DURHAM, a city, and county town of Durham, England, 256 m. N. by W. from London, on the L.N.E. railway. Pop. (1931), 16,223. The nucleus of the site is a narrow, rocky penin sula formed by a sharp bend of the river Wear, on which stands the cathedral and castle. Though the mediaeval city grew around this site there are indications of earlier settlement, particularly on Maiden hill, where there is a Romano-British encampment. On the projecting rock rising some 7o ft. above the river, the monks of Lindisfarne found, in 995, a resting place for the body of St. Cuthbert, which they had removed from its tomb in fear of Viking raids. The naturally strong position selected was possibly artificially fortified also, thereby laying the founda tions of one of the few examples in Britain of a mediaeval fortress city. In 1928 it was reported that Durham castle was in danger of collapse from moving foundations. A national appeal for £ 150,000 "to save the castle from falling into the river" was made. It was pointed out that the salving of Durham castle from destruction was not a purely local affair but a matter of national interest as the castle was a national historical landmark.
On the peninsula, which was called Dunholme (softened in Norman times to Duresme, whence Durham), a church was built by Bishop Ealdhune and the see was removed hither from Lindis farne. In 1093 Ealdhune's church was rebuilt by Bishop Carilef, who changed the early establishment into a Benedictine abbey. The grand Norman building in which his designs were carried out remains, with numerous additions. The cathedral library, for merly the dormitory and refectories of the abbey, contains a num ber of printed books and mss., and the relics found in St. Cuth bert's grave.
In 1072 William I. erected the castle to the north of the cathe dral. Of this there remain a beautiful crypt-chapel. Other in teresting portions are the Norman gallery, with its fine arcade, Bishop Hatfield's Hall of c. 1350, a reconstruction of the previous Norman one by Bishop Pudsey, and the Black Staircase of fine woodwork of the 17th century. On the peninsula are also the churches of St. Mary le Bow in the North Bailey and St. Mary the Less, the one a 17th century building on a very ancient site, the other possessing slight traces of Norman work, but almost completely rebuilt. Of other churches in Durham, the site of St. Oswald is apparently pre-Norman, and the building contains Norman work of Bishop Pudsey, also some fine early 15th cen tury woodwork. St. Margaret's and St. Giles' churches show work of the same period, while the latter has earlier portions.
The remarkable meander of the Wear served as a natural de fence, and replaced, in parts, the usual mediaeval town wall.
Three of the present bridges across the river are old, that of Framwellgate having been built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 15th. Outside the city on the Wear is the priory of Fin chale (1196), of which there are considerable remains of Early English and later styles, but in the main Decorated. The earliest charter, dated 1179 or 118o, is a grant of exemption from toll merchet and heriot. Before that time, however, the monks had a little borough at Elvet, which is divided from Durham by the Wear and afterwards became part of the city. In 1183 the city was at farm and rendered 6o marks. The bishop of Durham, among other privileges, claimed a mint in the city, which accord ing to Boldon Book, rendered ten marks yearly until its value was reduced by that established by Henry II. at Newcastle, and it was temporarily abolished by the same king.
The palatinate of Durham in the middle ages was a great border ecclesiastic state occupying the extent of the present county, with many outlying portions, and the cathedral func tioned as "half church of God, half castle against the Scots." In the neighbourhood of the city is Neville's Cross, of which little remains. A battle was fought there in 1346, resulting in the defeat of the Scots. With the Reformation came the rise of other city buildings. A grammar school was founded by Henry VIII. in place of the monastic school. The town hall, a 16th century building, was reconstructed in 1851. The city possesses a guild hall and shire hall, together with other county buildings. Four miles west of the city is the great Roman Catholic college of St. Cuthbert, Ushaw, the representative of the old college at Douai.
Durham was at first governed by a bailiff appointed by the bishop, but in 1565 Bishop Pilkington ordained that the govern ment should consist, in addition to the bailiff, of one alderman and twelve assistants, the latter to continue in office for life, and the former to be chosen every year from among their number. This form of government was replaced in 1602, under the charter of Bishop Matthew, by that of a mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 burgesses, the aldermen and burgesses forming a common council and electing a mayor every year from among the aldermen. This was confirmed by James I., but in 1684, the corporation were obliged to resign their charters to Bishop Crew, who granted them a new one, probably reserving to himself a right of veto on the election of the mayor and aldermen. At the time of the Revolu tion, however, Bishop Matthew's charter was revived, and con tinued to be the governing charter of the city until 1770, when, owing to dissensions as to the election of the common council, the number of aldermen was reduced to four and the charter became void. No mayor or aldermen were elected for ten years, but in 1780 Bishop Egerton, on the petition of the burgesses, granted them a new charter, which was practically a confirmation of that of 1602, and remained in force until the Municipal Reform Act of 1835. Being within the county palatine, the city of Durham sent no members to parliament, until, after several attempts be ginning in 1614, it was enabled by an act of 1673 to return two members, which it continued to do until 1885, when by the Redistribution of Seats Act the number was reduced to one.
Industries.—The corporation of Durham claim their fair and market rights under Bishop Pudsey's charter of 1179, con firmed in 1565, as a weekly market on Saturday and three yearly fairs on the feasts of St. Cuthbert in September and March and on Whit Monday, each continuing for two days. In 1610 the bishop recovered the markets and fairs, which he afterwards leased to the corporation for a rent of £ 20 yearly until they were purchased from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 186o. Durham has never been noted for any particular trade; and the attempts to introduce the manufacture of cloth and wool in the 17th and 18th centuries were failures. The manufacture of carpets was begun in 1814.
The uplands have many collieries, and iron working and smelt ing is important. Durham is no longer one of the great cities of the north, but has become a small market town for the industrial population, retaining, nevertheless, many of the cure, administrative, ecclesiastical and educational privileges it has inherited from its past. The city of Durham returned one mem ber to parliament until 1918. After that its representation was merged into that of the Durham division of the county.