A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



degrees a thing of the past. This Durham water 

 company built worics outside the south-east 

 corner of the city and pumped filtered river 

 water into a supply reservoir on Mountjoy until 

 1880. In this year the company was taken over 

 by the Weardale and Shildon water company, 

 which afterwards became the Weardale and 

 Consett company. Thus an excellent supply 

 of beautifully soft, pure water was brought from 

 Waskerley, near Consett, to Durham. 



Traces of old sewers of uncertain date are 

 often found, but there is nothing by which to 

 reconstruct the ancient scheme of drainage. 

 Save for the elaborate latrine-pits on the western 

 wall of the monastery and others in the castle, 

 there was probably in ancient times no regular 

 drainage. The haphazard substitutes con- 

 tinued until recent times, and their condition 

 was the object of an elaborate report drawn up 

 by Mr. G. T. Clark in 1849 under the Public 

 Health Act of the previous year. His descrip- 

 tion of the sanitary condition of the city is 

 sufficiently shocking. Apparently very little 

 had been done under the powers of the Acts of 

 1790 and 1822, and it was reported by the 

 engineers of the new water company that only 

 eight streets had good sewers, whilst twenty- 

 three had none ! In 1852, as the outcome of 

 these reports, a scheme for resewering the whole 

 city was drawn up, but was carried out im- 

 perfectly in the interests of a false economy. 

 Sewers under this scheme, so far as it was put 

 into operation, entered the river at seventeen 

 different points. Considerable discussion arose 

 about the city sewerage at various times, and at 

 last in 1899 it took shape in the elaborate system 

 introduced by Mr. H. W. Taylor. Gravitating 

 sewers now followed the course of the river on 

 both sides, and brought the sewage to a point 

 below the city, whence it is pumped by centri- 

 fugal pumps into chemical precipitation tanks 

 whence it is conveyed over some 12 acres of land 

 and eventually reaches the river in a thoroughly 

 purified state. The ultimate cost of this elabo- 

 rate scheme is ^43,000, and it will serve a 

 population of 30,000 so far as the sewage con- 

 veyance goes, and 18,000 so far as sewage 

 disposal is concerned. ^^ 



In 1790 provision was made for a watch of 

 not more than twenty-four : four were actually 

 chosen. In 182 1, owing to the ruffianism alluded 

 to above, a regular police force on a small scale 

 was trained, which was supplemented by paro- 

 chial constables. The watch were not merely 

 guardians of the peace but inspectors of nui- 

 sances, of weights and measures, and until 1822 

 of the assize of bread. In 1823 some control 



11 For details see Mr. Pegge's paper in Journ. of 

 Inst, of Munic. Eng. vol. i (1909) ; Mr. Taylor's 

 explanation, ibid. 94. 



of fire engines was placed in their hands. The 

 Act of 1835 inaugurated the permanent police 

 force. 



In regard to trade and industry Durham was 

 far more self-contained before the days of rail- 

 ways, producing on the spot most articles 

 required in the city. Communication with 

 London and great industrial centres has had the 

 effect of starving out or of greatly reducing 

 many trades which once were supported. The 

 chief trade at present is with the pitmen and 

 neighbouring villagers who constantly come in 

 to shop. Trades that have disappeared are 

 those connected with mustard manufacture, 

 brickyards, tanning, grease-making, whilst those 

 of the currier, gunsmith, lead-sheet worker, 

 pewterer, glover, spurrier and cutler are extinct 

 or have been merged in allied departments. 

 There are still at work tinplate workers, carriage 

 builders, cartvvrights, iron-founders, engineers 

 of various kinds, plumbers, whitesmiths, brass- 

 workers, ropcmakers, bookbinders, printers, 

 coopers, millers, builders and contractors. AH 

 these in addition, of course, to purveyors of 

 provisions of all kinds, drapers and clothiers. 

 The manufacture of mustard and of carpets 

 has long been associated with Durham, but 

 mustard-making is now transferred to Yarm, 

 and the carpet factory has been restarted in its 

 old home '- in recent years with every prospect 

 of rapid development. 



We pass to the origin and development of 

 the city. Maiden Castle, to the south-east of 

 Durham, indicates a prehistoric settlement in 

 Elvet ^^ and probably the occupation at that time 

 of the large plateau formed by the great river 

 loop between it and St. Oswald's Church." 



After the English occupation, the dawn of 

 history touches the districts to the north and 

 south before it reaches Durham. Lindisfarne, 

 Bamburgh, Whitby, York are all illuminated, 

 whilst the hills of Durham are still in darkness. 

 It is usual with historians to contrast the 

 comparatively late origin of Durham with that 

 of York or Ripon, and to proceed at once with 

 the familiar events of the arrival of St. Cuth- 

 bert's body in 995. Some reasons are now to 

 be given for going back at least 200 years beyond 

 that date to what is probably the first mention 

 in history of the locality, if not of the peninsula 

 itself. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the 

 year 762 records the consecration of Peohtwine 

 as Bishop of Whithern in Galloway, at a place 

 called Aelfet ee. The circumstances which led 

 to the choice of this particular spot are not given, 



'^ For its origin see below, p. 49. 



*' See V.C.H. Dur. i, 348, and for an older, more 

 detailed account Surtees, Hist, and Antiq. of Dur. iv, 

 90. 



11 V.C.H. Dur. i, 354. 



