202 



DURHAM. 



rhirhwn. 



SoiL 



Rivet*. 



State of 



property. 



The soil, in the south-east part of the county, is for 

 the most part a strong tortile clayey loam ; to the west- 

 ward of this, ami northward, near Sunderland. is a poor 

 unfertile clay, suitable neither for corn nor grass. The 

 vale lands oi' the Tors Skcrn.and Tyne. coiisi-t of dry 

 mellow loams, rather strong: the vale lands of the 

 We;ir are of a more friable and sandy nature. There 

 are two districts of limestone ; the eastern, beginning 

 at Sunderland, and stretching to Mornington, is dry, 

 hut not very productive ; whereas the soil on the west- 

 ern limestone, near Stanho|M>, fee. ranks among the 

 best grazing lands in the north of England. A variety 

 of soil, very thin, and lying on an impervious yellow 

 rl.iy. is found in many parts of the county, to which. 

 from its being apt to throw out the plants of wheat, \c. 

 when the water which lies on its surface is frozen, the 

 appropriate name of mater shaken is nrovincially given. 

 I'eaty soils, incumbent either on yellow clay, or white 

 sand, prevail in most parts of the western division of 

 the county. 



The principal rivers which flow into the sea, are the 

 Wear and the Tees ; the Tyne is more generally con- 

 sidered as a Northumberland river. The Wear rises in 

 those vast moors which separate Yorkshire from Dur- 

 ham, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumber- 

 land. It runs at first to the south-east ; at Bishop Auk- 

 land it turns to the north-east, and after nearly sur- 

 rounding the city of Durham, it flows northward to 

 Chester-le-street, and then inclines a little towards the 

 east, till it falls into the sea at Sunderland. The Tees 

 finds its source in the same wild range of moors which 

 give rise to the Wear, but considerably to the south of 

 that river. Its course is nearly parallel to it : at first it 

 rather inclines to the south-east, but when it reaches 

 below Darlington, it turns abruptly to the north-east, 

 and falls into the sea below Stockton. Tecsdale, 

 through which it flows, presents a long winding stripe 

 of fertile land, surrounded with some of the wildest 

 districts in the kingdom. Below Ilokeby, the Tees re- 

 ceives the Greta from Yorkshire. To the northward of 

 the Wear, in the same range of moors, the Darwent 

 takes its rise : at first it pursues an easterly direction, 

 but afterwards inclines more to the north as it ap- 

 proaches the Tyne, into which it falls a little above 

 Newcastle. The rivers of Durham are not of very 

 much advantage to its internal navigation ; though the 

 Tees might be rendered much more so than it is at pre- 

 sent. A little below Stockton its navigation is very 

 tedious, and often difficult, by reason of an extraordi- 

 nary peninsula; for though the neck of land between 

 the two parts of the river is only 200 yards, yet the 

 course of the river is above 2 miles. As, however, 

 an act of parliament has been obtained to make a cut 

 across the narrowest part of the peninsula, and the 

 work is actually begun, it is to be hoped that this im- 

 pediment will soon be removed. 



In this county there are soi^ie very large estates ; but 

 the most common rentals .we Ix'low L.I 000 a-year. 

 The tenures are freehold, copyhold, and leasehold ; the 

 southern part being mostly freehold. A third part of 

 the county is supposed to be of ecclesiastical tenure : 

 they are considered as copyholds of inheritance. If the 

 copyholder, however, die with the legal estate vested in 

 him, the estate will go to the heir-at-law, as in the case 

 of no will in freehold, except that the widow, instead 

 of her thirds, is entitled to the whole for her life. The 

 church leases are either for twenty-one years or three 

 lives. Other leases are for three, five, or seven years, 

 a few for twelve or fourteen; and many farms are let 



to tenanU at will. The largest farm in the county does r>mhm. 

 nut exceed 1000 acres. There are a considerable mini- T"*' 

 IHT from I .".0 to 400 ; but the greatest part of the coun- 

 ty is divided into farms from 150 to 50 acres. The 

 best gra/.ing pastures in the middle and eastern parts 

 of the county let from L. 2 and L. 3 per acre ; in the 

 western, lor :!(K and 50s. Arable land lets considera- 

 bly lower. Of the house* of proprietors, Itahy Ca-tle, 

 the -eat of the F.arl of Darlington, is an ancient, mag- 

 nificent, and noble edifice: and l.uiuby ( .,-tlr. In'long- 

 ing to the Earl of Scarborough ; Auckland Castle, the 

 episcopal palace of the Bishop of Durham ; and Bran- 

 cepeth Castle, are also remarkable structures. ( )(' the 

 other buildings in the county, some of the bridges only 

 deserve particular notice or description : Winch Bridge, 

 over the Tees, is very singular in its construction ; it if 

 a wooden bridge, laid upon iron chains, which are 

 firmly fixed in the rocks on each side of the river. From 

 rock to rock the width is about 70 feet. In order to Iron bridge, 

 keep the bridge steady, and to prevent its vibrating, 

 chains are also fixed on both sides, at the distance of 

 about a third of the length of the bridge from each 

 end ; and the ends of these chains are fastened to the 

 rocks. Although the iron bridge over the Wear, at 

 Sunderland, II;LS been already de.-cribed under the arti- 

 cle BRIDGE, yet a very brief account of it may not im- 

 properly be given here. It was built in 1795 and 1796', 

 from a model upon a new construction, of uniting ham- 

 mered iron with cast iron. The arch is a segment of 

 a circle, the span of which is 236' feet, and the versed 

 sine 34 feet. The breadth of the passage on the bridge 

 is 32 feet : the height from the river, at low water, 1 00 

 feet; so that vessels may sail under it without striking 

 their masts. It cost in building L. 27,000 ; and the 

 average yearly amount of the tolls is L. 2030. The 

 weight of cast iron employed in it is 21-t tons ; of mal- 

 leable iron 46' tons : in all, 26'0 tons. 



Durham is more distinguished for its grazing than Agricul- 

 its arable husbandry. The produce of wheat upon ture - 

 good land cannot be estimated higher than between 

 twenty and thirty bushels per acre. As barley is sel- 

 dom grown, except upon soils drest kindly, the pro- 

 duce of it is larger, viz. from thirty to forty bushels. 

 Oats are grown on a great variety of soils; and as they 

 also form the principal grain-produce of the western or 

 moory part of the county, the average return per acre 

 varies very much ; probably it may be estimated at 

 from twenty to forty bushels. Of beans, from fourteen 

 to 20 bushels. Pease seldom succeed, and their pro- 

 duce cannot be rated higher than from eight to twelve 

 bushels per acre. The produce of the liay-lands is not 

 great ; some indeed yield two tons of hay per acre, but 

 in general the produce is below half a ton. The wood- 

 lands are not of any considerable extent ; and though 

 the soil in many parts is peculiarly adapted to the oak, 

 this tree is seldom met with. The ash is much more 

 common. The banks of some of the rivers, however, 

 are adorned with timber. As the materials for making 

 roads are good and abundant, the rouds in this county 

 are in general excellent, except in the western parts, 

 where the township roads are narrow and ill-construct- 

 ed. 



Tees water has long been famous for its breed of Breed of 

 cattle: They are of the short horned kind. The first cattle, 

 attempt to improve them, was by introducing a bull 

 from Holland ; but this did not succeed. Mr Bakewell'.s 

 mode was then followed, and, by judicious selection and 

 crossing, they have been brought to a high state of per- 

 fection. Many of them have been remarkable for fat 



