CITY OF DURHAM 



After crossing Framwellgate Bridge from 

 Silver Street the road divides into three 

 branches : Crossgate, which runs nearly due 

 east, and out of which lead South Street and 

 Allergate ; the old Newcastle road running 

 northwards through Milburngate and Fram- 

 wellgate ; and the new North Road, which leads 

 in a north-westerly direction, and after passing 

 under the London and North Eastern Railway 

 south of the station joins the Newcastle road 

 again outside the town. Framwellgate and 

 Milburngate, with Crossgate, South Street and 

 Allergate, constitute the old western suburb of 

 Durham, and it is along these thoroughfares that 

 the bulk of the older buildings are found. The 

 North Road, with the streets which fill up the 

 triangle between Framwellgate and Crossgate, 

 is entirely modern, and represents the chief 

 development of Durham in the 19th century. 



Many excellent examples of 18th-century 

 work survive in the houses in Framwellgate. 

 The Convent of the Sisters of Mercy attached 

 to the Roman Catholic Church of St. Godric 

 occupies what was formerly the Wheatsheaf Inn. 

 On a lead rain-water head is the date 1741. The 

 old dining room of the inn is an exceptionally 

 fine example of the interior decoration of the 

 period. The walls are lined with carved 

 panelling surmounted by an entablature with 

 shell and scroll ornament upon the frieze, and 

 the room is lighted from one end by a large 

 ' Venetian ' window with Ionic pilasters sup- 

 porting entablatures from which the archivolt 

 of the central light springs ; while on the side 

 opposite the fireplace are two rectangular 

 windows with enriched architraves. The chim- 

 ney-piece is of carved wood with swags and 

 consoles, and the overmantel has a scroll pedi- 

 ment and cartouche supported by pilasters 

 shaped like terminals. The doorcases are also 

 elaborately ornamented, and the plaster ceiling 

 is designed in the rococo manner of the period. 

 In the house now occupied by the Church of 

 England Mission is a room of about the same 

 date, with plaster panelling and a large ' Vene- 

 tian ' window. The moulded stone entrance 

 doorway shows the house to be of the late 17th 

 century ; the staircase, a good example of the 

 period, has twisted balusters and square newels. 

 In Milburngate, the southern extremity of 

 Framwellgate, are some two-storied half- 

 timber cottages, now plastered, of early 16th- 

 century type. 



On the south side of Crossgate, just to the 

 westward of its junction with South Street, 

 stands the church of St. Margaret. At the 

 corner of South Street and Crossgate is an 

 early 16th-century two-storied house of half- 

 timber ; the building has been considerably 

 repaired and the ground story has been faced 

 with brick. On the opposite side of South 



Street is a three-storied half-timber house with 

 oversailing upper floors. It appears to be of 

 early 17th-century date ; the ground story is 

 now plastered, and the upper stories have been 

 cased with brick, but the original entrance door- 

 way has been left intact. Little else of archi- 

 tectural interest remains in South Street, which 

 runs southwards parallel with the river along 

 the crest of the steep bank. The ' Fighting 

 Cocks Inn ' in Crossgate contains a good square 

 well staircase of the latter half of the 17th cen- 

 tury, with heavy moulded handrails, turned 

 balusters, and square newels. 



The eastern suburb of Elvet consists of the 

 streets known as Old Elvet and New Elvet, into 

 which the road divides after crossing Elvet 

 Bridge. New Elvet runs southward nearly 

 parallel with the river for a short distance, and 

 again forks into Church Street, through which 

 the main road to the south passes, and Hallganh 

 Street, the commencement of the road to 

 Stockton. On this side the town appears 

 hardly to have extended at all since the middle 

 of the i8th century. Work of this century pre- 

 vails in the houses of the suburb, though some 

 retain detail of an earlier period. No features of 

 particular interest remain in Church Street, on 

 the west side of which, between the road and 

 river, is St. Oswald's Church. On the north 

 side of Old Elvet are some good 18th-century 

 houses, while the principal feature on the south 

 side is the Shire Hall erected in 1897. At the 

 end of Old Elvet are the modern Assize Courts 

 and prison, standing back from the road. 



It will be convenient to take the varying 

 boundaries of the city as they come before us 

 in connection with the history of the separate 

 jurisdictions, and to begin with the report of 

 the Commissioners on proposed division of 

 counties and boundaries of boroughs in 1832. 

 The map which they made shows that at that 

 time the city of Durham consisted of a misshapen 

 square which inclosed a great deal more than 

 the peninsula. The boundaries were as follows : 

 Starting from the old Hallgarth Toll Bar, now 

 demolished, but formerly standing on the ex 

 treme south-east point of the city, the line ran 

 west by Back Lane, now called Gladstone Terrace, 

 and thence across the south end of the river- 

 bend over South Street to the present work- 

 house in a northerly direction. It crossed the 

 North Road opened in 183 1 to the top of 

 Framwellgate. Here it curved to the east, 

 crossing the river below the city near Crook 

 Hall. Thence, skirting the ruins of Magdalen 

 Chapel, it passed to the junction of the Sherburn 

 and Sunderland Roads. At this point it 

 turned sharply to the west to take in St. Giles' 

 Church, whence it struck south, crossed the 

 river, and passing over the middle of the old 

 race-course, reached Hallgarth Toll Bar. The 



