SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC 



HISTORY 



I DURHAM BEFORE BOLDON BOOK 



FEW counties have more thoroughly disappointed the first promise of 

 civilization than Durham. In the seventh century the banks of 

 the Tyne and Wear were the home of literature and the arts, but 

 before the eighth century had closed decay had set in and Durham 

 remained a thinly-peopled land of heath and fell till the industrial revolution 

 of the eighteenth century. And yet Durham, even in its decay, is a fascinating 

 study to the economic historian, for the partial independence which it enjoyed 

 under its Palatine Bishop, who was also landlord of a considerable portion of 

 the county, has led to the preservation of records which, even in their present 

 fragmentary condition, encourage investigation while they tantalize by their 

 lacunae. The present sketch is founded largely upon personal examination 

 of the splendid series of Halmote Rolls and similar documents in the 

 Treasury at Durham 1 and in the Public Record Office. 



Boldon Book in its earliest form was drawn up in 1 183, and our informa- 

 tion about the preceding centuries is scanty in the extreme. However, it is 

 possible to glean a few facts about the social and economic condition of the 

 county from local historians, from place-names and language, and from hints 

 given in Boldon Book and other documents. 



The county seems to have been thinly peopled both in prehistoric and 

 in Roman times. Celtic place-names, except for rivers, are few, and only 

 one Chester (Binchester) is found far from the Roman Wall, although Roman 

 settlements, camps, and other remains can be traced all over the county. 

 The rivers of Durham generally flow eastwards, and in their valleys and at 

 their mouths are the earliest settlements. Between the rivers were moors and 

 fells far down into the eighteenth century, and in the west, sloping up to the 

 Pennines, were moors and forests where wolves lurked down to the seventeenth 

 century. Across the county, generally north and south, ran a number of 

 Roman roads. One of these, in Saxon times Deor Street the Forest-way, 

 perhaps gave its name to the county. It ran from Ebchester to Lanchester, 

 and thence, after a deflection to the east, to Binchester near Bishop Auckland, 

 and reached Piercebridge, on the Tees, without further deflection. Deor 

 Street was used as the Roman highway from York to the Great Wall, and 

 was in later times known as the Northern Watling Street. In the eighteenth 



1 The writer would like to acknowledge the great kindness of the Dean and Chapter of Durham in 

 unreservedly placing their documents at his disposal ; and of the Rev. Canon Greenwell and Mr. K. Bailey, 

 the late and present curators, for help rendered. 



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