A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



local trade. The cotton factory had been set up, 

 no doubt with considerable anticipation, in the 

 very year that the great canal and river scheme 

 was revived and expanded. The city, too, was 

 improving, for the Act of 1790,^^ however 

 imperfectly administered, must have proved a 

 new era in the lighting, paving, and general 

 amenity of the place. In 1791 a new theatre 

 was opened, taking the place, it is believed, of 

 that mentioned above. In the same year the 

 old Claypath gate was removed. Two years 

 later the Durham infirmary, which had been 

 established in 1785, was ready to receive patients. 

 The occasion called forth a great display of 

 interest with a service at the Cathedral, a civic 

 procession, a public dinner, a special performance 

 of Cato at the theatre.'^ 



The French war soon absorbed attention, 



and its echoes were heard even in Durham. 



In 1795^' a French privateer had landed its 



crew on the Northumbrian coast, raiding the 



seat of Lord Delaval, and recalling to men's 



minds the incursions of Danes in far distant 



times. In the summer, encampments of local 



levies were established at the chief convenient 



spots for troops to occupy along the coast line 



or near to it. In 1797 when banks all over 



the country were feeling the strain caused by 



small tradesmen who were eagerly turning their 



capital into ready money, the Durham banks 



passed through a most anxious time.** A run 



on them began, but, as was done elsewhere, 



local men of means came forward to inspire 



confidence.^ A declaration was signed by a 



large number of gentlemen from the counties of 



Durham and Northumberland indicating their 



willingness to take banknotes from all the banks 



in Durham, Newcastle, and Sunderland. Paper 



money, save for sums under £1, came in this 



way to be the means of exchange for some years. 



In 1798, when the fear of invasion paralysed the 



land, armed associations were formed in various 



places. In Durham 500 men offered themselves, 



and of these 300 were chosen and embodied 



under Col. Fenwick.^ Their colours, presented 



by Lady Millbank, were given some years later 



to the University of Durham," and still hang 



in the Castle Hall. A body of cavalry was also 



raised, and the two corps remained under arms 



until the treaty of Amiens in 1802 brought a 



temporary peace. The bad harvest of 1799 



aggravated the miserable condition of the poor 



in the city. A time of great poverty followed, so 



'^ See above, p. 5. 



32 Table Book, sub anno. 



33 Ibid. 



3* Ibid, iub anno. 



35 For the general position cf. Hunt, Political Hist. 

 387. 

 ^ Table Book, 1798. 

 3' Minutes of Senate. 



that in 1800 a public soup kitchen was opened 

 to relieve the distress.3'* 



The war began again after the few months' 

 luU in 1803. The local volunteers were called 

 out again in November,38 and were not dis- 

 banded for ten years. The anxious months 

 dragged on, and in February 1804 tension 

 became acute. In Durham arrangements were 

 all complete for the volunteers to assemble 

 within two hours of summons on Palace Green. 

 A series of beacons was arranged, Gateshead 

 signalling to Pittington Hill, and Pittington 

 to Durham. 38 Otherwise, too, it was a 

 gloomy year in the city, the cotton factory hav- 

 ing been burnt down in January, throwing many 

 out of employment. Gradually, however, the 

 immediate fear of invasion began to abate, 

 though the clouds did not disperse for a long 

 time. 



Meanwhile, some attention had been directed 

 to Durham in no very enviable way. John 

 Carter, the celebrated architectural draughts- 

 man employed by the Society of Antiquaries, 

 had visited Durham in 1795. The dean 

 and chapter, who had been carrying out the 

 extensive repairs begun in 1776, called in the 

 aid of Wyatt in 1798. His extraordinary pro- 

 posals, of which the draft may still be seen in 

 the Dean and Chapter Library, were fortunately 

 never fully carried out. He left his mark, 

 however, on the building, introducing what 

 Carter scornfuUy called ' his alterations and 

 modern conveniences.' 



Men's minds were at the time full of the 

 French war, but even so the publicity of the 

 Gentleman' s Magazine gave the work done at 

 Durham wide notoriety.''" Public opinion, 

 however, in days of slow communication, was 

 not formed quickly enough to prevent the 

 destruction of the revestry with its mediaeval 

 furniture. It was puUed down in the very year 

 that Carter's letters appeared. 

 The same magazine which published the 



3'" The bishop made a public appeal {Gent. Mag. 

 Ixix, 1079). 



3« A sermon preached before the delivery of the 

 colours to the Durham Volunteer Infantry, 1803, by 

 Archdeacon Bouyer was published. This delivery 

 seems to mean re-delivery. Col. Fenwick resigned 

 his command, which was taken by Mr. Shipperdson. 



3' The interesting arrangements are described in 

 Arch. Ael. v, 163. 



** Carter exhibited his drawings to the Society of 

 Antiquaries in and from 1797, taking a view a week at 

 their meetings. His book on Durham was published 

 in 1801. Wyatt's work being at that time well in 

 progress, Carter, in his interesting series of letters 

 on the Cathedral given in the Gent. Mag. for 1802, 

 explained to the world what Wyatt was doing (op. 

 cit. Ixxi, 1091 ; Ixxii, 30, 133, 135 (Wyatt's plan), 

 228, 399, 494). In Ibid. Ixxii, 327, ' A.L. ' describes 

 from eye-witness the work of Wyatt up to 1800. 



50 



