CITY OF DURHAM 



and do not really concern us. At all events the 

 context makes it clear that the locality must be 

 sought in Bernicia, and there appears to be no 

 other name there which would develop from 

 Aelfet but Elvet. Whatever Aelfet may mean,i* 

 the phrase Aelfet ee must signify Aelfet island, 

 and the expression would suit the river girt 

 character of the plateau. But other considera- 

 tions help out the identification. The peninsula 

 itself can never have been very well adapted for 

 corn and other crops, but the open district 

 within the river loop at Elvet can scarcely have 

 failed to be productive. When Christianity 

 was re-established in Northumbria in the 7th 

 century, as Bede tells us, under King Oswald, 

 a rapid and widespread development of the 

 Church took place throughout his realm. 



Christianity would surely visit this fertile 

 spot at an early date, where probably an Anglian 

 village arose. Now the church in Elvet is 

 dedicated to St. Oswald, and such dedication 

 would be a very natural one to give to any 

 church in a district where St. Oswald was a 

 native prince, and where his efforts made perma- 

 nent the conversion of Northumbria to the 

 Christian faith. 1* At any rate St. Oswald's 

 Church was the mother church of a very exten- 

 sive district, and even St. Margaret's, which 

 was built in the early part of the 12th cen- 

 tury, remained a chapelry in the large parish 

 of St. Oswald until the 15th century. With the 

 antiquity of the site and dedication of the church 

 works in an interesting discovery of Saxon 

 remains made in the year 1895 in the churchyard 

 wall of St. Oswald's. The portions of pre- 

 Conquest crosses then recovered are now in the 

 Cathedral Library, and certainly suggest a local 

 Christianity of that period. They have already 

 been described in this history." 



Once more we have proof that in 995 a settle- 

 ment actually existed on the left bank of the 

 river, and this, we may take it, was in Elvet and 

 near St. Oswald's if the general theory here 

 advanced is sound. The proof mentioned is 



*^ The late Mr. W. H. Stevenson suggested swan. 

 Prof. F. M. Stenton writes : 'There can be little doubt 

 that the ^Ifet where Peohtwine was consecrated to 

 Whithern in 762 is Elvet near Durham. The place 

 must be sought within the ancient Kingdom of 

 Bernicia. So far as I know there is no other name 

 which could descend from .lElfet. Raine's suggested 

 identification with Elmet is obviously impossible.' 



1^ The interesting reference to the Scottish 

 missionaries and the building of churches in North- 

 umbria in Bede, Hist. Ecd. iii, 3, taken with the 

 absence of churches when Oswald began to reign 

 (ibid, iii, 2), points to a really vnde work by the 

 king. 



" See V.C.H. Dur. i, 224-5 ; Trans. Dur. and 

 Northumb. Arch, and Archit. Soc. iii, 32 ; iv, 281, 

 with plates. 



given by Simeon of Durham,'* the 12th- 

 century Durham monk and historian, who not 

 only knew the locality well, but had access to 

 Northumbrian traditions and chronicles which 

 no longer exist. He says that when the body 

 of St. Cuthbert came in 995 to the peninsula, 

 the place was practically uninhabitable, and with 

 the exception of a level surface of no large size, 

 it was totally covered with very thick wood. 

 This level part ' people were in the habit of 

 cultivating by ploughing and sowing.' It is 

 at the least tempting to suppose that these 

 farmers, who can scarcely have lived on a site 

 so densely covered with trees, lived beyond the 

 river, and came to and fro for their agricultural 

 operations. It should also be pointed out that 

 the road passing along through Crossgate has 

 been known from time immemorial as South 

 Street, at all events in one portion of it. ' Street,' 

 however, is an unusual word in Durham. 

 Silver Street within the peninsula, and South 

 Street on the other side, are, strictly speaking, 

 the only Durham streets. Why ' south ' when 

 it runs on the west of the city ? And why 

 ' street,' which is so rare a word ? Is it not 

 likely that the road so-called forms a part of a 

 really ancient way which ran past the peninsula 

 and skirted Elvet to the south ? 



The general conclusion that the district called 

 Elvet was settled and christianized before 762 

 is fairly warranted. The existence of a village 

 here with its unwritten history is in no way 

 disproved by Simeon's story of the advent of 

 St. Cuthbert's body and the foundation of the 

 historical Durham. Indeed in one particular, 

 as we have seen, the record presupposes an 

 existing settlement. We will now take some 

 points in the story which has already been told 

 in an earlier volume.'' The congregation of 

 St. Cuthbert were travelling from Ripon to 

 Chester-le-Street. Their route to Piercebridge 

 would follow the course of the great Roman 

 road. If they did not continue it to Lanchester 

 and strike thence to Chester-le-Street they may 

 have followed, whatever its exact course, the 

 road which ultimately led from the south 

 through Elvet and out to the intended destina- 

 tion of the congregation. 



At the moment the Danish menace had lifted, 

 but the time was stiU threatening, for the 

 incident which had prompted the flight to 

 Ripon was part of a long series of invasions. 



Chester-lc-Street, despite its sanctuary asso- 

 ciations extending over a period of 1 13 years, 

 was not really safe, and the minds of the congre- 

 gation must have been highly strung and excited. 



*' Simeon of Durham, Op. Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 80. 



" V.C.H. Dur. ii, 7. XVTiat is said in the text is 

 to be taken as a supplement to what was there 

 written. 



