Bishopric of, one of the counties of England. Before the arrival of the Romans it was included in the British principality of the Brigantes, and after their arrival made part of the province of Maxima Caesariensis. During the heptarchy it formed part of the kingdom of Northumberland, the fifth established, which began in 547, and ended in 827, having been governed by thirty-one kings. It was not mentioned by Alfred in his division of counties, being at that time considered as a part of Yorkshire. At present it is included in the northern circuit, in the province of York, and is a diocese and principality under the government of its own bishop, being a county palatine, the second in rank, and the richest in England. It is bounded on the north by Northumberland, on the south by Yorkshire, on the east by the North Sea, and on the west by Cumberland. It extends, according to the view of Mr Rickman, over 1061 square miles, and contains one city of the same name, nine market-towns, and 223 villages. It is divided into four wards. Until the passing of the reform act, it returned two members to the House of Commons for the county, and two for the city. The county has been formed, by that law, into two divisions, for the purpose of parliamentary elections; each of which returns two members. The northern division comprehends the wards of Chester and Easington, and the polling places are Durham, Sunderland, Lanchester, Wickham, Chester-le-Street, and South Shields. The southern division comprehends the wards of Darlington and Stockton, and the polling places are these two towns, and Bishop Auckland, Stanhope, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Barnard Castle, and Sedgefield. The following places within the county have by the same law obtained the privilege of electing two members each, viz. Gateshead, South Shields, Sunderland, and Tynemouth.

This is the only county palatine remaining in England, Durham, and it is called palatine, a palatio, because the owners thereof had, in this county, the authority to use the royal prerogative, as fully as the king had in his palace. The palatine privileges were granted to this county probably on account of its bordering upon the inimical kingdom of Scotland, in order that the inhabitants, having justice administered at home, might not be obliged to go out of their county, and leave it open to an enemy's incursions; and that the owners, being encouraged by so large an authority, might be the more watchful in its defence. There is a court of chancery in this county, and the bishop is at the head of the administration of justice.

The western angle of the county of Durham is hilly and mountainous, with black, naked, and barren regions, crossed by a ridge of high hills, from whose sides issue numerous streams flowing to the sea. There are some beautiful and fertile valleys in the eastern and central parts, pleasantly varied with hill and dale, and alternately appropriated to corn and pasture. The waste lands occupy nearly 120,000 acres of the western part of the county; but in the southern districts many hundred acres have been inclosed and cultivated within the last forty years. The common fields are now but few; for the land belonging to the townships has been inclosed for above a century. There is a great portion of wet ground still remaining, although draining is carried on to a great extent.

Near the river Tees, and in some spots bordering on the other rivers, the soil is loam or a rich clay. At a farther distance from these rivers the soil is of an inferior quality, and marshy, with patches of gravel interspersed. The hills between the sea and an imaginary line from Barnard Castle on the Tees to Alnwick on the Derwent, are covered with a dry loam, the fertility of which varies with its depth. From this line westward the summits as well as the sides of the hills are moorish wastes.

The woodlands of Durham are not of very considerable extent, trees being chiefly confined to the parks and seats of the nobility and gentry, but many plantations have been made of late years. The banks of the rivers and brooks, however, particularly in the vicinity of Durham, are fringed with wood of long growth and much value. The public roads are in general good, but those belonging to private districts and townships want improving.

The port of Stockton-upon-Tees is well situated for commerce. Hartlepool, situated on a promontory, nearly encompassed by the German Ocean, which on the south side of the town forms a capacious bay, is advantageously placed for the reception of vessels, and landing of troops from the Continent; and South Shields sends out many ships.

The mineralogical substances found in Durham are numerous and valuable. The coal mines are some of the most extensive and productive in the kingdom, and the quantity of this important article is so great as to exceed all calculation. At Sunderland the coal trade furnishes employment for 520 vessels, independently of the keels which convey the coal from the staiths to the ships, which are 492 in number. This coal is chiefly conveyed to the metropolis, though great quantities are sent to the different ports of the Baltic, and in time of peace to France and Holland. The whole quantity annually exported from Sunderland alone amounts to about 315,000 Newcastle chaldrons, each chaldron being equal to 53 cwt. The number of persons dependent on this trade is very great, and some years ago, when the consumption was by no means so great as it is at present, amounted to upwards of 26,000 on the river Wear only. The seams or strata now worked are five in number, extending horizontally for many miles, and are from twenty to one hundred fathoms. Durham: beneath the surface; while each stratum is from three to eight feet thick. Below these are several other seams of coal; and many parts of the county, besides those where the pits are now open, abound with this substance.

The principal lead mines of Durham are situated in Teesdale and Weardale; those of the former place have not been very productive, but the produce of the latter is of considerable value. The general method of working them is similar to that pursued in other mining counties. The ore of Weardale is melted by the blast-hearth, but in Teesdale air-furnaces have been introduced with much success.

Ironstone is found in the neighbourhood of Swalwell and Winlaton, where are the first iron-works in England. Some excellent quarries of slate for buildings have been opened in different parts of the county. A beautiful black spotted limestone is dug up near Walsingham, and made into hearths, chimney-pieces, and other ornaments. This neighbourhood abounds also with fine millstones. The Newcastle grindstones are procured at Gateshead Fell; and firestone of high estimation, for building ovens, furnaces, and the like, is obtained in various parts of Durham, and exported in immense quantities.

Several extensive works for manufacturing salt from sea-water have long been established in the neighbourhood of South Shields; but owing to the discovery of a very singular salt spring at Birtley in this county, that process is not so much attended to now. This water rises at the depth of seventy fathoms, in an engine pit constructed for drawing water out of coal mines. It has for many years produced 20,000 gallons per day, four times more strongly impregnated with salt than any sea-water. In consequence of the discovery of this spring, about twenty-five years ago, a large and extensive manufactory of salt has been established near the spot, the quality of which is excellent. At Butterby, near Durham, is another salt spring, which issues from a rock in the river Wear, but is only visible when the water is low; it contains more of the sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salt, than the spring at Birtley. Within a few yards of the Water-gate, on the south side of the town of Hartlepool, is a chalybeate spring, covered every tide by the sea. It is impregnated slightly with sulphur, which evaporates very quickly, leaving a sediment with salt of tartar; a gallon will yield 120 grains of sediment, two parts of which are nitrous, and the rest limestone.

Improvements in agriculture have been pursued with considerable spirit and success, in the environs of Darlington, chiefly through the patronage of a society of respectable gentlemen, who hold their meetings in the town, and bestow premiums upon merit. The usual rotation of crops in this county is, after summer fallow, wheat, oats, beans, or peas. On some spots of gravelly soil, turnips and barley are grown in almost perpetual succession, a crop of clover being sometimes interposed. The produce of wheat on good land is from twenty to thirty bushels per acre, the produce of barley is from thirty to forty, of oats from twenty to forty. The manures are chiefly lime and the produce of the fold-yard; though abundance of sea-weed might be collected on the coast, the farmers make but little use of it. The farms are of a middling size, few of them exceeding 200 acres. The largest portion of each farm is appropriated to tillage, but towards the western extremity of the county the whole is applied to pasture. The leases seldom exceed six years, and are too frequently rendered of little value by injudicious restrictions. The leases held of the see of Durham are generally for life, or for twenty-one years, renewable every seven years on payment of a fine. The farm-houses are well situated and commodious, and improvements in farming and farming machinery become more and more common.

The cattle at Durham are, at present, in great repute; as, for form, weight, produce of milk, and quickness of fattening, there are none better. The sheep also, particularly the Tees Water breed, stand high in estimation. It is the largest breed in the island; the legs being longer, finer boned, and supporting a thicker and more firm and heavy carcass, than the Lincolnshire. They are also much wider on the backs and sides, and afford a fatter and finer grained mutton. The weight per quarter, in two-years' old wethers, is from twenty-five to thirty-five pounds, and in particular instances fifty-five pounds or more. The wool is shorter and lighter than some other English breeds. The Weardale sheep are small, but the meat is finely flavoured. When fat, the quarters seldom weigh more than fourteen or eighteen pounds each.

Durham, taking its dimensions into consideration, is inferior to no county in Great Britain for its numerous manufactures. It has cast-metal founderies, iron manufactories, potteries, glass-houses, copperas works, coal-tar and salt-works, quarries of marble, &c.; besides linen and woollen manufactories.

At the distance of about three miles from Darlington, at Oxenhall, are cavities in the earth, denominated Hell Kettles, to the origin of which are attached many fabulous conjectures. The diameter of the largest is not less than 114 feet, and that of the least seventy-five. About five miles from Hartlepool is one of the most singular and romantic clusters of rocks in the north of England, called Black Halls, formed by the force and constant action of the waves, which have separated enormous masses from the coast, washing some entirely away, but leaving others standing, like the vast towers of a cathedral; in some places the rock is perforated so as to resemble a fine pointed archway.

Near the north wall of the church-yard at Ryton is a large barrow, about twenty feet in perpendicular height, now planted with trees. It does not appear to have been opened; but a similar one, near Bradley Hall, in the same parish, inspected about thirty-five years ago, was found to contain a square cavity, formed by stones placed edgewise, in which a human body had been interred. Between one and two miles north of Brancepeth is Brandon Hill, a lofty eminence, on the summit of which is a remarkable tumulus, of an oblong form, 120 paces in circumference at the base, and about twenty-four feet in perpendicular height. It does not appear to have been opened. One mile north of Eggleston is an ancient structure, called the Standing Stones. This originally consisted of a cairn in the centre, surrounded by a trench, and that again encompassed by a circular arrangement of rough stones, many of which have been removed and broken, to repair the roads. Near a brook, at a small distance, is a large barrow, crossed from east to west by a row of stones.

On Fullwell Hill, a gigantic skeleton and two Roman coins were discovered about fifty-five years ago, together with a small urn of unbaked clay. Several copper coins have been found at the village of Whithorn. Some coins of the Emperor Hadrian were found while widening the road near Gateshead, which is supposed to have been a Roman station.

South Shields was the old finem of Richard of Cirencester's itinerary, as appears from the Roman altars, coins, and other relics found there. Evchester, a small irregular village, is supposed to be the Vividomares of Antoninus; many Roman inscriptions, and an urn of uncommon form, nearly a yard high and seven inches wide, with a small cup in the centre, having been found there. Chester-le-Street has been supposed to be the Condercum of the Remains, situated on the military way leading to Newcastle. Glinibanta, near the village of Lanchester, is another Roman station, which has survived the ravages of cultivation in an extraordinary degree, and is one of the most perfect in the kingdom. It occupies a fine eminence, and is of an oblong figure, being 174 paces from north to south, and 160 from east to west, within the vallum. In some parts the wall still remains perfect; the outside is perpendicular, twelve feet in height, and built of ashlar work in regular courses, each stone being about nine inches thick and twelve long. The site of the Praetorium is clearly distinguishable. Binchester, the seat and manor of the Wren family, is the site of the Roman station called Vindonissa by Antoninus. Its figure and extent seem nearly similar to those of the station just mentioned; but the walls have been destroyed, and the area inclosed and cultivated. A military way, it is supposed, issued from it, leading towards Chester-le-Street. Innumerable fragments have been discovered here.

The most ancient part of Durham Castle is the keep, now a mere shell; the magnificent hall is fast going to decay. Hilton Castle, an ancient baronial residence of the Hyltons, is situated in a pleasant vale on the north side of the Wear, about three miles from Wearmouth; its present form is that of an oblong square; the interior consists of five stories; the rooms are small, and exhibit every symptom of neglect and decay. Ravensworth Castle, the seat of Sir Thomas Henry, occupies part of the site of an ancient castle, which seems to have formed a quadrangle, having a square tower at each angle, connected by a curtain wall. Two of the towers are built up in the offices, the others are partly in ruins. Lumley Castle, about a mile to the east of Chester-le-Street, is one of the seats of the Earl of Scarborough. It forms a quadrangle, with an area in the centre; at each angle are projecting turrets of an octagonal form; it is a grand model of the taste of its age. Brancepeth Castle, an irregular but stately pile, was erected about Stephen's reign, by the family of Bulmers. The original building has had many modern improvements added to it by the present proprietor. The castle of Bishop Auckland stands on the north angle of the town, and, together with its courts and offices, covers about five acres of ground. Raby Castle, the magnificent seat of the Earl of Darlington, owes its splendour to the Earl of Westmoreland, who enlarged a more ancient castle which stood here prior to the year 1379. The present mansion of Streatham Castle was erected on the foundation of the old castle at the beginning of the last century, and several of the apartments are retained in it. Barnard Castle is situated on the southern acclivity of an eminence, rising with a steep ascent from the river Tees; its ruins cover an extensive plot of ground.

Kepier Hospital, near Durham, was founded in 1112; but the only part of the monastic buildings now standing is the gateway, a strong and not unhandsome piece of masonry with pointed arches. The ruins of a monastery for gray friars may be seen at Hartlepool. Several remains of monastic buildings occur near the church at Monk Wearmouth. The monastery of Jarrow may still be traced in its ruins on the summit of an elevated ridge near the church. On the east side of the main street of Gateshead are the ruins of St Edmond's Monastery, which appears, from Bede, to have been established before the year 653. Finchall Priory was beautifully situated in a vale on the banks of the Wear; the ruins cover an extensive plot of ground, but are so much dilapidated that the original appropriation of their respective parts can be traced only with great difficulty. The remains of a chapel at Bear Park are most perfect, and display some neat ornamental architecture. There is at Walsingham the ruins of a considerable building, inclosed with a deep moat, supposed by some to have been a part of a monastery.

The ecclesiastical buildings now remaining, and most worthy of notice, are, the Cathedral of Durham, begun in 1093, in the Saxon and Norman style; Sedgefield Church, in the Saxon style; Bishop Wearmouth Church, supposed to have been founded very soon after the restitution made by Athelstan; and the parish church of Brancepeth, an ancient structure of the conventual form, but apparently of different ages.

The county of Durham contains a great number of noblemen and gentlemen's seats. The following are some of the principal: Streatham Castle, the seat of the Earl of Strathmore; Shincliff-Hall, that of R. Scott, Esq.; Croxdale-Hall, that of W. Salvin, Esq.; Raby Castle, that of the Duke of Cleveland; Lumley Castle, that of the Earl of Scarborough; Castle Eden, that of R. Burdon, Esq.; Harwick, that of M. Russell, Esq.; Windlestone, that of Sir John Eden, Bart.; Grange-Hall, that of G. Allan, Esq.; Winyard, that of the Marquis of Londonderry; Seaham, that of Sir R. Milbanke, Bart.; Ravensworth Castle, that of Sir S. H. Liddell, Bart.; Axwell Park, that of Sir T. Clavering, Bart.; Gibside, that of the Earl of Strathmore; Lambton Hall, that of Lord Durham; and Bradley Hall, that of the Bowes family.

The following titles are furnished from this county: Earl of Darlington to the Duke of Cleveland; Earl of Stanhope; Viscount Lumley to the Earl of Scarborough; Baron Auckland to the Eden family; and Baron Durham to the family of Lambton.

The inhabitants of this county, by accounts of doubtful accuracy, amounted in the year 1700 to 93,500, and in 1750 to 135,000. By the four decennial returns they are stated as follows: In 1801 they amounted to 160,561, in 1811 to 177,625, in 1821 to 207,673, and in 1831 to 253,780. The annual value of the real property appears by the assessment of 1815 to have been £791,359.

a city, the capital of the county of that name, 260 miles from London. It is situated on the river Wear, which nearly surrounds it, and contributes to the fine situation; the castle and cathedral standing on an eminence, communicate no inconsiderable share of beauty. Besides the cathedral, there are six parish churches. The see is the most richly endowed of any in England, and the prebendaries are of great value. In the vicinity of the city are many interesting remains of antiquity. The corporation consists of a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common council men, who nominate the freemen, by whom two members are returned to parliament. The market, held on Saturdays, is well attended. There is very little trade, and there are no manufactures. The inhabitants amounted in 1801 to 7530, in 1811 to 6763, in 1821 to 9822, and in 1831 to 10,125.