County Durham is a non-metropolitan county^[1] of historic origin^[2][3] in North East England. The county town is Durham.^[4] The county has an industrial heritage and its economy was historically based on coal and iron mining.^[5] It is an area of regeneration and promoted as a tourist destination.^[5]

Etymology

Many counties are named after their principal town, and the expected form here would be Durhamshire.^[4] The county is commonly known as County Durham but is officially named Durham and this was last reconfirmed in legislation passed in 1997.^[6] The former postal county was known as "County Durham" to distinguish it from the post town of Durham. Durham is the only English county name to be prefixed with "County" in common usage - a practice more common in Ireland.

Divisions and environs

The area under the control of the county council, or shire county, is divided into seven local government districts.^[7] They are:

• City of Durham, including Durham city and the surrounding areas
• Easington, including Seaham and the new town of Peterlee
• Sedgefield, including Spennymoor and Newton Aycliffe
• Teesdale, including Barnard Castle and the villages of Teesdale
• Wear Valley, including Bishop Auckland, Crook, and Willington, and the villages along Weardale
• Derwentside, including Consett and Stanley
• Chester-le-Street, including Sacriston

Hartlepool and Darlington are unitary authorities which form part of the county for various functions such as Lord Lieutenant but do not come under county council control. Part of Stockton-on-Tees that is north of the River Tees is also within County Durham for this purpose.^[6] Durham Constabulary operate in the area of the shire county and Darlington.^[8] The ceremonial county, the area including the unitary authorities, borders Tyne and Wear, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Northumberland and forms part of the North East England region.^[9]

History

Ancient origins

The territory that became known as County Durham was originally a liberty under the control of the Bishops of Durham. The liberty was known variously as the "Liberty of Durham", "Liberty of St Cuthbert's Land" "The lands of St. Cuthbert between Tyne and Tees" or "The Liberty of Haliwerfolc".^[10]

The bishops' special jurisdiction was based on claims that King Ecgfrith of Northumbria had granted a substantial territory to St Cuthbert on his election to the see of Lindisfarne in 684. In about 883, a cathedral housing the saint's remains was established at Chester-le-Street and Guthfrith, King of York granted the community of St Cuthbert the area between the Tyne and the Wear. In 995 the see was moved again to Durham.

Following the Norman invasion, the administrative machinery of government was only slowly extended to northern England. In the twelfth century a shire or county of Northumberland was formed, and Durham was considered to be within its bounds.^[11] However the authority of the sheriff of Northumberland and his officials was disputed by the bishops. The crown still regarded Durham as falling within Northumberland until the late thirteenth century. Matters came to a head in 1293 when the bishop and his steward failed to attend proceedings of quo warranto held by the justices of Northumberland. The bishops' case was heard in parliament, where he stated that Durham lay outside the bounds of any English shire and that "from time immemorial it had been widely known that the sheriff of Northumberland was not sheriff of Durham nor entered within that liberty as sheriff. . . nor made there proclamations or attachments".^[12] The arguments appear to have been accepted, as by the fourteenth century Durham was accepted as a liberty which received royal mandates direct. In effect it was private shire, with the bishop appointing his own sheriff.^[10] The area eventually became known as the "County Palatine of Durham".

Sadberge was a liberty, sometimes referred to as a county, within Northumberland. In 1189 it was purchased for the see but continued with a separate sheriff, coroner and court of pleas. In the 14th century Sadberge was included in Stockton ward and was itself divided into two wards. The division into the four wards of, Chester-le-Street, Darlington, Easington and Stockton existed in the 13th century, each ward having its own coroner and a three-weekly court corresponding to the hundred court. The diocese was divided into the archdeaconries of Durham and Northumberland. The former is mentioned in 1072, and in 1291 included the deaneries of Chester-le-Street, Auckland, Lanchester and Darlington.

The term palatinus is applied to the bishop in 1293, and from the 13th century onwards the bishops frequently claimed the same rights in their lands as the king enjoyed in his kingdom.

Early administration

At its historic extent, Durham included a main body covering the Catchment of the Pennines in the west, the River Tees in the south, the North Sea in the east and the Rivers Tyne and Derwent in the north.^[13] The county had a number of exclaves: Bedlingtonshire, Islandshire^[14] and Norhamshire^[15] within Northumberland, and Craikshire within the North Riding of Yorkshire. In 1831 the county covered an area of 679,530 acres^[16] and had a population of 253,910.^[17] The historic boundaries were used for parliamentary purposes until 1832, and for judicial and local government purposes until the coming into force of the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, which merged most remaining exclaves with their surrounding county.

Until the 15th century the most important administrative officer in the palatinate was the steward. Other officers were the sheriff, the coroners, the Chamberlain and the chancellor. The palatine exchequer was organized in the 12th century. The palatine assembly represented the whole county, and dealt chiefly with fiscal questions. The bishops council, consisting of the clergy, the sheriff and the barons, regulated the judicial affairs, and later produced the Chancery and the courts of Admiralty and Marshalsea.

Durham city was captured by a Norman army in 1069. There was a rebellion against the new Norman earl Robert de Comines, who was killed. However, County Durham largely missed the Harrying of the North that was designed to subjugate such rebellions.^[18] The best remains of the Norman period are to be found in Durham Cathedral and in the castle, also in some few parish churches, as at Pittington and Norton near Stockton. Of the Early English period are the eastern portion of the cathedral, the churches of Darlington, Hartlepool, and St Andrew, Auckland, Sedgefield, and portions of a few other churches.

The prior of Durham ranked first among the bishop's barons. He had his own court, and almost exclusive jurisdiction over his men. There were ten palatinate barons in the 12th century, the most important being the Hiltons of Hilton Castle, the Bulmers of Brancepeth, the Conyers of Sockburne, the Hansards of Evenwood, and the Lumleys of Lumley Castle. The Nevilles owned large estates in the county. Raby Castle, their principal seat, was built by John de Neville in 1377.

Edward I's quo warranto proceedings of 1293 showed twelve lords enjoying more or less extensive franchises under the bishop. The repeated efforts of the Crown to check the powers of the palatinate bishops culminated in 1536 in the Act of Resumption, which deprived the bishop of the power to pardon offences against the law or to appoint judicial officers. Moreover, indictments and legal processes were in future to run in the name of the king, and offences to be described as against the peace of the king, rather than that of the bishop. In 1596 restrictions were imposed on the powers of the chancery, and in 1646 the palatinate was formally abolished. It was revived, however, after the Restoration, and continued with much the same power until July 5, 1836, when the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 provided that the palatine jurisdiction should in future be vested in the crown.^[19]

During the Wars of the Roses, Henry VI passed through Durham. On the outbreak of the Great Rebellion Durham inclined to support the cause of the Parliament, and in 1640 the high sheriff of the palatinate guaranteed to supply the Scottish army with provisions during their stay in the county. In 1642 the Earl of Newcastle formed the western counties into an association for the kings service, but in 1644 the palatinate was again overrun by the Scottish army, and after the Battle of Marston Moor fell entirely into the hands of the parliament.

In 1614 a bill was introduced in parliament for securing representation to the county and city of Durham and the borough of Barnard Castle. The movement was strongly opposed by the bishop, as an infringement of his palatinate rights, and the county was first summoned to return members to parliament in 1654. After the Restoration the county and city returned two members each. By the Reform Act of 1832 the county returned two members for two divisions, and the boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland acquired representation. The boroughs of Darlington, Stockton and Hartlepool returned one member each from 1868 until the Redistribution Act of 1885.

Modern local government

High Force waterfall on the River Tees

Over its existence, the administrative county lost territory, both to the existing county boroughs, and also due to the municipal borough of West Hartlepool becoming a county borough in 1902^[21] and Darlington in 1915.^[23] In 1967 the former area of the borough of Hartlepool was removed from the administrative county when it merged with West Hartlepool to form a new county borough of Hartlepool. The county boundary with the North Riding of Yorkshire was adjusted: that part of the town of Barnard Castle historically in Yorkshire was added to County Durham,^[24] while the portion of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in Durham was ceded to the North Riding.^[25] In 1968, following the recommendation of the Local Government Commission, Billingham was transferred to the county borough of Teesside, in the North Riding.^[26] In 1971 the population of the county including all associated county boroughs (an area of 634,000 acres)^[17] was 1,409,633 and the population outside the county boroughs was 814,396.^[27]

In 1974 the administrative county and the county boroughs were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 and County Durham was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan county.^[22][28] The reconstituted County Durham lost territory^[2] to the north east (around Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland) to Tyne and Wear^[29][30] and to the south east (around Hartlepool) to Cleveland.^[29][30] At the same time it gained the former area of Startforth Rural District from the North Riding of Yorkshire.^[31] The area of the Lord Lieutenant of Durham was also adjusted by the Act to coincide with the non-metropolitan county^[32] (which occupied 745,995 acres in 1981).^[17]

In 1996, as part of the 1990s UK local government reform, Cleveland was abolished^[33] and its districts were reconstituted as unitary authorities.^[34] Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees (north of the River Tees) were returned to Durham for the purposes of Lord Lieutenant. In 1997, Darlington became a unitary authority and was separated from the shire county. The change in area for Lord Lieutenant to include all these places was reconfirmed by the Lieutenancies Act 1997.^[6] Cleveland was adopted as a postal county in 1974 and by the time of its abolition, Royal Mail had abandoned the use of counties altogether;^[35] the County Durham former postal county therefore has not been adjusted to the new ceremonial boundary.

Future of local government

The Department for Communities and Local Government has announced, that as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England, the seven district councils and the County Council will be abolished and a new unitary authority for the whole of the existing County Council area will be created.^[36] The changes are planned to be implemented no later than 1 April 2009.^[37] The successful Durham County Council bid referred to the new authority as County Durham Council.

Climate

The following climate figures were gathered at the Durham weather station between 1971 and 2000.