A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



courts,** the Exchequer, the Gaol and the Mint 

 were all situated there, and later, in the 17th 

 century, when the county began to return 

 members to Parliament, the elections took place 

 on the Palace Green.** 



The government of this area appears to have 

 been vested in the constable of the castle. In 

 an order of 5 September 1674 ^^ '^ stated that 

 ' the North and South Baileys are within the 

 Guard and Precinct of the castle of Durham 

 and the inhabitants thereof have done suit at 

 the court held within the said castle by castle- 

 guard tenure and never appeared at the city 

 courts or did any service there.' ** 



At the beginning of the 19th century the 

 first great change was made when the courts 

 and the gaol were transferred to Elvet, whither 

 the whole of the county administration offices 

 have gradually been transferred. The Palace 

 Green is now the centre of activity of the 

 Durham section of the University of Durham. 



The BOROUGH OF DURHAM"^ before the 

 Municipal Corporations Act 1835, included the 

 parish of St. Nicholas and part of Framwellgate, 

 viz., ' both sides of the street from the Clock 

 Mill at the foot of Crossgate to the cross at the 

 head of that street (Framwellgate) leading to 



** When the first regular court house was built 

 is unknown. It is evident from the ' Attestationes 

 Testium ' in connection with the ' Convenit ' that 

 no regular court house existed at the beginning of the 

 13th century. Feod. Prior. Dunelm. (Surt. Soc), 252. 



« Mickleton MS. f. 94d, 106, I22d. 



** Durh. Rec. Entry Bks. Decrees andOrders, bdle.4, 

 no. 3, f. 289. 



^^ The materials for the history of the borough of 

 Durham are unfortunately somewhat meagre. With 

 the exception of the charters and some recent 

 minute hooks, the whole of the corporation papers 

 have disappeared. It seems that during the 19th 

 century a corporation official who had custody of the 

 missing documents had a dispute with the corporation 

 as to certain fees and claimed that he had a hen on 

 the documents in question. The dispute was not 

 settled, and every effort to trace the missing papers, 

 which apparently remained in the hands of the official, 

 has been unsuccessful. The Dean and Chapter 

 Treasury contains a considerable number of 13th 

 and 14th century deeds relating to houses in the 

 borough belonging to the convent ; also a paper book 

 of the time of Bishop Booth containing {inter alia) 

 copies of leases of the borough, the mill and the 

 furnace. The main source of Information, however, 

 is the Exchequer Depositions (Durh. East. 8 Jas. I, 

 no. 41), taken in connection with a dispute between 

 Bishop James and the corporation at the beginning of 

 the 17th century (see above, p. 35). Occasional re- 

 ferences are to be found in the Mickleton MS. 

 in Bishop Cosin's Library, Durham, and we have to 

 thank Dr. H. H. E. Craster for a reference to Carte 

 MS. 129 (ff. 250-284), where a number of documents 

 relating to the government of the borough In the 17th 

 century are copied. 



Newcastle by the bounder of the burgages and 

 garths thereunto adjoining,'** i.e., Framwellgate 

 from its junction with Milburngate to the cross 

 which formerly stood at the point where Side- 

 gate diverges from the old road to Newcastle. 

 On the right bank of the river the boundaries are 

 clear, namely, the castle on the south, Gilesgate 

 on the east and the river on the other sides. 



In the case of Framwellgate the exact area 

 within the jurisdiction is uncertain. It would 

 appear that Sidegate was without the borough, 

 but whether Castle Chare, formerly an important 

 exit from the town to Witton Gilbert and 

 Lanchester, was within or without the borough 

 seems doubtful. Generally speaking, the 

 borough may be described as the Market 

 Place*' and the streets leading out of it. 



It is not known when the borough came into 

 existence, but as early as 11 30 it was sufficiently 

 wealthy to pay a fine of loa;.** The fact that 

 the pasture area for the borough burgages lay 

 across the river at Framwellgate seems to indi- 

 cate that it was established subsequent to 11 12 

 when Bishop Flambard founded Kepier Hos- 

 pital, and endowed it with Gilesgate Moor, 

 which otherwise would have been the natural 

 position for the borough pastures.** 



The conjecture that the borough was founded 

 by Bishop Flambard is strengthened by the 

 facts that he cleared the population from Palace 

 Green, and had to find accommodation for it 

 elsewhere, and he built Framwellgate Bridge, 

 which gives ready access to the borough pastures. 



The first charter to the burgesses of Durham 

 was that granted by Bishop Pudsey in or before 

 the year 1179. The text is as follows*": — 



Hugo dei gratia Dunelm' Episcopus Omnibus 

 homlnibus totius episcopatus sui clerlcls et lalcls 

 Francis et Anglls Salutem, Sciatis nos concesslsse et 

 presentl carta confirmasse Burgenslbus nostrls de 

 Dunelmo quod slnt Uberi et quiet! a consuetudine 

 quae dlcltur Intol et uttol et de merchetls et herietls 



*' Exch. Depos. ut supra. 



*' The Market Place Is bounded by St. Nicholas 

 Church on its northern side and may originally have 

 been the churchyard which gradually became more 

 and more devoted to trade. It was in the Market 

 Place that the Tolbooth, the centre of the borough 

 administration, stood. 



*8 Hunter, Mag. Rot. Scacc. (Rec. Com.), 130. 



** It is not possible now to ascertain where the 

 arable area attached to the burgages lay ; a certain 

 amount of land would be available between Claypath 

 and the river, and in addition there was land at the 

 south end of Framwellgate Moor, but most of this 

 was held In connection with extra-burghal holdings. 



^ The charter, with the bishop's seal attached, 

 is in the custody of the corporation. There is a 

 copy in the Durh. Treas. Reg. ii, pt. 2, f. 3. 

 We have to express our thanks to the late Mr. F. 

 Marshall, the town clerk, for permission to copy the 

 charter. 



54 



