CITY OF DURHAM 



All the old exclusive trade-rights of the gilds 

 were swept away, and by this one blow a most 

 characteristic piece of Durham history ceased 

 to exist." 



In fact the Municipal Corporation Act 

 metamorphosed the city in its civic aspect. 

 Next year, the annexation of the palatine juris- 

 diction to the crown '■• terminated the temporal 

 powers of the bishop, though the Act made 

 it clear that the sovereign did not abolish, but 

 assumed for himself those powers.'* Accordingly 

 the king is to-day Comes Palatinus and the city 

 of Durham, as capital of the palatinate, stands 

 in unique relation to the monarch.'* All this 

 legislation was rounded off by the various 

 acts considered elsewhere " which so greatly 

 altered the old ecclesiastical status in Durham. 



Under the Municipal 

 JURISDICTIONS Corporations Act 1835 

 Durham was made up 

 of a series of jurisdictions built round the 

 central castle area over which the constable held 

 sway. To the north of the castle lay the 

 Bishop's borough, with its suburb of Framwell- 

 gate across the Wear. East of the Bishop's 

 borough lay the borough of Gilesgate — formerly 

 subject to Kepier Hospital — whilst within that 

 borough lay St. Mary Magdalen, a separate 

 jurisdiction subject to the convent. Elvct (both 

 borough and barony) and the old borough of 

 Crossgate on the other side of the Wear, which 

 were subject to the convent, complete the juris- 

 dictions. 



Taking first the CASTLE AREA, it may be 

 remarked that the term ' the castle ' is now 

 restricted to the buildings at the northern end 

 of the cathedral plateau occupied by University 

 College, but in the Middle Ages the whole of this 

 plateau was called ' the castle.' Though the 

 North and South Baileys might be included as 

 part of ' the city ' they stoutly resisted any 

 attempt to treat them as part of the borough. 

 There is no trace of any such attempt before 

 the Dissolution, but when, in the 17th century, 

 the mayor and corporation of the borough were 

 gradually extending their influence through the 

 medium of the gilds, the bishop found it 

 necessary to make an order restraining the 

 mayor from coming with his halberts above the 

 Gaol Gates, otherwise called the North Gate 

 of the castle. Above these gates he asserted 



" After the suit mentioned above (p. 42), the 

 history of the gilds is hard to follow on the trade side. 

 Probably the old regulations fell into desuetude. 



'* See Lapsley, op. cit. 204 ; V.C.H. Dur. ii, 73. 



" The Act {36^7 WiU. IV, cap. 19. 



" This King George V recognized in 191 3 by his 

 grant of a sword to the city. 



" F.C.H. Dur. ii, 73-4. 



they had no ' magisterial ' or other jurisdiction 

 and the inhabitants of this privileged area were 

 subject to the constable of the castle and to his 

 court.* 



The North and South Baileys form a street 

 with houses on the western side abutting on 

 the road on the one side and on the castle wall 

 on the other. Originally these houses were part 

 of the estate of the bishop's principal military 

 tenants — the barons of the bishopric — who 

 were responsible for the defence of the castle. 

 It was, however, the estates outside the city of 

 Durham which carried the burden of castle- 

 ward, not the houses in the Bailey. Thus, 

 when, in the 13th and 14th centuries, these 

 houses were sold, the vendors reserved accom- 

 modation for themselves and their horses when 

 they had to do their turn of duty in the castle. 



In an inquisition on the death of Jordan de 

 Dalden in 1348 it is stated that his houses in 

 the Bailey were held of the bishop by barony 

 like the other houses in the Bailey.^ A typical 

 reservation of accommodation — a chamber and 

 stabling for four horses — will be found in 

 Reginald Bassett's conveyance of his house in 

 the Bailey to the convent at the beginning of the 

 13th century.^ Many of the families mentioned 

 in the 1166 return of knights' fees can be traced 

 as owners of houses in the Bailey, namely, 

 Dalden,* Fishburn,* Fitz Meldred,* Amunde- 

 ville,' Hilton,* Foletebe,* EscoUand," Basset," 

 Lumley,i2 Eppleden," Brumtoft," Mon- 

 boucher," Dragon,** Ralph Fitz Roger," Kel- 

 lawe,** BruninghilP' and Conyers.^o 



The Palace Green between the castle and the 

 cathedral was the centre of the Palatinate 

 administration. As we have already seen,-* the 



* There are two cases on the subject, one in 1674 

 (Durh. Reg. Com. P.R.O. bdle. 52, Durh. Reg. Orders, 

 Vol. M (3), f. 289) dealing with the question of suit to 

 the borough mill, and the other about 1699 {Arch. 

 Adiana, ii, N.S., 208) deals with a question of building 

 by ' foreigners.' 



2 Randall MS. i, 45. 



* Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surtees Soc), 196. 

 « Randall MS. i, 45. 



s Durh. Treas. Cart, ii, f. 264. 



* Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surtees Soc), 196. 



' Ibid. 197. 8 Ibid. » Ibid. 195. 



10 Ibid. 196. 1* Ibid. 



*» Durh. Treas. Cart, ii, f. 266. 



IS Ibid. 



1* Surtees, Hist. Durh. iv, 162. 



15 Ibid. 



*« Durh. Treas. i, 16 spec. 45. " Ibid. 57. 



18 Ibid. 62. This deed indicates that at the end 

 of the 13th century during time of war the period 

 of service was 40 days. 



19 Durh. Treas. Cart, ii, 267. 



20 Inq. p.m. Simon Lane, 5 Hatfield; Randall 

 MS. i, 50. 



21 See above, p. 24. 



Si 



