CITY OF DURHAM 



shallows. In the reign of George II * a scheme 

 was proposed for making the stream available 

 for barges at a time when coal-mines were being 

 developed. This scheme was revised in 1796' 

 in a very ambitious way with the design of con- 

 necting the Wear and the Tyne. 



The modern municipal administration of the 

 city begins with a paving Act of 1773. Until 

 this time the various jurisdictions which will 

 be described later had their own surveyor in 

 each case. Certain Commissioners were ap- 

 pointed by the Act, and they nominated a single 

 surveyor for the whole city, placing under him 

 all pavements, sewers, drains, water-courses, 

 footpaths, carriage-ways, and lamps. This Act 

 was superseded by an important Act of 1790. 

 It recited the fact that the ways ' are not properly 

 paved, cleansed, or lighted, and are rendered 

 very inconvenient by several nuisances, annoy- 

 ances, encroachments and obstructions.' Ac- 

 cordingly a very large commission was appointed 

 of 257 persons, representing, apparently, the 

 whole magistracy of the city and county with 

 others. There is no extant record of what the 

 commission did with their ample powers of 

 levying rates, regulating tolls, extending roads 

 and abating nuisances. In 1816 the streets were 

 still unpaved, or very badly paved, for they are 

 described as being ' as soft as an Irish bog and not 

 paved with stones point upwards as some other 

 towns.' No improvement took place, and in 

 1822 the Act of 1790 was amended ^ after a 

 strong indictment of the city roads at Quarter 

 Sessions. All of them, it is said, were ' at this 

 time in an indictable state,' the flagging being 

 perfectly useless in wet weather owing to the 

 drip from the eaves of the houses, and the 

 streets themselves full of filth wheeled out from 

 the houses. According to the preamble of this 

 new Act the rates raised under its predecessor 

 were not sufficient. The making and main- 

 tenance of pavement or flagging in front of each 

 house was now thrown upon the owner, and 

 fixed days for sweeping the causeways were 

 appointed to the householder. The North and 

 South Baileys were placed under the Commis- 

 sioners for paving purposes for the first time." 

 In 1823 Hallgarth Street was macadamized,'" 

 and the same system was introduced next year 

 in Old Elvet ; but the dust which it produced 

 caused some annoyance, so that the plan was 



^ Arch. Ael. ii, 118. 



' Sykes, Local Rec, sub anno. 



* I.oc. and Personal Act, 3 Geo. IV, cap. 26. 



* The north gate of the castle having been first 

 taken down. See further on this change below. 

 Books still preserved were from this time kept by the 

 Commissioners, and form a kind of history of city 

 progress. 



*" The Macadam system was introduced for Dur- 

 ham turnpike roads about 1821. 



not universally adopted in the city. Its com- 

 parative failure, perhaps, led to the cobbling of 

 Claypath and Gilesgate in 1830. By 1840 the 

 cobbling of the streets generally was complete, 

 so that a feature which has been thought to be 

 characteristic of old Durham is comparatively 

 modern. Cobbles, however, have been widely 

 replaced by granite paving, and the cobbles have 

 largely disappeared in favour of tar paving and 

 other systems. In no place, however, has there 

 been used wood, cork or asphalt. 



The Act of 1790 was imperfectly carried out 

 as regards lighting, and indeed its mention of 

 lamps existing and to be made is incidental and 

 ambiguous. The result was an increase of 

 disorder at a period of great political unrest. 

 Accordingly, in 18 14, the Secretary of State 

 intervened, and oil lamps were placed in the 

 Baileys, Market-place, South Street and the 

 Elvets. Lamp-smashing now began to be a city 

 sport for the rougher element in the populace, 

 so that parish constables were appointed to 

 help the city constables. At last, in 1823, 

 lighting by gas was considered, and the offices 

 were enlisted of Mr. West, who had recently 

 contracted for the gas supply of Stockton. At 

 the beginning of 1824 the whole city was 

 lighted by gas. ' We behold,' says the Durham 

 Advertiser, ' a city long notorious for its 

 nocturnal darkness become at once perhaps one 

 of the best lighted towns in the kingdom.' 

 All the plant and installation were the property 

 of Mr. West, from whom they were purchased 

 in 1841 by the first Durham Gas Company. 

 An opposition company was soon merged in 

 the former, which continued its work until 1873, 

 when the present company was formed. The 

 area of supply is about 33 miles. Incandescent 

 street lamps were introduced in 1902, owing to 

 the competition produced by the appearance of 

 electric lighting, which was made accessible in 

 Durham in 1901. A transformer station to the 

 north of the city receives supply from the 

 County of Durham Electric Power Distribution 

 Company, whose generating station is at 

 Carville-on-Tyne. 



The peninsula had, and still has to some extent, 

 its own natural water supply at a depth of 30 ft. 

 to 40 ft. The castle and cathedral had their 

 own wells, and most of the Bailey houses had 

 theirs. They gave trouble, however, and about 

 1540 Bishop Tunstall brought a supply to 

 cathedral and castle from beyond the river. The 

 portions outside the peninsula were supplied by 

 their own wells, e.^. Framwell, Southwell, 

 St. Cuthbert's Well, St. Oswald's Well, Hakow 

 Well. In 1450 water was brought to the market 

 place from Crook Hall, and a pant or fountain 

 was erected. Such was the general provision 

 until 1844, when a water company was formed 

 and the trade of water carrying became by 



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