CITY OF DURHAM 



doings of Wyatt gave further notoriety to 

 Durham, as stated above, owing to the con- 

 dition of the gaol, parts of which Neild described 

 as ' amongst the very worst in the idngdom.' "^ 

 There can be no doubt that the local conscience 

 was touched. It was proposed to remove the 

 prisoners from Langley's gaol to a new site. 

 The scheme went farther, for it was decided 

 to built new courts as well as a new prison. 

 The County House or Assize Courts, an in- 

 convenient building restored by Cosin,^ was 

 to be transferred to Old Elvet, where, in 1809, 

 with full masonic ritual, and in the presence 

 of the bishop and others, the foundation stone 

 was laid.^' The building was opened in 181 1, 

 but the gaol was not finally ready until 1819.** 

 The year 1809 was also memorable for the 

 jubilee of George III, when large munificence 

 was shown to the poor.''* On this occasion 

 it was estimated that 1,000 poor families were 

 helped, the number, if correct, indicating the 

 strain and poverty of the times.''* And, indeed, 

 the shadow of trouble was never very far distant. 

 Colliery riots broke out in the autumn of the 

 jubilee year. The old gaol and the house of 

 correction at Durham overflowed with prisoners, 

 until some were drafted off to be guarded by 

 the volunteers in the Castle stables."" 



The end of the war, as it was thought to be, 

 in 1814, was hailed with delight. A great 

 illumination marked the celebration of the 

 Allies' entry into Paris, and Buonaparte was 

 burned in effigy in the market-place.''* A few 

 months later the first number of the Durham 

 County Advertiser was published in Durham. 

 It had been originally the Newcastle Advertiser, 

 but was nowtransferred to Durham. The printer 

 and publisher was Mr. Francis Humble."** The 

 acute suffering that followed the peace of 181 5 

 does not seem to have been so much felt in 

 Durham as in some other parts. With the 

 accession of George IV began those discussions 

 and debates which a few years later bore fruit 

 in the ecclesiastical and civil changes of the 

 thirties, changes which brought in an entirely 

 new Durham. They came, however, from 

 without, and were forced upon the city to a 

 great extent, and there is little evidence of 



*1 See above, p. 48. 



*2 See above, p. 40. 



*3 Table Book, sub anno. " Ibid. 



** Dur. Advertiser. 



*^ Table Book, sub anno. 



*' Ibid. Oct. 1809. Colliery troubles did not 

 affect Durham directly, but indirectly, in lowered 

 markets and fairs, the effect was considerable. The 

 last great time of colliery strikes had been in 1793. 



^8 Table Book, Apr. 18 14. 



** Mumble's office was just outside the gaol-gate 

 in Saddler Street, and is now represented by the 

 Advertiser office vnth its enlarged premises. 



active and sympathetic agitation within for 

 such a complete reshaping of the municipality, 

 and of the cathedral establishment, as the reign 

 of William IV brought in.^° The population 

 was increasing. The war, perhaps, and certainly 

 the failure of local manufacturers reduced the 

 numbers by nearly 800 between 1801 and i8ii,but 

 from the latter year they rose again rapidly until in 

 1821 they were over 9,800, an average increase 

 of 300 a year since the census of 181 1. The 

 augmentation must have been in the poorer 

 districts, as there is no evidence of wide building 

 operations on the peninsula.** 



The coming changes were heralded almost 

 significantly by a series of local alterations. 

 Then in 1820 the great North Gate of the 

 Castle, which spanned the top of Saddler Street, 

 was removed, the apartments used for the gaol 

 being no longer necessary.*^ In the same year, 

 the old county house of Bishop Cosin's time*' 

 was pulled down, all assize business being now 

 transferred to the new centre in Old Elvet. 

 Bishop Barrington erected on the site a diocesan 

 registry office partly at his own expense, and 

 partly by subscription." In 1823 gas-works 

 were erected below Framvvellgate bridge, the 

 lighting of the streets constituting a new epoch 

 in the historyof the city** when it was introduced 

 in the following year. In 1825 a local event 

 of even greater importance took place in the 

 opening of the Stockton and Darlington railway, 

 the county, if not the city, leading the way 

 in the new enterprise. Nineteen years, how- 

 ever, passed before Durham itself was linked 

 with the outer world by a railway of its own.** 

 In 1827 a further revolution was inaugurated 

 when the London General Steam Navigation 

 Company began regular steam communication 

 between the Tyne and the Thames.*' It was, 

 perhaps, characteristic of the new spirit that 

 was now spreading when the dean and chapter 

 in 1827 gave permission to Mr. James Raine 

 to open the grave of St. Cuthbert in order to 

 dissipate the myth as to the body of St. Cuthbert. 

 Scott's Marmion had aroused interest in 1808, 

 and this was further spread by the opening of 

 St. Cuthbert's church in Old Elvet at the end 

 of May 1827. Raine's conclusions as published 

 by him in 1828 were vigorously opposed by 

 Dr. Lingard and Archbishop E)Te, and the 



*" For the spirit in the country at large, of. Van 

 Milvert, Sermons and Charges, 525. 



** Statistics in Surtees, op. cit. iv, 13, and in detail 

 V.C.H. Dur. ii, 273. 



*2 See above, p. 2. 



*' See above, p. 40. 



** The building bears his arms. Public subscrip- 

 tions were asked, but it is not clear how this was done. 



** See above, p. 5. 



** See above, p. 4. 



*' Table Book, sub anno. 



51 



