837 



DUREN. 



DURHAM. 



Charlea III., king of Naples, was a grandson of John ; he died in 

 Hungary, and left two children, Ladislaus and Joanna, who reigned in 

 succession at Naples, but both died without issue. 



Coin of Dyrrachium. 

 I'.ritish Museum. Actual size. Silver. Weight, 469 grains. 



Dl'REN, the Roman Marcodurum (whence its former name of 

 Mark-Dam), chief town of the circle of Diiren in the government of 

 Aachen in the Prussian province of the Rhine, is situated on the Roe'r, 

 18 miles E. from Aix-la-Chapelle, in 50 46' N. lat., 6 32' E. long., 

 and has above 8000 inhabitants. It is a walled town, the seat of a 

 mining board, and possesses a Roman Catholic gymnasium or high 

 school, three nunneries, five Catholic and two Protestant churched, 

 and a synagogue. Diiren has considerable manufactures of fine and 

 ordinary woollen cloths, screws, nails, iron and steel ware, paper, 

 coarse buttons, soap, leather, oil, trinkets, &c. Several paper-mills, 

 iron-foundries, and other factories in the vicinity of the town are 

 worked by water-power derived from the Roe'r. It has an extensive 

 trade in grain, a horse market, and three large fairs in the course of 

 the y ar. On this spot several cohorts of the Ubii, who had assumed 

 >man name of Agrippinenses, were surprised and cut to pieces 

 by Civilis, the Batavian leader, in A.D. 70. (Tacit. ' Hist.,' iv. 28.) 



Charlemagne held assemblies here on his way to attack the Saxons 

 in A.D. 775 and 779. Charles V. took Diiren by assault and burnt it in 

 1543. Tho French in 1794 made it the capital of the department of 

 the Roe'r ; it was ceded to Prussia in 1814. 



DURHAM, one of the northern counties of England, lying between 

 54" 27' and 65 1' N. lat., 1 8' and 2 20' W. long., is bounded 

 N. and N.W. by Northumberland, W. by Cumberland and Westmore- 

 land, S. by Yorkshire, and E. by the German Ocean. Its greatest 

 length is from east to west, 48 miles ; its greatest breadth, at right 

 angle* to the length, is 39 miles. Previous to 1844 there were three 

 detached portions of the county, namely : 1. Norhamshire and Island- 

 shire (including Holy Island and the Fame Islands). 2. Bedlington 

 parish, sometimes called Bedlingtonshire. 3. The parish of Craike. 

 In October, 1844, by the Act 7 & 8 Viet. cap. 8, Norhamshire, Island- 

 shire, and Bedlingtonshire were incorporated with the county of 

 Northumberland, and Craike parish with the North Riding of York- 

 shire, in which it is locally situated. The area of Durham county is 

 973 square miles, or 622,476 statute acres : the population in 1851 

 was 390,997. 



Coatt, Surface, IlydroffrapJiy, <tc. The coast of the county of 

 Durham is generally low. There are however several ranges of cliffs, 

 which are of maguesian limestone, except at Seaton Bents, where 

 they are formed by rocks of the red marl or new red-sandstone 

 formation. 



Durham may be characterised as a hilly county. The western part 

 is overspread by the branches of the great Penine chain, from the 

 eastern slope of which the chief rivers of the county flow. The two 

 principal branches of this chain, which belong to Durham, are sepa- 

 rated from each other by Weardale (the valley of the Wear) ; from the 

 Yorkshire Hills by Teesdale, or Teasdale (the valley of the Tees) ; 

 and from those of Northumberland by the valley in which the Der- 

 went, a feeder of the Tyne, flows. Large portions of the mountain 

 district consist of moor-lands covered with heath, or, as it is here 

 termed, ' ling.' The hills north of Weardale have the name of Wear- 

 dale Forest, and those north of Teasdale are called Teasdale Forest ; 

 but they are bare of wood. The principal elevations in the county are 

 Kilhope Law (2196 feet), Cross Ridge, Bolts Law, Baron Hope, Collier 

 Law (1678 feet), and Fatherly Fell, in Weardale Forest; Pike Law, 

 West Pike, Manner Gill Fells, and Eglestone Bank, in Teasdale Forest; 

 Pontop Pike, on Lanchester Common, south-east of the valley of the 

 Derwent (1018 feet) ; and Brandon Mount (875 feet), south-west of the 

 city of Durham. The moors are chiefly occupied as pasturage for 

 sheep of the black -faced kind, and for a few young cattle and horses. 

 The best wooded part of the county is the vale of Derwent, which 

 produces oak, ash, elm, birch, and alder, and a quantity of underwood, 

 especially hazel. 



The chief rivers are the Tyne, the Wear, and the Tees, with their 

 tributaries. The Tyne drains the northern parts, the Wear the middle, 

 and the Tees the southern. 



The Tyne [NORTHUMBERLAND] forms the northern boundary of 

 the county for about 18 miles, from the junction of the Stanley 

 Burn at Wylam to the sea, and its navigation extends from above 

 Newcastle to the sea, a distance of about 16 miles. Its Durham 

 affluents are the Derwent and Team rivers and the Stanley and 

 He<l worth burns. The Derwent rises In Northumberland, and 

 flowing east, reaches, about 3 miles from its source, the border 

 of the county of Durham, along which it flows with a winding 



course north-eastward for about 30 miles, flowing into the Tyne 

 about 3 miles above Newcastle. For about 21 miles of its course 

 it forms the boundary between the counties of Northumberland and 

 Durham. The Team rises on the side of Pontop Pike, and flows first 

 east by north and then north by west about 13 miles into the Tyne, 

 about a mile above Newcastle. The Stanley Burn and the Hedworth 

 Burn are only 4 or 5 miles long. 



The Wear rises near Kilhope Law, and flows east and south-east 

 above 4 miles (in which part of its course it is known as the Kilhope 

 Burn), to Bowertree or Burtree Ford. From Bowertree Ford the 

 Wear flows east by south 18 miles through the wild and romantic 

 district of Weardale, to the junction of the Bedburn River, passing the 

 towns of Stanhope and Wolsingham, and receiving on the right bank 

 the Irshope, Harthope, Dadree, Swinhope, Westenhope, Snowhope, 

 and Bollihope burns ; and on the left bank the Middlehope, Rook- 

 hope, Stanhope, Shittlehope, Wescrow, Houslip, and Eals burns, all 

 of which are small. From the junction of the Bedburn, the Wear 

 flows still east by south 6 miles to Bishop Auckland, where it receives 

 the Qaunless, then turns to the north-east, and flows in a very 

 winding course about 36 or 37 miles past Durham and Chester-le- 

 Street into the German Ocean at Sunderland. Below Durham the 

 Wear receives the Stanley Burn, united with the Cock Burn on the 

 left bank, and the Lumley Burn on the right bank, all at or near 

 Chester-le-Street. The whole course of the Wear may be estimated at 

 about 65 miles, for about 1 8 or 20 miles of which, namely, up to the 

 city of Durham, it is navigable. It is crossed at Sunderland, near its 

 mouth, by an iron bridge of one arch, of 236 feet span and 100 feet 

 above high water-mark. The importance of its navigation arises from 

 the export of coals from the neighbouring mines. 



The Tees rises in Cumberland, on the slope of Cross Fell (2901 feet 

 high), and for the first few miles of its course forms the boundary 

 between Cumberland and Westmoreland. It is joined by the Trout 

 and Crook becks, and upon its junction with the Crook forms the 

 boundary of the county of Durham, separating it for a very few miles 

 from Westmoreland, and throughout the remainder of its course from 

 Yorkshire. The general direction of the Tees till it reaches Sockburn, 

 nearly 55 miles from its source, is east-south-east; thence it flows 

 nearly 30 miles north-east into the German Ocean, its total course 

 being between 80 and 90 miles. The valleys watered by the affluents 

 of the Tees above Barnard Castle open laterally into the valley of the 

 Tees, and many of them are remarkable for picturesque scenery. A 

 ridge of trap rocks across which the river flows at Caldron Snout, at 

 the junction of the Maize or Marys beck, forms a series of falls in a 

 distance of 596 yards which offer a fine contrast )x> the still water of 

 The Wheel, a pool or lake into which the river expands just above. 

 Some miles below these falls and three miles above the village of 

 Middleton in Teasdale, basaltic rocks form the bank of the river. 

 Below Barnard Castle the Tees receives on its right bank the Greta 

 from Yorkshire, and on its left bank the Grand River, or Staindrop 

 beck. From the neighbourhood of Darlington the channel winds very 

 much. At Croft, near Darlington, it receives on the left the river 

 Skerne, which, rising between Durham and Hartlepool, has a very 

 winding course to the south-south-west, of more than 25 miles, 

 receiving several streams by the way, and passing the town of Dar- 

 lington just before its junction with the Tees. Below the town of 

 Stockton the Tees is joined by the Hartburn and BiUingham becks, 

 and at Greatham Fleet, near its mouth, by the Elmeldon beck united 

 with another from Greatham. The wide aostuary of the Tees is navi- 

 gable for colliers and other large vessels up to Stockton, and for small 

 craft several miles higher up, above Yarm in Yorkshire : the navigation 

 has been shortened by a cut, by which a considerable bend ii> the 

 river is avoided. 



Thete are several small streams which flow into the sea between 

 the Wear and the Tees. They are called Deans, as Ryhope Dean, 

 Seaham Dean, Dalton Dean, Hawthorn Dean, Castle Eden Dean, and 

 Hasledon Dean. 



The river navigation of Durham, comprehending only the lower 

 waters of the Wear and of the border rivers Tyne and Tees, is confined 

 to the eastern side of the county. There are no canals or artificial 

 cuts, except the one already noticed, which was made to shorten the 

 winding course of the Tees. 



The old mail-road to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, and the 

 north of Scotland crosses this county from south to north. It enters 

 it at Croft bridge over the Tees, and passes through Darlington, 

 Durham, Chester-le-Street, and Gateshead, where it quits the county, 

 crossing the Tyne to Northumberland. Two other roads from London 

 to Durham city branch off from the Glasgow and Carlisle mail-road at 

 Scotch Corner, in Yorkshire, and enter the county by Pierce bridge 

 over the Tees. Here they divide, the right-hand road passing through 

 the villages of Heighington and Eldon, and the left-hand road through 

 Bishop Auckland. They reunite a few miles beyond Bishop Auckland 

 and fall in with the Edinburgh mail-road near Sunderland bridge 

 over the Wear, about 4 miles before reaching Durham. The road 

 from London to Sunderland branches off from the Edinburgh mail- 

 road at Thirsk in Yorkshire, and proceeds by Yarm, upon leaving 

 which town it crosses the Tees into the county of Durham, and 

 proceeds forward to Stockton, and thence to Sunderland, There are 

 several other important roads in the county. 



