Durham - Dymock

A Topographical Dictionary of England. Originally published by S Lewis, London, 1848.

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'Durham - Dymock', in A Topographical Dictionary of England, (London, 1848) pp. 110-121. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp110-121 [accessed 24 March 2024]

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Durham

DURHAM, a city, the capital of the county of Durham, and the head of a union, 67 miles (E. S. E.) from Carlisle, 87 (N. E.) from Lancaster, 67 (N. W. by W.) from York, and 259 (N. W.) from London; containing 14,151 inhabitants. The name of the city is probably derived from the Saxon words, Dun, a hill, and Holme, a river island; being descriptive of its situation on a rocky eminence partially surrounded by the river Wear; the Normans called it Duresme, whence more immediately is deduced its present appellation. The earliest account of the place is in 995, when the bishop and monks of Lindisfarne, afterwards called Holy Island, who had removed to Chester-leStreet, and subsequently to Ripon, for sanctuary from the violence of Danish aggression, were returning to their church at Chester-le-Street, after an absence of four months, with the disinterred body of St. Cuthbert, which had been buried at Lindisfarne, in 687. According to the superstitious legend, on their arrival at the spot where Durham now stands, a miraculous interposition rendered the carriage which conveyed the body, and other relics, immoveable; and this incident they construed into a divine prohibition against the return of the saint's remains to their former resting-place. They likewise interpreted some other circumstances into an intimation that Dunholme was destined to receive the sacred relics; and on the west corner tower of the east transept of the cathedral are still some emblematic devices designed to commemorate the occurrence. They forthwith proceeded to construct a sort of ark, or tabernacle, of wicker-work, wherein they deposited the saint's body; subsequently a more appropriate edifice was erected, called the White Church, and three years after their arrival, a stone church was built by Bishop Aldun, and dedicated to St. Cuthbert, whose remains were then removed and enshrined in it. Determined on permanent residence, these strangers cleared away the trees which skirted the hill, and began to build substantial houses. Thus arose the Saxon town of Dunholme, about the commencement of the eleventh century; and its increase, both in buildings and population, was so rapid, that in 1040, being then partially fortified, Duncan of Scotland besieged it: his forces were totally vanquished, and the heads of the Scottish leaders who were slain or captured were fixed on poles around the market-place.

Arms.

At the Conquest, many of the Anglo-Saxon malcontents assembled here, erected a castle and other fortifications, and made a temporary defence, but not receiving assistance they fled; and William the Conqueror entered the city, and granted many privileges to the inhabitants. In 1069, Robert Comyn, Earl of Northumberland, being appointed governor, entered Durham with a Norman guard of 700 soldiers; and such were the enormities they committed, that the enraged populace of the adjacent country, taking advantage of the inaction to which the forces were reduced by drunkenness and revelling, burst into the city, set fire to the governor's house, and put them all to the sword, except one man, who was wounded, and made his escape. In revenge for this carnage, William, desolating in his progress the whole country between York and Durham, advanced upon the city, when the whole of the inhabitants fled, and the monks left their convent; but on the departure of the troops, the fugitives, after an absence of four months, returned from the neighbouring mountains, where they had taken shelter. A dreadful famine and consequently mortality were the result, and the people were under the necessity of eating horses, dogs, and cats, and even human bodies. The whole of the district through which the Norman had passed remained without culture for nine years, infested by robbers and beasts of prey; and many of the inhabitants who escaped the sword starved in the fields. During this calamity the bones of St. Cuthbert were removed, after a repose of seventy-five years, to Lindisfarne, on which occasion it is superstitiously related that the sea retired, and allowed the wanderers who accompanied the holy relics to pass over to the island dry-shod. At length tranquillity was restored, and the body was replaced in the shrine at Durham; but the bishop, being detected in a rebellion against the Conqueror, was imprisoned till his death.

The king, on his return from an expedition against Malcolm of Scotland, in 1072, appointed Walcher, a Norman, to the bishopric, and ordered a fortress to be erected here, to overawe the inhabitants, and form a barrier to the northern territories. This prelate purchased the earldom of Northumberland, assumed the title of Count Palatine, and by uniting temporal and ecclesiastical power, excited an insurrection, in which he was slain at Gateshead, in 1080. During the protracted warfare which followed this outrage, Carilepho, who had succeeded to the see, took part with Malcolm, against William, and at its termination fled to Normandy. William Rufus seized on the temporalities, and appointed John de Tailbois and Ernesius de Burone governors of the castle and palatinate: in 1091 the bishop was restored. The shrine of St. Cuthbert having been greatly enriched under the six prelates who preceded Carilepho, that bishop, having brought from Normandy the plan of a new church, pulled down the old one, and began the present edifice, the foundation of which was laid by King Malcolm, Carilepho, and Turgot the prior, on the 11th of August, 1093; the building taking above thirty years in its completion. Bishop Ralph Flambard conveyed St. Cuthbert's remains to the new church in 1104, erected a splendid shrine near the choir for their reception, improved the fortifications of the city and castle, and built Framwell-gate bridge. During his episcopacy Durham sustained considerable injury from fire. In 1139, the Empress Queen, Maud, daughter of Henry I.; and Prince Henry, son of David, King of Scotland, with the members of the congress, were entertained by the citizens, on the negotiation of peace between England and Scotland.

During the reign of Henry II., Bishop Pudsey incurring the royal displeasure, that monarch took possession of the city and castle; and at the bishop's death, the officers of the crown having seized the keys, the see was vacant two years. Many other vacancies occurred before and after Pudsey, owing principally to the rapacity of the crown to hold the temporalities. To this prelate the city was indebted for several improvements, particularly for the erection of Elvet bridge, and the extension of the city wall from Northgate to Southgate. King John resided here in 1213; as also did Henry III., for a short time during the prelacy of Bishop Farnham: the latter monarch deprived the shrine of St. Cuthbert of a considerable treasure, which he never restored. Edward I. held a council here, to dispose of the estates of some Scottish barons, after the victory of Falkirk; and in 1300 he again visited Durham, as a mediator between the bishop and his convent. In 1313, the suburbs were reduced to ashes by a numerous body of Scottish invaders; and in 1316, they also destroyed the seat of the prior at Beaurepaire, now Bear park: about this time Bishop Beaumont repaired the city walls, and put them into a state of defence. In 1327, the city was for some time the head-quarters of Edward III. and his army: in 1333, that monarch rested here on his march to Hallidown, and was splendidly entertained by Bishop Bury; and in 1356 he again visited Durham, issuing from it his summons for the military tenants to attend him on a northern expedition.

In 1404, two peers and two knights were executed here for engaging in a conspiracy against Henry IV. On the liberation and marriage of James I. of Scotland, in 1424, Durham was crowded with the nobility; the hostages were received here, and the King and Queen of Scotland remained in the city a considerable time. About this period the plague commenced, and continued to rage for five years; the assizes and all public assemblies were suspended, and several thousands of the inhabitants of the city and its vicinity fell victims. During the episcopacy of Neville, the English and Scottish delegates held several meetings here. In 1448, Henry VI. came on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Cuthbert: in 1463, Lord Montague and his army were quartered at Durham, previously to the battle of Hedgeley Moor; and Bishop Fox entertained Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., with other distinguished personages in the great hall of his palace, on her way to Scotland, where she was married to James IV. At the close of the rebellion under the Nevilles, in the reign of Elizabeth, sixty-six persons were executed in the city; and from 1589 to 1597, with some slight intermission, the plague again raged in it. In April, 1617, James I. was presented by the mayor with a gold cup on entering the city; and in June, 1633, Bishop Morton entertained Charles I. and his retinue during his residence here for three days, at the daily expense of £1500. After the battle of Newburn, in 1640, when the Scottish army entered England, the city of Durham became almost utterly depopulated.

The city is about one mile in length, and as much in breadth; and from the peculiar course of the river, which environs it in the form of a horse-shoe, it is peninsular, occupying a considerable eminence, surmounted by the cathedral and the remains of the ancient castle, together with other ecclesiastical residences. These are bounded on one side by the streets called the North and South Baileys, inclosed within the remains of the old city walls, and skirted by sloping gardens, that descend to the brink of the Wear; on the other side by finely-wooded banks having public walks of extreme beauty formed along the winding margin of the river. There are several approaches to the walks, one by an avenue from the Palace-green, a large open area before the cathedral. Framwell-gate bridge, situated at the northern extremity of the city, and having one pier and two elliptic and finely-proportioned arches of ninety feet span, adapted to the low shores on each side, was erected by Bishop Flambard, about 1120: a large tower gateway which stood at the end of this bridge, next the city, was taken down in 1760. Elvet bridge, of eight arches, was built about 1170 by Bishop Pudsey, and afterwards repaired by Bishop Fox, who granted an indulgence to all contributors; in 1806, it was improved, and widened to twice its former breadth. The bridge which crosses the river nearly opposite the only remaining city gate, at the extremity of the South Bailey, is an elegant structure, erected between 1772 and 1777, and consisting of three semicircular arches, with a balustraded battlement. A little higher up the river is the site of an old bridge carried away by a flood in 1771. Here stands the picturesque cottage in which the famous dwarf, Count Boruwlaski, resided during the last twenty years of his life; he was thirty-nine inches high, was born in Polish Russia in 1739, and was buried in the cathedral, Sept. 11th, 1837. The town is paved, flagged, lighted with gas, and watched under the direction of commissioners appointed under acts of parliament passed in the 30th of George III. and the 3rd of George IV. Besides St. Cuthbert's well, and several other springs of the purest water, there is a pant, or public fountain, in the centre of the market-place, surmounted by a statue of Neptune riding on a dolphin; the reservoir is of an octagonal form. In the year 1450 an excellent spring of water, situated in his manor of Sidgate, was granted to the city for ever by Thomas Billingham: the water is conveyed through pipes into the reservoir. There is a theatre in Sadler-street, built in 1791; and a mechanics' library, founded in 1825, in the market-place. The races are held in May, near Old Elvet, and continue four days: they appear to have been established in the reign of Charles II.

The Castle of Durham, once a residence of the bishop, but now assigned to the university, stands northward of the cathedral. The original edifice is attributed to the Conqueror, in 1072; but it has undergone various alterations and additions at different periods. The oldest portion is probably the ancient chapel and the foundations under the great hall, together with the range of arcades lately opened out in the upper story. It is doubtful whether any part of the original keep, except the foundation, remains: that which now exists was most likely built by Bishop Hatfield, in 1350, and is in the form of an irregular octagon, occupying the summit of an artificial mound, around which are three terraces, commanding a beautiful view of the city and its environs. Operations have been lately completed for restoring the outer walls of the keep, and building within them eighteen sets of apartments for university students. The other parts consist of a large mass of buildings, of almost every date, from the Norman to the present time. Some fine specimens of Norman architecture and carving, previously concealed, have been laid open by Bishops Barrington and Van Mildert, and by the present possessors: the ancient baronial hall, now the splendid dining-room of the university, has been fitted up with great taste by the warden, Dr. Thorp. The great north gateway was used as a county gaol till 1820, when it was removed, and its site occupied, on the west side, by a library and newsroom, and on the east by shops, with a spacious assembly-room over them.

The trade was formerly much more extensive than it is at present: a cotton manufactory, which existed previously to 1804, was in that year destroyed by fire. It has, however, received a stimulus from the Hartlepool, Durham and Sunderland, York and Newcastle, and Clarence railways, and from the increasing coal-trade. The Durham and Sunderland railway, for the conveyance of coal and passengers, was completed in 1838; the line is 13¼ miles long: the Durham branch of the York and Newcastle railway, 2¼ miles in length, was opened in April, 1844. Here are two manufactories for stuffs and carpets and for spinning wool, two iron and brass foundries, two hat-factories, some coach-manufactories, two water and two steam mills for grinding corn, and some paper-mills. A market for corn and provisions is held on Saturday, under a piazza at the bottom of the market-place, where the corn is pitched. Fairs for horned-cattle, sheep, and horses, are held on the 29th, 30th, and 31st of March, Whit-Tuesday, Saturday before May 13th, Sept. 15th, and Saturday before Nov. 23rd: the March fair is an object of peculiar attraction to horse-dealers from the south, on account of the excellent breed of horses in the adjacent district which are brought for sale. A court of pie-poudre is held during each fair, by the corporation.

The government, in the earliest times, was vested in a bailiff appointed by the bishop. About 1440, the title of the principal civil officer was changed from "bailiff of the borough," to "bailiff of the city;" and in 1171 the first charter was bestowed by Bishop Pudsey upon the burgesses, who were exempted from the payment of tolls and other feudal exactions, and received also "all such free customs as the burgesses of Newcastle enjoyed." From this period to the Reformation the city was governed by a bailiff, but an officer was then appointed under the statute of Edward III. and other laws, who, under the title of marshal, kept the alnage seal. In 1377, Bishop Hatfield granted a charter imposing certain duties on wares coming into the city, as a fund for keeping the walls and pavement in repair. A charter of incorporation was conferred in 1565, by Bishop Pilkington, vesting the government in an alderman and twelve burgesses, and authorising a weekly market and three annual fairs. In 1602 Bishop Matthew bestowed a new charter, whereby the body politic and corporate was made to consist of a mayor, twelve aldermen, and a common-council, with divers privileges, power to purchase lands, and a common seal. This was confirmed by James I., and continued in force till 1761, when, in consequence of irregularities in the election of the mayor and other members, the city was placed under the control of a bailiff, till Bishop Egerton granted a charter in 1780, under which, till the passing of the Municipal act, the corporation consisted of a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common-councilmen, assisted by a recorder, town-clerk, two serjeants-at-mace, and inferior officers. Under that act the corporation comprises a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors; and the city is divided into three wards, the municipal and parliamentary boundaries being the same. There are 16 trading companies, in two of which all the sons are free by patrimony; in the rest, only the eldest son: the freedom is also acquired by servitude. The elective franchise was conferred by act of parliament, in 1673, since which time the city has returned two members. The right of election once belonged to the members of the corporation and the freemen, resident and non-resident, amounting to about 1200; but by the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, the former non-resident electors, except within seven miles, were disfranchised, and the privilege was extended to the £10 householders of an enlarged district, comprising 1480 acres, now constituting the borough, which formerly included only 330 acres: the mayor is returning officer.

Corporation Seal

The corporation hold a court leet and a court baron, as lessees of the manor under the Bishop of Durham, for the recovery of debts under 40s. Criminal matters are brought before the justices of the county, who hold a court of petty-sessions every Saturday at the justiceroom in the county courts, where also are held the adjourned quarter-sessions on the first Saturday in every month. A court of pleas for the county is held by prescription every three weeks, and twice a year before the judges travelling the northern circuit; it is a superior court of record, in which sums to any amount are recoverable. The assizes for the county are also held here. The powers of the county debt-court of Durham, established in 1847, extend over the registration-districts of Chester-le-Street and Houghton, part of the district of Durham and Lanchester, and part of that of Easington. In the market-place is the guildhall, erected by Bishop Tunstall in 1555, and repaired by George Bowes, Esq., in 1752; in the council-chamber are portraits of Charles II., Bishop Lord Crewe, Dr. Hartwell, Hugh, Earl Percy, and Brass Crossby, lord mayor of London. The exchequer, built in 1450 by Bishop Neville, is on the Palace Green; within it are offices for the auditor, cursitor, prothonotary, treasurer and clerk of the county, registrar, &c. From 1809 to 1818, extensive buildings, comprising a house of correction, county courts, and a gaol, were erected at the expense of £120,000; they occupy a large square area, on the north side whereof is the court-house, which, besides the Crown and Nisi Prius courts at each end, contains commodious apartments for the judge, jury, counsel, &c. The city is the place of election for the parliamentary representatives of the northern division of the county.

The bishopric of Durham, one of the most, wealthy in the kingdom, includes the counties of Durham and Northumberland. The ecclesiastical establishment is in future to consist of the bishop, dean, 3 archdeacons, 6 resident canons, a number of honorary canons, 6 minor canons, and a chancellor: the bishop has the patronage of the archdeaconries, chancellorship, and canonries; the dean and chapter have the patronage of the minor canonries. The cathedral is situated on an eminence partly clothed with plantations and gardens, and almost encircled by the river; near it are the university, the deanery, and other ecclesiastical residences, and the general aspect of this mass of building is peculiarly grand and impressive. The north front faces an open space between the cathedral and the castle; on the south and east the edifice is so surrounded as to prevent a complete view, but from the opposite bank of the river the western front is visible, under that advantage of distance which is favourable to the concealment of the more modern alterations in detail. The plan of the cathedral exhibits a Galilee at the west front, a nave, aisles, and transept, with a choir and aisles, and the chapel of Nine Altars, the last extending beyond the north and south walls of the building, and assuming the appearance of a second transept. The length of the edifice is 420 feet; the interior of the Galilee is 78 by 50; the height of the central tower 212, and that of the western towers each 143. The general character of the larger portion is Norman, of a very bold style, with insertions in all the English styles. The foundation was laid in 1093, by Bishop Carilepho; the chapel of Galilee, or the Lady Chapel, at the western end, was built by Bishop Pudsey, who had previously commenced the erection of a chapel at the eastern end of the edifice, for the devotional exercises of females, which was discontinued. The north aisle of the Galilee was for a long time used as a depository for wills, and the register-office was also kept in it prior to the erection of the present building in 1822; but it has been re-united to the fabric, and divine service is performed there every Sunday evening during the summer months. The eastern portion of the choir, or the chapel of the Nine Altars, is in the early English style, with a large decorated window at the north end: the large west window, and that of the north transept, are also of the decorated character, with rich composition; and in various parts of the cathedral are windows of a similar style, with fine tracery inserted in the opening, of earlier date. The two western towers are Norman below, the upper portions English, with an intermixture of semicircular and pointed arches; to these have been added, during the late repairs, pinnacles and a pierced battlement. The great central tower is of later English architecture above the nave, with Norman piers and arches below; and the upper story is short in comparison with the base. The nave is magnificent in its proportions, and very bold in its details: the central tower is open to a great height, and although in other parts the effect is diminished, from the situation of the church not permitting a western entrance, and from the division between the Galilee and the nave, this portion is exceedingly fine. Behind the altar-screen is the chapel called the Feretory, where stood the gorgeous shrine of St. Cuthbert, erected over the spot where his bones were deposited: during the progress of some alterations immediately behind this shrine, on the 17th of May, 1827, the vault supposed to contain the holy relics was opened, when a chest, apparently of oak, was discovered, in which lay the perfect skeleton of the saint, in vestments of linen and silk. The eastern arch of the choir is early English; and the altar-screen, in tabernacle-work of the later style, corresponds with the screen-work of the bishop's throne, which is erected over the magnificent tomb of Bishop Hatfield. The groining of the nave and choir is also in the early English style, the latter being of somewhat later character than the former. The cathedral library contains numerous manuscripts of remote antiquity, especially two in the handwriting of Bede.

Arms of the Bishopric.

At the time of the Dissolution, the priory was rated at about £1600 per annum; and on the 12th of May, 1541, Henry VIII. granted his foundation charter to the church, altering its dedication from St. Mary and St. Cuthbert, to that of Christ and St. Mary. He instituted a dean and twelve prebendaries as a body corporate, and bestowed upon them the site of the monastery, with its ancient rights. The minor duties of the cathedral are performed by eight singing men, an organist and choristers, and two bell-ringers; there are a master and under master of the grammar school, and eighteen scholars, and eight poor men are supported by the establishment. The school had, previously to the foundation of the university of Durham, four exhibitions for sons of clergymen, of £25 per annum each at school, and £50 per annum each at either of the two universities, given by the Dean and Chapter. It has now only five scholarships, of £10 per annum each, at Peter-house, Cambridge, founded by John Cosin, D.D., Bishop of Durham; one scholarship, of £16 per annum, at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, founded by Dr. Michael Smith, jointly with the school at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for which also, and for this school, Dr. Hartwell bequeathed £20 per annum, to be divided between two exhibitioners at either university, and tenable for five years. In addition to the eighteen boys on the foundation, are about sixty who pay a regular quarterage.

The city comprises several parishes. St. Giles, or Gilligate, containing 3396 inhabitants, is a perpetual curacy; patrons, the Marquess and Marchioness of Londonderry. The church has various Norman portions, but the general style resembles that of the Galilee chapel of the cathedral. St. Mary's, or the North Bailey, containing 308 inhabitants, is a rectory not in charge; net income, £111; patron, the Archdeacon of Northumberland. The church, in which the bishop's and archdeacon's visitations are now held, was repaired in 1685, and is supposed to occupy the site of the chapel in which St. Cuthbert's remains were originally deposited. St. Mary's, or the South Bailey, containing 99 inhabitants, is a rectory not in charge, in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £119. The church is an ancient edifice, with modern alterations, and is remarkable for its carved altar-screen and other ornaments. St. Nicholas', containing 2757 inhabitants, is a perpetual curacy; net income, £87; patron and impropriator, the Marquess of Londonderry. The church is of considerable antiquity; it was repaired in 1768, and an east window added. St. Oswald's, or Elvet, which has been divided into two distinct parishes under the 16th section of the act of the 58th of George III., contains, with the part without the city, and exclusively of Crossgate, the second parish, 3341 inhabitants: it is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £16; net income, £272; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter. The church is a large and handsome edifice, the lower part in the early English style, the windows and other portions decorated, and the tower and upper part of the building later English. St. Margaret's, or Crossgate, containing 1712 inhabitants, is now a perpetual curacy; net income, £409; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter. The church, an ancient Norman structure with a low tower, has undergone much alteration at different periods. The chapel of Croxdale, in St. Oswald's parish, is noticed under its own head. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists, and Roman Catholics, the last a handsome edifice with a stained window representing Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The university was founded in connexion with the cathedral, by the late Bishop Van Mildert and the Dean and Chapter; the former contributing annually £2000 towards a fund for the maintenance of a warden, a professor of Greek, and a professor of divinity, to each of which two latter offices he annexed a canonry in the cathedral; and the latter assigning to the purpose property producing a rental of £3000. By act of parliament in 1832, the Dean and Chapter, with the consent of the Bishop, were empowered to appropriate the property above mentioned to the establishment and maintenance of the university; and the members were incorporated by royal charter on the 1st of June, 1837, when the government was vested in the Dean and Chapter, under the jurisdiction of the bishop, as visiter, and the castle of Durham, with its precincts, was conveyed to the bishop in trust for its further endowment. By order in council, on the 4th of June, 1841, pursuant to a recommendation of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it was provided that the wardenship should on the first vacancy be permanently annexed to the deanery of Durham, that a professorship of Hebrew and the oriental languages should then be founded, and that the six fellowships founded by the Dean and Chapter, in 1840, should be increased to twenty-four; towards the maintenance of which, certain estates were allotted to the university.

Arms of the University.

The establishment is under the control of a warden and sub-warden; a senate, consisting of the warden, the professors of divinity, Greek, Hebrew, and oriental languages, and mathematics, and the two proctors; a registrar, treasurer, librarian and assistant librarian, an observer, and two pro-proctors. In addition to the professors are readers in law, medicine, history, and polite literature, and natural philosophy; and lecturers on chemistry and modern languages. The course of studies and the discipline are similar to those of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The college was established at the same time as the university, and is under the superintendence of a master, who is the warden of the university, a vice-master, and four tutors; the hall and chapel of the castle are appropriated to the use of the college, and several houses within the precincts have been fitted up for the residence of the students. Increased facilities being necessary, a new hall, called Bishop Hatfield's Hall, was opened in 1846, and a principal appointed. The 24 fellowships, of £150 each for clergymen, and £120 for laymen, are tenable for eight years by such students as have taken the degree of B.A. in the university, and 8 of them can be held by laymen. There are also 20 university scholarships of £30 each, of which one is in the nomination of the grammar school, two in that of the dean, one in that of each of the canons, and the remainder are given by the senate to students that have distinguished themselves in first or second annual examinations. Since the death of the late bishop, two scholarships, of £50 each, have been founded by subscription, and, out of respect to his memory, called the Van Mildert scholarships; they are tenable by students who have taken the degree of B.A. and are desirous of becoming students in theology. There is also a scholarship of £30, founded by the Dean and Chapter, with £600 placed at their disposal, for the benefit of the university, by the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, canon of Durham; and the trustees of Bishop Barrington have usually granted annually a sum sufficient for maintaining six scholarships, of £40 each, tenable by the sons or orphans of the clergy of the diocese. The university has a valuable library and museum.

Among the charitable institutions is the Infirmary, a spacious building in Allergate, erected by subscription in 1792, on a piece of ground given by Thomas Wilkinson, Esq., of Coxhoe. On the east side of the Palace green was a range of building erected by Bishop Cosin, in 1668, consisting of an almshouse in the centre and a schoolroom at each end. In a charter respecting this property Bishop Cosin attributes the foundation of the schools, of which the one was for singing, and the other a grammar school, to Bishop Langley; but on the authority of a manuscript in the library of the Dean and Chapter, the foundation is assigned to two persons named Newton and Thoralby. The old buildings have been ceded to the university, and a new building erected in their stead in Queen-street, comprising separate apartments for four poor men and four poor women, 50 years of age, and unmarried, who are appointed by the bishop. There is a long list of benefactors to the poor, among whom is Henry Smith, who in 1598 bequeathed his coal-mines and personal estate to supply a fund, which now produces about £400 per annum, for the relief of poor inhabitants. The trustees were the mayor and aldermen for the time being, but by an order of the Lord Chancellor, in 1836, seventeen new trustees were appointed. The union of Durham comprises 25 parishes or places in the city and county: the workhouse, in which there is accommodation for 160 paupers, is at the head of Crossgate.

About three-quarters of a mile eastward from the city is Old Durham, a spot supposed by some to have been occupied by the Saxons, before the foundation of the present city, and by others to have been a Roman station: it still exhibits a few traces of antiquity. Opposite to it, on the southern side of the Wear, is the site of a fortification, with more probability ascribed to the Romans, called Maiden Castle; and some remains of the Ikeneld-street or Roman way are discernible in the neighbourhood. Within one mile north-east of Durham, also on the Wear, are the few remains of Kepier Hospital, an institution founded in 1112, by Bishop Flambard, for the maintenance of a master and twelve brethren, and valued at the Dissolution at £186. 0. 10.: they consist of a gateway with pointed arches. In the parish of St. Oswald, on the western bank of the river, are the venenerable and picturesque remains of Finchale Priory, founded by Henry de Pudsey, son of Bishop Pudsey, for Benedictine monks, in 1196, on the site of an ancient hermitage, in which Godric, who was afterwards canonized, for many years practised the severest austerities of devotional seclusion: its revenue, at the Dissolution, was £146. 19. 2.; and the remains, with the romantic cliffs of Cocken, on the opposite bank of the river, attract numerous visiters, for whose accommodation a house has been erected. The mansion-house of Houghall, built by Prior Hotoun, is about a mile from the city; and two miles distant is Beautrove, now Butterby, remarkable for its beauty and natural curiosities. In the moat surrounding the old mansion a coat of mail was discovered; and in an adjoining field the supposed site of an ancient hospital, several stone coffins and jars have been dug up. Here are saline, sulphureous, and chalybeate springs, the first of which was much frequented by people who drank the waters medicinally; but they have nearly been exhausted by the sinking of some new collieries in their vicinity. A mile westward from the city is the fragment of the once famous cross called Nevill's Cross erected by Ralph, Lord Nevill, in commemoration of the battle in 1346, in which David Bruce, King of Scotland, was taken prisoner. The following literary persons were natives of Durham: Robert Hegg, author of The Legend of St. Cuthbert, &c.; John Hall, a poet of the seventeenth century, who, besides a volume of poems, published a translation of Longinus; Dr. Richard Grey, author of the Memoria Technica and several other works, born in 1693; and William Eden, Lord Auckland, a distinguished statesman and diplomatist. The city gives the titles of Earl and Baron to the Lambton family.

Durham (County of)

DURHAM (COUNTY of), a maritime county, bounded on the north by Northumberland, on the east by the North Sea, on the south by Yorkshire, and on the west by Westmorland and Cumberland. It extends from 54° 27' to 55° 1' (N. Lat.), and from 1° 10' to 2° 20' (W. Lon.), and includes about 624,500 statute acres: the county contains 54,579 inhabited houses, 3108 uninhabited, and 537 in progress of erection; and the population amounts to 318,542, of whom 152,442 are males, and 166,100 females.

Prior to the Roman conquest of Britain, the county formed part of the extensive territories of the Brigantes. In the Roman division of the island it was included in Maxima Cæsariensis; and in the time of the heptarchy it constituted part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumberland, composed of the two inferior states of Bernicia and Deira, of which latter Durham appears to have been a portion. Although the county has been called a county palatine by prescription, yet the first prelate known to have exercised palatine jurisdiction was Bishop Walcher, who, soon after his elevation to the see, was also invested by the Conqueror with the earldom of Northumberland, vacant by the deposition and death of the Saxon earl, Waltheof; and it is probable that either then or at some early subsequent period, by grant or tacit permission, Walcher assumed the palatine powers to the same extent as that enjoyed by his successors. From this time, owning, within the limits of the palatinate, no earthly superior, the successive prelates continued for four centuries to exercise every right attached to a distinct and independent sovereignty. Their privileges, however, were abridged by the act of resumption passed in the 27th of Henry VIII., the most important provisions of which, as regarded this palatinate, were as follows:—the bishop was deprived of the privilege of pardoning for treason, murder, manslaughter, and felony, of reversing outlawries, and of appointing the justices of peace and of assize; writs were directed to run in the king's name, the ancient form of indictment," Contra pacem episcopi," being altered to the usual form, "Against the king's peace;" and sheriffs, bailiffs, and other officers, were made amenable to the general laws of the realm. The right of attesting processes within the franchise was reserved to the bishop, and it was directed that the prelate and his temporal chancellor should be always, ipso facto, two of the justices of the peace. In the reign of Charles II., an act was passed to enable the county palatine and city of Durham to send knights and burgesses to parliament, the first elections pursuant to which took place in 1675. By the act of the 6th of William IV., cap. 19, the palatine jurisdiction was separated from the bishopric and transferred to the crown as a distinct franchise and royalty.

The county is included within the diocese of Durham, and province of York, and forms an archdeaconry, comprising the deaneries of Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Easington, and Stockton, and containing 75 parishes. It is also, for civil purposes, divided into four wards, bearing the same names as the deaneries. The county contains the city of Durham; the market and sea-port towns and newly-created boroughs of Sunderland and South Shields; the town of Gateshead, which has also recently been made a parliamentary borough; the market and sea-port towns of Hartlepool and Stocktonupon-Tees; the market-towns of Barnard-Castle, Bishop-Auckland, Darlington, Sedgefield, Staindrop, and Wolsingham; and the port of Seaham-Harbour. By the act of the 2nd of William IV., cap. 45, Durham was divided into the Northern and Southern divisions, the former composed of the wards of Chester and Easington, and the latter of those of Darlington and Stockton: two knights of the shire are returned for each division. Two citizens are sent to parliament for the city of Durham, two burgesses for Sunderland, and one each for Gateshead and South Shields. The county is included in the Northern circuit, and the assizes and quartersessions are held at Durham, where stands the county gaol and house of correction.

The surface is much varied: for the most part there is a gradual ascent from the sea-coast to the heathy mountains which wholly occupy the west of the county. The general aspect of the coast is bare and dreary; but between the extensive swells that constitute the greater part of the surface lie numerous deep and narrow dells, the scenery of which is of a pleasing and romantic character; and every brook that falls into the sea has its banks adorned with a profusion of well-wooded heights. The soil may be described under the three principal heads of clay, loam, and peat. The corn and pulse crops generally cultivated are, wheat, barley, oats, maslin, beans, peas, and tares; rye is but rarely cultivated, owing to the small proportion of sandy soil proper for it: the mixture of wheat and rye, provincially termed "maslin," is very commonly grown, and makes a most wholesome household bread. Mustard was formerly much cultivated, "Durham mustard" being proverbial for its excellence; but it is a crop now seldom met with. The old meadow lands reserved for the growth of what is termed "old land hay," are either upland meadows or "haugh" lands near some of the rivers. The best old grazing pastures are at Skernside, Binchester, Stanhope, Billingham, Staindrop, Barnard-Castle, and a few other places; but the extent of lands of such superior quality is inconsiderable. The best wooded district is the vale of Derwent, the soil of which is peculiarly favourable to the growth of Wood, especially of oak. The wood grown in the eastern part is applied to various uses at the collieries, and that in the western is chiefly used in the lead-mines: the hazels are every where, for the most part, cut into rods to be manufactured into a kind of large basket called a "corf," used for drawing coal out of the pits. During the last hundred years plantations have been formed to a great extent, especially in the vicinity of gentlemen's seats. The Wastes consist almost entirely of the heathy moors in the west: the improvable moors, fells, and commons have almost wholly been divided and inclosed. The lower part of the county was formerly noted for the largest breed of Sheep in the kingdom, known as the "Tees-water breed," many weighing from 50lb. to 60lb. per quarter; of late years, the introduction of the Leicester breed has reduced the size of the Durham sheep, but improved the quality of the mutton. In Teesdale, Weardale, and towards the head of the Derwent, on the small farms adjacent to the extensive moors that intervene between these dells, are still bred the old stock of hardy heath sheep, known by their black or mottled faces and horns, black legs, and long coarse wool. The south-eastern part of Durham, like the adjoining portion of Yorkshire, has long been celebrated for a valuable breed of draught Horses, called "Cleveland Bays," which are the original stock of what was formerly the English coach-horse, and of a present race of strong hunters and road-horses.

The mineral productions of Durham are important, and its geology is interesting. The entire tract consists of a series of beds irregularly intermingled in larger and smaller strata, and some of them alternating with each other several times: they are composed of coal, sandstone, slate-clay or shale, and basalt, and possess the characters of what is geologically termed the "independent coal formation." All the beds of coal dip towards the east, so that the lowest of them, which, near the coast, is far below the level of the sea, appears on the surface at Cross Fell. Jarrow, near the north-eastern extremity of the county, is geologically considered as in the centre of the coal district, the strata composing which are here found at their greatest depth, and hence rise gradually in every direction. Forty beds of coal have been observed in the "coal-measures," which, comprising the central and northern parts of this county, likewise extend far into the maritime parts of Northumberland. The coal is of the soft caking kind, burns into excellent cinders, and leaves few ashes. The area of the Durham coal-field is estimated at 594 square miles, of which the portion wrought out on the Tyne amounts to thirtynine miles, and on the Wear to forty: the workable strata, averaging twelve feet, make the contents of each mile 12,390,000 tons; but of this amount onethird is lost in small coal, by the interception of dykes, &c. The number and thickness of the seams in the different collieries are extremely various, some having only one capable of being worked, and others seven; in thickness these workable veins vary from less than two feet to six. Owing to the different sizes of the two rivers Tyne and Wear, a curious distribution of the coaltrade has taken place: the Tyne vessels, being large, are chiefly engaged in supplying the London market, while the Wear vessels are for the most part so small that they can enter the shallow rivers and harbours on any shore, and therefore chiefly supply the eastern and southern coasts of England, as far westward as Plymouth. The exportation of coal to Holland, Germany, France, and Russia, is considerable; and the aggregate quantity exported from this county, exclusively of the pits on the Tyne, which equal in number all the watersale collieries of the remainder of it, and the produce of which is included with the exports of the Northumberland coal from the port of Newcastle, amounts nearly to 1,100,000 chaldrons annually.

The range of hills in the western part of the county is composed of strata consisting of about twenty beds of limestone, alternating with about fifty of sandstone, eighty of shale, a few thin beds of coal, and one of basalt, the whole resting on a bed of red sandstone, which is incumbent on greywackè slate. The tract between these hills and the line where the coal strata become of a valuable thickness forms part of a district extending likewise the whole length of Northumberland, which has been called by geologists Lead-measures, from veins of lead-ore abounding in the beds of sandstone and limestone of which it is chiefly composed, and in which various marine shells, or impressions of them, are frequently found, while the fossil remains found in the strata on the east belong exclusively to fresh water, or are vegetable remains. In the eastern part of the county a range of Magnesian limestone extends from the mouth of the river Tyne to Hartlepool, forming along the coast an almost uninterrupted succession of cliffs, and gradually diverging towards the south-west, passing by West Boldon to the village of Coxhoe, and thence to the river Tees; in its progess it rises into a series of round-topped hills, of which the highest, at Painshaw, near the river Wear, has an elevation of about 400 feet. The stratum varies in thickness from 70 feet, gradually increasing towards the coast; in sinking for coal at Hetton it was found to be 156 feet thick, at Monk-Wearmouth 200 feet, and at Haswell 280 feet, and at Hartlepool the rock has been bored to a depth of more than 300 feet, without reaching the substratum of sandstone. The prevailing colours are white, yellow, and brown, which last is quarried extensively at Sunderland, both for burning into lime and for building. The rocks near Marsden contain a larger proportion of magnesia than those in other places, and are much frequented by the manufacturers of Epsom salts. The upper stratum consists chiefly of breccia, below which the rock is of crystalline and cellular texture; and the lower stratum, which is of a slaty structure, contains in some parts compact masses of grey limestone of so fine a texture, as to have been formerly worked for marble.

Basalt is found both in the lead and coal measures, chiefly in the various "dykes" or "faults" that intersect and dislocate the strata, and is procured in many places for the purpose of repairing roads, for which it is superior to any other material yet discovered. In the district of the lead-measures, Galena is the only lead-ore procured in abundance; it contains silver varying from 2 to 42 oz. in the fother of 21 cwt., the general average being 12 oz.: of the ore esteemed of good quality, 32 cwt. yield one ton of lead. In the strata of shale accompanying the coal is found clay ironstone, in beds or nodules, the nodules containing galena and iron pyrites, the latter of which is also found in great abundance crystallized and disseminated in the beds both of coal and shale. Great quantities of the iron-ore, which abounds more especially in the western part of the coal district, appear to have been smelted at some remote period, from the immense heaps of iron slag found in various places in the vicinity of Lanchester, Tanfield, Hamsterley, Evenwood, &c., and traditionally said to be vestiges of Danish works. A bed of sandstone is worked for millstones, a few miles north of Stanhope; another for grindstones and filters at Gateshead Fell, where the seam of stone is eleven fathoms thick; and others of freestone for building in various parts of the county. In many places in the western part is found a flaky sandstone, there called grey slate, and used for roofing. At Pallion are quarries of a variegated marble; and a stratum of limestone in Weardale, near Frosterley, from its being variegated and taking a fine polish, is denominated marble, and is used for chimney-pieces and tombstones. In the coal-measures, immediately below the vegetable soil, occurs potters'-clay of a blueish or smoke-grey colour, sometimes yellow, approaching to orange. At Seaham is found a fine silver sand, adapted to the manufacture of the finest glass; and yellow ochre is obtained at Thornley.

The manufactures are various. Darlington has long been noted for that of divers linen fabrics, 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 is carried on to a limited extent at Bishop-Auckland and Gateshead. There are manufactories for iron at Gateshead, Shields, and Sunderland; and several for nails at each of these towns and at Swalwell. Spades and edge-tools are made at Winlaton. Paper is extensively made at Shotley-Bridge, and in the neighbourhood of Durham; glass, including crown and flint glass, and glass bottles, at Gateshead, Sunderland, and South Shields, where also plate glass is made; and earthenware, both for home sale and exportation, at Gateshead and Sunderland. Most extensive alkali-works are carried on at Gateshead, the Felling, South Shields, and Jarrow; and there are iron-works at Birtley, six miles from Gateshead. Ship-building is carried on extensively at Sunderland, South Shields, and Hartlepool, which, with Stockton, are the chief ports. Seaham is a private port belonging to the Marquess of Londonderry, where the coal from his lordship's collieries is shipped. The principal articles of export are the mineral and manufactured produce of the county; the imports are timber, flax, hemp, hides, bar-iron, linseed, oak-bark, and linen-yarn.

The principal rivers are the Wear, the Tees, and the Tyne. The Wear, although a river of inferior magnitude, forms, in its outlet to the sea, the entire harbour of Sunderland: the tide flows up it to Picktree, and it is navigable to Fatfield, forming one of the grand arteries of the export coal-trade; the navigation has been improved under various acts of parliament, whereof the first was obtained in 1716, and the last in 1819. The Tees forms the port of Stockton, and empties itself into the sea a few miles below it through a wide estuary; the tide ascends this river as high as Worsall, and it is navigable to a short distance above Stockton, the navigation having been greatly improved under acts passed in 1808 and 1828, from the vicinity of Stockton to its estuary. The Tyne forms the northern boundary of the county, separating it from Northumberland, from about two miles above Ryton to its mouth, a little below South Shields; and is navigable to a distance of eight miles above Newcastle, the tide flowing up to above Newburn. Tributary to the Tyne are, the powerful stream of the Derwent, and the Team; and to the Wear, the Browney, Gaunless, and Bedburn: the Skerne is tributary to the Tees. The county enjoys great facilities of railway communication. One company alone, the York and Newcastle, possesses above 100 miles of railway within its limits, comprising a line from Darlington, by Durham, to the north of the county; a line from Durham to Sunderland; a railway called the Brandling Junction, connecting the towns of Gateshead, South Shields, and Sunderland; a railway from South Shields to Stanhope, in the west; and some smaller lines. The chief railways belonging to other companies are, the Stockton and Darlington, extending from Stockton, by Darlington, to Witton, near Auckland; the Hartlepool; the Stockton and Hartlepool; the Clarence; and the Wear-Valley.

The county contained at least four Roman stations; one at Lanchester, where many remains have been found, and where Horsley places the Glannibanta of the Notitia; Binchester, the Vinovium of Antoninus; Ebchester, considered by both Horsley and Stukeley to have been the station Vindomora; and Cunscliffe, where Horsley places the Magæ of the Notitia, and where numerous coins, &c., have been discovered. The station Epiaco is thought by Horsley to have been situated at Chester-le-Street; and Ad Tisam is placed by Stukeley, at Pierse-Bridge. Considerable remains are yet visible of a way called the Watling-street, and of other Roman roads connecting the different stations. The principal encampment is that called Maiden Castle. Before the Reformation, the Religious Houses were, six monasteries, six colleges, and five hospitals; the most interesting remains are those of Jarrow and Finchale monasteries, and of St. Edmund's hospital at Gateshead. The remains of ancient Castles worthy of especial notice are those of Barnard-Castle, and of the castle of Durham; Witton and Brancepeth Castles have been restored. The finest specimens of ancient castellated mansions are Raby, Lumley, Bishop-Auckland, and Hilton Castles. The most remarkable Mineral spring is the salt-spring at Birtley, discovered about eighty years ago, in making a colliery drift, and from which, about the year 1810, 11,000 tons of salt were made annually. Near Durham is a spring strongly sulphureous, and Dinsdale Spa is also impregnated with sulphur; there is likewise a sulphureous spring in the bed of the Tees, about two miles above Barnard-Castle, and a spa well has begun to be fashionable at Shotley-Bridge. Among the Natural curiosities may be enumerated High Force and Cauldron Snout, cataracts on the Tees; Marsden and Blackhall rocks; the remarkable cavities in the earth at Oxen-le-Field; and the singular rocks at the Hartlepool promontory.

Durleigh

DURLEIGH, a parish, in the union of Bridgwater, hundred of Andersfield, W. division of Somerset, 1½ mile (W. S. W.) from Bridgwater; containing 143 inhabitants. The living is a donative; net income, £22; patron and impropriator, Wyndham Goodden, Esq., whose tithes have been commuted for £229. 13.: the glebe contains 1½ acre.

Durley

DURLEY, a chapelry, in the parish of Upham, union of Droxford, hundred of Bishop's-Waltham, Droxford and N. divisions of the county of Southampton, 3¾ miles (W. by S.) from Bishop's-Waltham; containing, with the tything of Mincingfield, 425 inhabitants. It comprises 2158 acres, of which 100 are common or waste.

Durley

DURLEY, a tything, in the parish of Eling, union of New-Forest, hundred of Redbridge, Romsey and S. divisions of the county of Southampton; containing 109 inhabitants.

Durnford (St. Andrew)

DURNFORD (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union and hundred of Amesbury, though locally in the hundred of Underditch, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 2¼ miles (S. S. W.) from Amesbury; containing, with the hamlets of Little Durnford, Netton, Newtown, and Salterton, 533 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9; net income, £131; patron, the Prebendary of Durnford, in the Cathedral of Salisbury. Tithes were commuted for land and money payments, under an act of inclosure, in 1793; and a commutation has taken place of appropriate tithes for a rent-charge of £490, and of vicarial for one of £105: the glebe contains 30 acres, with a glebe-house. The church is a very ancient structure. On the brow of a hill in the parish is an extensive earthwork called Ogbury Camp, supposed to have been a British settlement; it is intersected by a number of small banks in different directions.

Durrington

DURRINGTON, a parish, in the union of Preston (under Gilbert's act), hundred of Brightford, rape of Bramber, W. division of Sussex, 3¾ miles (N. W.) from Worthing; containing 191 inhabitants. It comprises about 500 acres, the soil of which is chalky. In ecclesiastical affairs it is regarded as forming, with Heene, a component part of the archbishop's peculiar of West Tarring: the church is in ruins.

Durrington

DURRINGTON, a parish, in the union and hundred of Amesbury, Salisbury and Amesbury, and S. divisions of Wilts, 2 miles (N.) from Amesbury; containing 465 inhabitants. This parish, which is situated on the river Avon, appears to have belonged in part, for centuries, to the family of Poore, descendants in a direct line from the founder of Salisbury Cathedral: it comprises 2657a. 1r. 9p., whereof 1297 acres are arable, 1197 down, 31 dry pasture, and 54 water-meadow. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £100; patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Winchester, whose tithes here have been commuted for £560, and whose glebe contains 236½ acres. The church is an ancient edifice with a pulpit of richly carved oak, and several of the pews are also embellished with carving, particularly the family pew of the Poores, which has a ceiling of oak, with an escutcheon of armorial bearings. At a short distance are the remains of a British town, called Durrington Walls, or Long Walls.

Dursley (St. James)

DURSLEY (St. James), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the Upper division of the hundred of Berkeley, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 15 miles (S. W. by S.) from Gloucester, and 180 (W. by N.) from London; containing 2931 inhabitants. This place is supposed to have derived its name from the springs of water (in the ancient British, Dwr), and the tracts of fine pasture-land (in the same language, Ley), which abound in the immediate vicinity: of the former, the most remarkable is a spring on the south-east side of the churchyard, which flows so copiously as to cover a space of 100 square yards, and to drive a cloth-mill at a distance of only 100 yards from its source. Dursley was the residence of the Saxon family of Berkeley de Dursley, who were lords of the great hundred of Berkeley, and had a castle here before the time of Edward the Confessor. This castle was in ruins in the reign of Henry VIII., and in that of Mary it was taken down, and the materials used in the erection of the manor-house at Dodington: the site is now occupied by a Wesleyan meeting-house, but the fields adjoining are still called the Castle Fields. The town was one of the five boroughs in the county, that sent members to parliament in the reign of Edward I.; but it has long lost the privilege of representation.

It is situated at the base of a branch of the Gloucestershire hills, of which the sides are covered with overhanging woods of stately beech-trees, and the summits command extensive and picturesque views. The houses are remarkably neat, and regularly built; many of them are very respectable, and several are of handsome appearance, though intermixed with some of antique character: the principal streets are well paved, and the inhabitants are amply supplied with water. The clothing trade has been carried on for many years upon an extensive scale, and is still the chief support of the town; the manufacture of cards has very much decreased since the introduction of machinery. The Gloucester and Bristol railway passes a few miles from the town. The market, originally held by charter of Edward IV. in 1471, is on Thursday; and fairs are held on May 6th and Dec. 4th, for cattle and pedlery. A neat markethouse, near the centre of the town, was built in 1738, at the expense of the lord of the manor; at the east end of it is a statue of Queen Anne. The corporation is prescriptive, and consists of a bailiff and 12 aldermen: the bailiff and two constables are annually elected at the court of the manor, and a constable and tythingman at that of Woodmancote, within the parish. The pettysessions for the division are held here every alternate Friday; and the town is the principal place of election for the western division of the county. The powers of the county debt-court of Dursley, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Dursley, and part of the districts of Thornbury and Tetbury.

The parish comprises, exclusively of the site of the town, 924 acres, of which 158 are arable, 536 pasture, and 200 wood and waste; the land is in a state of excellent cultivation. Contiguous to the town is a rock of puff-stone, which is easily cut when first raised, but soon becomes hard, and is extremely durable; it is found only at this place, and was used in building the walls of Berkeley Castle, part of the churches of Dursley and Cam, and the vaulted roof of the choir of Gloucester cathedral. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 14. 4½., and annexed to the archdeaconry of Gloucester; net income of the two preferments, independently of fines on renewals, £232. The church is a spacious and handsome embattled structure, in the later English style, with a tower at the west end, and a south porch of elegant design, above which are three canopied niches. The nave is separated from the aisles by lofty columns and arches of light and graceful character; the timber roofs are richly carved, and against the walls of the south aisle is a monumental figure of Thomas Tanner, who, in the reign of Henry VI., erected this part of the church for a chantry: the chancel was rebuilt in 1738, and the whole of the interior of the church was repewed and beautified in 1826 at a cost of £1500. The spire fell down in 1699, and the present tower was built in 1709, at an expense of £1000. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans. The poor have several bequests. The union of Dursley comprises 11 parishes or places, of which 10 are in the county of Gloucester, and one in that of Wilts; and its population amounts to 16,621. Edward Fox, Bishop of Hereford, and almoner to Henry VIII., who was strenuously active in promoting the Reformation, was born at this place.

Durston (St. John)

DURSTON (St. John), a parish, in the union of Taunton, hundred of South Petherton, W. division of Somerset, 4 miles (N. E. by E.) from Taunton; containing 267 inhabitants. It comprises 1022 acres, nearly equally divided between arable and pasture land. The living is a donative; net income, £20; patron and impropriator, the Rev. R. Gray, whose tithes have been commuted for £170. The church has been enlarged. At Minchin-Buckland, or Buckland-Sororum, in the parish, a priory of Canons regular of the order of St. Augustine was founded about 1167, which being suppressed, the house and estates were given to the Knights Hospitallers, for the establishment of a nunnery of their own order. Subsequently there were a priory of canonesses of St. Augustine, and a commandery of Knights Hospitallers, the former of which, at the Dissolution, had a revenue amounting to £223. 7. 4½.

Durweston (St. Nicholas)

DURWESTON (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Blandford, hundred of Pimperne, Blandford division of Dorset, 3 miles (N. W.) from Blandford; containing, with the tything of Knighton, 468 inhabitants. It comprises 1900 acres, and is situated on the river Stour, over which is a bridge, to the east of the village; the surface is hilly, and the soil chalky. Knighton, formerly a distinct parish, has long been consolidated with Durweston. The living is a rectory, with that of Bryanston united, valued in the king's books at £13. 11. 3., and in the gift of Lord Portman: the tithes have been commuted for £263, and the glebe comprises 111 acres.

Duston (St. Mary)

DUSTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the hundred of Newbottle-Grove, union, and S. division of the county, of Northampton, 1¾ mile (W. by N.) from Northampton; containing 687 inhabitants. This parish, which is bounded on the south-east by the western branch of the Nene, and on the north-east by another branch of that river, comprises about 1721 acres: the soil is a light sandy loam. There are quarries of greyish brown stone, and brown ragstone, for building, and of whitish slate stone which splits into laminæ sufficiently thin for roofing; also of yellow ochreous freestone, blue ragstone, and fine grit. The village is pleasantly situated on the slope of a hill. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £6. 8. 10.; net income, £159; patron and impropriator, Viscount Melbourne: the tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1776. The church is an ancient structure, in the early English style, with a large window of five lights at the west end of the nave. There is a place of worship for Baptists. Remains exist of St. James's Abbey, for Black canons, founded about 1112 by William Peverel, natural son of William the Conqueror, and the revenue of which, at the Dissolution, amounted to £175. 8. 2.

Dutton

DUTTON, a township, in the parish of Great Budworth, union of Runcorn, hundred of Bucklow, N. division of the county of Chester, 5¼ miles (E.) from Frodsham; containing 361 inhabitants. This place, called in Domesday book Duntune, was the seat of the family of Dutton, who exercised peculiar authority over the musicians and minstrels of the county, under a grant from the Lacys, barons of Walton, requiring them to pay suit and service at a court held before the lord of Dutton, or his deputy, at Chester, every year on Midsummer-day, and to take out a licence for the exercise of their calling. One side of Dutton Hall, erected in 1542, is still standing, furnishing a remarkably rich relic of the domestic architecture of that period. The township comprises 2040 acres, of which the soil is sand and clay: Sir Arthur Ingram Aston is the principal owner. The Liverpool and Birmingham railway passes through the township, near which it is carried over the valley of the river Weaver by a viaduct of stupendous dimensions, consisting of 20 arches, each 60 feet span, and 60 feet in height to the crown of the arch, and 72 including the battlements; the whole is 1400 feet in length, and faced with red sandstone, procured from Bolton and Runcorn, and cost £50,000. The Grand Trunk canal, also, passes in the vicinity. Tithe rent-charges have been awarded, of which £62. 6. 8. are payable to Christ-Church, Oxford, £10 to the vicar, and £2 to an impropriator. Dutton gives the title of Baron to the family of Douglas, dukes of Hamilton, who, through the marriage of James, fourth duke, with Elizabeth, heiress of Digby, last lord Gerard, are descendants of the family of the Duttons, of this place.

Dutton

DUTTON, a township, in the parish of Ribchester, union of Preston, Lower division of the hundred of Blackburn, N. division of Lancashire, 7 miles (N. by W.) from Blackburn; containing 563 inhabitants. This place gave name to a family, which occurs in charters without date; and lands here were possessed by numerous other ancient families, among whom were the Tounleys, whose surviving heiress died of extreme old age in 1799: the manor afterwards became the property of the Fentons, by purchase from the Welds. Within the township was the ancient "Hospitale subtus Langrig," with its chapel of Stidd, dedicated to God and Our Holy Saviour; it existed as early as the reign of John, and shared the fate of the religious houses at the Reformation. Stidd chapel, now a chapel of ease, is one of the oldest entire buildings in the county; the edifice is of grey stone, with a porch of primitive simplicity, and a fine-pointed semi-Saxon arch with slender clustered columns. The site of the chapel is a croft, formerly a cemetery, now overgrown with grass; and the eastern gable is richly clothed with ivy, festooning the window inside and out. For many ages, an ancient stone coffin-tomb was to be seen on the north side of the altar, inscribed with the double cross of the Hospitallers (the establishment having been at one period a commandery of the Knights); but it is now covered up: one of the lords of Salesbury, and his lady, are interred beneath the altar; and immediately before it lie the remains of the Roman Catholic bishop of Armorium (Petre), who died in 1725. The township comprises 1665 statute acres, whereof 847 customary acres are arable, 59 wood, and 122 waste. The village is situated about a mile north-by-east of the village of Ribchester. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for £90. The Roman Catholics have a place of worship, built in 1795, with almshouses adjoining.

Duxbury

DUXBURY, a township, in the district chapelry of Adlington, parish of Standish, union of Chorley, hundred of Leyland, N. division of Lancashire, 1½ mile (S. by E.) from Chorley; containing 371 inhabitants. Duxbury gave name at an early period to a family, of whom Adam, in the reign of Edward I., held a moiety of the "town;" but the younger branch of the family of Standish, seated in this parish soon after the Conquest, has held the manor from time immemorial. The township comprises 648 acres, mostly pasture and woodland; the surface is undulated, the soil sand and gravel, fertile and rich, and the scenery picturesque: excellent coal and stone are in abundance. Duxbury is separated from Coppull and Chorley by the river Yarrow, and lies on the road from Bolton to Chorley; the Bolton and Preston railway skirts the township at Yarrow bridge. The Park was the seat of the late Frank Hall Standish, Esq., who bequeathed his library and his collection of paintings to Louis-Philippe, King of the French; it is now the seat of William Standish Standish, Esq., high sheriff of the county in 1846. The tithes have been commuted for £72. 18.

Duxford

DUXFORD, a hamlet, in the parish of HintonWaldrist, union of Farringdon, hundred of Ganfield, county of Berks; containing 65 inhabitants.

Duxford

DUXFORD, comprising the parishes of St. Peter and St. John, in the union of Linton, hundred of Whittlesford, county of Cambridge, 9 miles (S. by E.) from Cambridge; and containing 763 inhabitants. These parishes together include 3128a. 3r. 8p., a small portion of which is wood and meadow: the soil is generally light, with some parts of stronger quality; the district is mostly flat, and is watered by the river Cam, by which the meadows are occasionally inundated. The living of St. Peter's is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £21. 6. 8.; net income, £429; patrons, the Master and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. That of St. John's is a discharged vicarage, valued at £13. 3. 4.; patrons and impropriators, the Master and Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge: the great tithes have been commuted for £354, and the vicarial for £146; the impropriate glebe contains 9½ acres, and the vicarial 39 acres. The two churches are supposed to have been built about the end of the thirteenth century. A school, instituted under the will of the Rev. Richard King, and opened in 1649, is endowed with the rental of 20 acres of land. Near the river is an ancient building having the appearance of a chapel, now used as a barn; and close to it is a building occupied as a dwelling-house, and having similar marks of antiquity.

Dyke

DYKE, a hamlet, in the parish of Bourne, wapentake of Aveland, parts of Kesteven, county of Lincoln, 2 miles (N. N. E.) from Bourne; containing 241 inhabitants.

Dymchurch (St. Peter and St. Paul)

DYMCHURCH (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union and liberty of Romney-Marsh, locally in the hundred of Worth, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 5 miles (S. W.) from Hythe; containing 613 inhabitants. The parish is situated on the level of Romney-Marsh, adjoining the sea, and comprises 1534 acres, of which 447 are marsh land; the soil, though shallow, is in general tolerably fertile, and the parish is celebrated for a superior breed of sheep, affording excellent wool. The lands are defended from the incroachments of the sea by a massive artificial wall, about three miles in length, more than twenty feet in height, and of sufficient breadth on the summit to allow the high road to pass along it for a considerable distance; it has three grand sluices for the general draining of Romney-Marsh, and is kept in repair at an average expense of about £4500 per annum, raised by scot payments levied on the whole district. The bailiff and jurats of the marsh hold a court of sessions here monthly in the New Hall, a plain neat building. A pleasure-fair is held on Whit-Thursday. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £7. 2. 8½., and in the gift of the Crown, with a net income of £125: the glebe comprises about 10 acres, and a glebe-house. The church is a neat edifice, and has a very beautiful Norman arch in the chancel, and two Norman doors; it was repaired and enlarged in 1821. There are places of worship for Baptists and Wesleyans; and a school partly supported by a bequest of land.

Dymock (St. Mary)

DYMOCK (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Newent, hundred of Botloe, W. division of the county of Gloucester, 4 miles (S. by W.) from Ledbury; containing 1776 inhabitants. This place, which is supposed to derive its name from the Saxon dim, dark, and ac, oak, was formerly of a little importance, and had in the reign of Henry III. the privilege of a market and three fairs, all long since disused. The parish is situated on the road from Ledbury to Newent and Gloucester, and comprises by recent survey about 7000 acres: the scenery is agreeably diversified, and several parts afford fine views of the Malvern and Cotswold hills; the soil in some places is loamy, and in others sandy. Apples and pears are abundant, and a considerable quantity of cider and perry is made. The Herefordshire and Gloucestershire canal, and the river Leden, pass through the parish. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 13. 9.; net income, £104; patron, A. Thompson, Esq. The church is a cruciform structure, supposed to have been built from the remains of an extensive religious establishment, ruins of which have been found in the vicinity; it has a nave of large dimensions, and there are Norman windows in some parts of the edifice. Schools for 50 boys and 50 girls, with residences for the master and mistress, were built in 1825, at a cost of £1200, part of a grant made by the court of chancery out of the property of Mrs. Ann Cam; the remainder, a little more than £3000, is invested in securities, and the interest applied to the purposes of the charity. Twenty persons are annually clothed from a bequest by Mr. Wintour. A moated building, still called the Castle Farm, standing on the border of the parish, and near an elevation called "Castle Tump," forms the remains of the old castle, said to have been garrisoned by Sir John Wintour, for Charles I. John Kyrle, the Man of Ross, immortalized by the pen of Pope, was born at the White House, in the parish.