130 
D U II II A M. 
(hop, who holds the proper courts'by his judged, and ap¬ 
points by his patents a vice-admiral, regifter, and marfhal, 
or vvater-bailif, and other officers, and has all the privi¬ 
leges, forfeitures, and profits, incident to this power, as 
royal fiffies, fea wrecks, duties for fhips arriving in his 
ports, &c. This county, for its fize, is, perhaps, one of 
the.moft’hilly in the kingdom ; tire hills are, in general, 
covered with verdure to the top, and have not been un¬ 
aptly called the. .Apennines of England. Many of them con- 
. tain lead and iron ores, coals, lime-ftone, free-done, mar¬ 
ble, &c. The ead and north-ead parts of the county 
are particularly rich in coal-mines, lying in horizontal 
drafa from three to fix feet thick, and extending many 
miles through the country. Near Wolfingham are found 
beautiful black fpotted marble, and the large grey mill- 
done for grinding corn. Grind-dones are found a little 
to the fouth of the river Tyne, and not far from Nevv- 
cadle ; thefe form an article of exportation to mod parts 
©f the habitable globe. There are alfo feveral quarries 
of fire-done, immenfe quantities of which are exported 
to be ufed in ovens, furnaces, &c. Near the river Tees 
the land is rich, confiding of a loamy clay, and is gene¬ 
rally fertile near the other rivers ; but the other parts 
are not fo good. The climate is very uncertain, and the 
harved hazardous ; wheat, barley, oats, peafe, mndard, 
are the chief productions; beans are feldom raifed in the 
weftern part of the county. The principal manufactures 
are tammies, carpets, huckabacks, cotton in various 
forms, fail-cloths, fait, deel, glafs, ropes, pottery, iron 
works, iron founderies, copperas, paper, &c. Durham 
is the capital. The towns are Stockton, Sunderland, 
Barnard Caftle, Darlington, Stanhope, Hartlepool, Bi- 
diops Auckland,Walfingham, and Sedgefield. The prin¬ 
cipal rivers are the Tees, Tyne, Were, Tame, Lune, 
Durwent, Gaundlefs, and Skern. The mod noted places 
are, Sunderland Point and Hartlepool Point ; the Tees 
Mouth and Tynemouth Harbour and Bar ; the Lune and 
Teeldule Forefts; Oxenhall Pits, with the Cataract of 
the Tees river. It fends only fiur members to parlia¬ 
ment, viz. two for the county, and two for the city. The 
air of the county is healthy, but feverely cold in winter. 
The mod remarkable feats in this county are, Axwell 
Park, near Newcadle ; Bidiop Auckland Park ; Brance- 
beth Cadle, near Durham ; Gatefhead Park, near New¬ 
cadle ; Gibfide, near Newcadle ; Hardwick, near Sedge- 
field ; Helton le Hale ; Hilton Cadle, near Sunderland. 
Lambton Houfe, near Durham ; Lumley Cadle, near 
Durham; Raby Park, near Staindrop ; R.avenfsvorth 
Cadle, near Newcadle. Stanhope Cadle. Streatham 
Cafile, near Barnard Cadle. Whitworth, near Bifhop 
Auckland, Windledon, near Bidiop Auckland ; and Wil¬ 
ton Cadle, near Bidiop Auckland. 
The bifhopric of Durham was difiblved, and the king 
to have all the lands, &c. by 7Edvv. VI. But this atl 
was afterwards repealed, and the bidiopric newly eredted, 
with all jurifdidlion ecclefiadical and temporal annexed 
to the county palatine. The juftices of the county pala¬ 
tine of Durham may levy fines of lands in the county : 
and writs upon proclamation, &c. are to be diredfed to 
the bidiop. $Eliz. c. 27. 31 Eliz. c. 2. Writs to eledt 
members of parliament in the county palatine of Dur¬ 
ham flail go to the bidiop or his chancellor, and be re¬ 
turned by the ffieriff, &c. 2 5 Car. II. c. 9. The courts 
called palatine, were extended to two other counties be- 
ddes Durham, as well as the royal franchife of Ely ; and 
are a fpecies of private courts of a limited local jurifdic- 
tion, having at the fame time an exclufive cognizance of 
pleas in matters both of law and equity. Finch R. 452. In 
ali thefe, as in the principality of Wales, the king’s ordi¬ 
nary writs ilfuing under the great feal out of chancery do 
not run ; that is, they are of no force. For as originally 
all jura regalia were granted to the lords of thefe coun¬ 
ties palatine, they had of courfe the foie adminiftration of 
juftice by their own judges appointed by themfelves, and 
not by the crown. It would therefore be incongruous 
for the king to fend his writ to diredl the judge of ano¬ 
ther’s court in wdiat manner to adminiller jufiice between 
the fuitors. But when the privileges of thefe counties 
palatine were abridged by 27 Hen. VIII. c. 24. it was alfo 
enadted, that all writs and procefs ffiould be made in the 
king’s namef but fliould be tefred or witneffed in the name 
of the owner of the franchife. Wherefore all writs 
whereon actions are founded, and which have current au¬ 
thority here, mull be under the feal of the refpedlive 
franchifes; the two former of which, Chefter and Lan- 
cafter, are now united to the crown, and the two latter, 
Durham and Ely, under the government of their feverat 
bilhops. And the judges of affife who fit therein, fit by 
virtue of a fpecial commiffion from the owners of the fe¬ 
veral franchifes, and under the feal thereof, and not by 
the ufual commiffions under the great feal of England. 
See the article County, vol. v. p. 2S9. 
DUR'HAM, a very ancient city, capital of the county 
of the fame name, fituated on feven hills, and furrounded 
by others more lofty. It has been whimfically compared 
to a crab, the body being reprefented by the centre of 
the town, the cathedral, &c. and the daws, by the feveral 
fireets branching every way, in curve lines. Its name is 
faid to be derived from its fituation : it is called in Latin 
Dunelmum , which has a plain reference to the Saxon word 
Dunholm, and which is derived from dun, an hill, and he line 
or holm, a plain furrounded with water. In after-times 
it was called Durefme, and more modcrnly Durham. It 
is fituated near the centre of the county, in latitude 54 
deg. 50 min. N. and 1 deg. 27 min. W. longitude from 
Greenwich : 239 miles north from London, fixty-fix north 
from York; fifteen fouth-from Newcaftle-upon-Tyne; 
and 121 fouth from Edinburgh. The diocefe is deemed 
the richeft in the kingdom ; and the prebends are fre¬ 
quently friled the Golden Prebends of Durham. The fee 
contains the whole counties of Durham and Northum¬ 
berland, except the jurifdiflion of Hexham in the latter. 
It hath alfo one parifh in the county of Cumberland. 
This fee hath given to the church of Rome eight faints 
and one cardinal; and to the Englith nation one lord 
chief jufiice, five lord chancellors, three lord treafurers, 
one principal fecretary of irate, one chancellor to the uni- 
verlity of Oxford, and two mailers of the rolls. 
The origin of this city is generally allowed to have 
been about the year 995, when the monks of Landisfarne, 
after having been harrafled by the invafion of the Danes, 
and forced to wander up and down with the relics of St. 
Cuthbert, were induced to fix upon this fpot for a per¬ 
manent refidence ; perhaps the natural ftrength of the- 
place was their principal inducement: “The topography 
of Dunholme, (fays the legend,) at that tyme was more 
beholding to nature for fortification than fertilitie ; where 
thick woods hindered the ftarres from viewing the earth, 
and the earth from the profpeCt of heaven.’’ Another 
old author fays, “All the people, following the corpfe 
of our holy father Cuthbert, came to Dunholm, a place 
ftrong by nature but fcarce habitable, enclofed quite 
round with a very thick wood, and in the middle only a 
fmall plain, which they ufed to plough and fow. The 
faid prelate, therefore, with the help of the people, and 
the affiftance of Uthred earl of the Northumbrians, felled 
and grubbed up the wood, and, in a fiiort time, made the 
place habitable ; which done, every one, as his lot fell, 
had a houfe afiigned him.” The foundations of this city 
being thus laid, its ftrength, and the number of its inha¬ 
bitants, increafed rapidly. “ The people being thus fet¬ 
tled, (continues the fame author,) the faid Aldwin, out 
of zeal to Chrift and St. Cuthbert, began to buiid a 
handfome large church, in the place where they had de- 
pofited the body of that holy man ; and, by the zealous 
application of the people to fo good a work, foon per¬ 
fected the fame, dedicating it to St. Cuthbert.” This 
ftruCture was called White Kirk , and was dedicated by 
biftiop Aldwin, September 4th, 999, at leaft the chapel 
or fuch part of it as was then finiihed; into which the 
