A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Water Lane. Below the site of Bow Bridge the 

 river, after a semicircular turn, takes a north- 

 ward direction, just past the turn here is the 

 Prebends' Bridge built in 1777 from designs by 

 Richard Nicholson. This bridge is a fine stone 

 structure of three semicircular arches with 

 voussoirs springing from piers with triangul- 

 ar starlings surmounted by semi-hexagonal 

 projections, upon which the recesses of the 

 footways are carried. The spandrels are filled 

 by plain recessed panels, and the whole is 

 crowned by a shallow cornice and plain parapet, 

 the latter having panels of balustrading over the 

 centres of the side arches. There was in early 

 times a ferry boat here maintained by the con- 

 vent, which gave access to their mill, fishponds 

 and orchards at Crossgate.* This ferry was 

 replaced by a footbridge in 1574, which was 

 swept away by the great flood of 1771, and a 

 temporary bridge was erected that remained 

 until the present bridge was built. 



Passing the Prebends' Bridge, we reach the first 

 of the weirs, which seems to have been maintained 

 at the common charge of the bishop and convent.* 

 At the western end of the weir were the sites of 

 a corn mill and a fulling mill, both belonging to 

 the convent,^" and at the eastern end were two 

 corn miUs belonging to the bishop and Icnown as 

 the Jesus Mill and Lead Mill. These latter 

 mills provided for the castle area and were 

 bought by the prior from the bishop in the 

 15th century.^i In 1792 one of these mills on 

 the eastern side was leased for carding of wool 

 and cleaning of cloth. A further lease dated 

 1813 contains covenants to raise the water in 

 the river 12 in. by planks and not to grind corn 

 at the mill at the western end of the weir 

 between midnight and 6 a.m. from i May to 

 II November. These mills appear to have 

 fallen into disuse shortly after this date. 



A quarter of a mile below the weir the river 

 is crossed by Framwellgate Bridge, or the Old 

 Bridge, as it was called in mediaeval times to 

 distinguish it from the later Elvet Bridge. 

 This bridge was originally built by Flambard in 

 1 120, but it was swept away by a flood in 1400. 

 For a time a crossing was maintained by a ferry 

 boat, but the present bridge was built in the 

 15th century by Bishop Langley (1406-37) and 

 was widened in the early part of the 19th century. 

 It consists of two arches, each of 90 ft. span, 

 and was formerly fortified by towers and gates 

 at each end. In 13 16 a fight took place between 

 Richard Fitz Marmaduke, the bishop's steward, 

 and Robert Neville, ' the peacock of the north,' 



^ Scriptores Ires (Surt. Soc.) 114. 



» Mins. Accts. 7 Edw. Ill, bdle. 1144, no. 18. 



1" The site of the corn mill is not quite clear, but 

 it is said to be near the fulling mill (Durh. Acct. R. 

 620). 



^1 Scriptores Ires (Sun. Soc.), p. 159. 



' for dispute who might rule the most.' Fitz 

 Marmaduke was defeated and killed. '^ Below 

 this bridge is another weir, at the cast end of 

 which was the Bishop's Mill, where the inhabi- 

 tants of the borough owed suit. This mill is 

 mentioned in the .ffoWow 5ooi," and was usually 

 leased separately from the borough, but some- 

 times with it.'* In 1543 it had fallen out of 

 repair by the violence of the stream, when 

 Bishop Tunstall granted a lease of the River 

 Wear from the Milburn to Lowicke Haugh to 

 Robert Rawc, bailiff of Durham, and Ralph 

 Surtees, merchant, for 70 years in order to build 

 another mill. A mill was accordingly built, but 

 certain inhabitants withdrew their suit and 

 erected a horse mill on the site of a burgage 

 held from the dean and chapter. In an action 

 that followed the bishop's lessee obtained judg- 

 ment and damages. 1* 



At the western end of the weir the Milburn, 

 which now runs in a culvert under the North 

 Road, flows into the Wear. Formerly its waters 

 were used to drive the Clock Mill at the foot of 

 Milburn Gate. At it the inhabitants of the old 

 borough of Crossgate had to grind their corn. 

 This mill was granted by Bishop Flambard to 

 Kepier Hospital," and afterwards passed to the 

 almoner of the convent," and only ceased to be 

 used as a mill within living memory. Three- 

 quarters of a mile below this second weir there 

 used to be another weir for supplying power to 

 the mill attached to Kepier Hospital. 



The bishop appears to have had the fishery 

 of the river, and in 1 31 2 granted to the prior 

 and convent a free fishery between Elvet Bridge 

 and Framwellgate Bridge,** and from time to 

 time leased the waste ground between the castle 

 walls and the river.** 



The castle of Durham stands 

 THE CASTLE on the neck of a peninsula 

 which was unapproachable by 

 the engines of siege of ancient times, and from 

 the very fact of its impregnable strength played 

 a comparatively small part in military history. 

 It was founded purely as a fortress, but before 

 long became the chief residence or palace of 

 that long Hne of Prince Bishops whose history 

 has been told elsewhere. Selected first as a 

 refuge for the venerated body of St. Cuthbert, 

 the peninsula must have received some artificial 



^^ Geiia Carnarvon (RoUs Ser.), pt. ii, p. 33; 

 Surtees Soc. vol. xxi, p. 2. 



13 F.C.H. Durh. i, 327. 



1* Durh. Treas. Liber Recog. et Dimiss. Laur. 

 pp. Ill, 170, 171, 189, 291. 



15 Durh. Rec. (P.R.O.), cl. 3, no. 78, m. 17 d. ; no. 

 92, m. II. 



i« Mem. of St. Giles (Sun. Soc), 194. 



1' Durh. Treas. Loc. 37, no. 47. 



18 Kellaw'j Reg. (Rolls Ser.), iv, 1 1 88. 



1* Durh. Rec. (P.R.O.), cl. 3, no. 68, m. 25. 



64 



