Hilton, and Auckland castles. The most remarkable
mineral springs are at Dinsdale, Croft, Butterby, and
Chester le Street, and of the saline springs the principal
is at Birtley, from which about eleven hundred tons of
salt are made annually.