Durham, commonly called the Bishopric, and sometimes the County Palatine of Durham, is of a triangular shape, the point being towards the west; it is a maritime county, being bounded on the east by the German Ocean, on the South by the river Tees, which divides it from Yorkshire, on the west by Cumberland and Westmorland, and on the north by Northumberland. Durham is computed to be 45 miles long, and 37 broad, its circumference being about 190 miles, containing about 610,000 acres of land. The air is esteemed very healthy, and although sharp in the western parts, it is mild and pleasant towards the sea, the vapours from the salt water mitigating the cold, which in a situation so far north, would otherwise be very severe. Its aspect differs no less than the climate, the western parts being mountainous and barren, while those towards the east and south, which border on the sea, and Yorkshire, are fertile and diversified with beautiful meadows, woods, pastures, and corn fields.

Ancient History and Privileges

Previous to the conquest of Britain by the Romans, Durham was included in the British principality of the Brigantes, but after their arrival made part of the province of Maxima Caesariensis. At the establishment of the Saxons, however, it became part of the kingdom of Northumberland, with which it continued to be connected till the union of the Saxon states under Egbert.

It is a county Palatine, and appears to have derived its original privileges from a grant made by Egfrid, king of Northumberland, in the year 685, of all the land between the river Wear and Tyne, to St. Cuthbert, the northern apostle, and to the ministers of his church for ever. But these privileges, according to Camden, were first broken through by Edward I. whose award, as arbitrator between bishop Beck and the Prior about their lands not being executed, "he seized the bishop’s liberties into his own hands, and made strict inquiry, and offered great violence to privilege." The church, however, afterwards recovered her rights, and held them inviolate till the time of Edward VI. to whom all its revenues and privileges were granted by parliament. Queen Mary, however, soon afterwards re established the see in its former authority, and though deprived of some of its privileges, it still possesses peculiar immunities and powers.

' The Palatine right of the bishop of Durham,’ says Camden, ' is founded on immemorial prescription, there being no record of its being granted by any princes before or since the conquest, wherein it is not supposed to have been granted also by their predecessors. It proceeded at first from a principle of devotion to St. Cuthbert, that whatever lands were given to him, or bought with his money, he should hold with the same freedom that the princes who gave them held the rest of their estates: but this piety to the saint was not without its prudential purposes, both for the services of the crown in its wars against Scotland, and of the county, because of its distance from the courts above. It consisted of all manner of royal jurisdiction, both civil and military, by land and sea. For the exercise thereof the bishops had their proper courts of all sorts held in their name, and by their authority, and all officers belonging to them, as chancellors, justices, high sheriff, coroners, escheator, and other ministers. Thus by themselves, and their officers, they did justice to all persons in all cases, without the king or any of his officers interfering ordinarily in any thing. The king’s writs did not run in this county, but were directed to the bishop, or in the vacancy of the see, to the chancellor of the palatinate.

‘When Henry II sent his justices of assize hither on an extraordinary occasion of murder and robbery, he declared by this charter, that he did it by licence of the bishop, and pro hac vice only ; and that it should not be drawn into custom, either in his time, or in the time of his heirs, not being done but upon absolute necessity ; and that he should nevertheless have the land of St. Cuthbert to enjoy its liberties and ancient customs as amply as ever. By virtue of these privileges, there issued out of the bishop’s courts all sorts of writs original, judicial, and common ; writs of proclamation, &c. As all writs went out in his name, he had a register of writs of as much authority as that in the king’s courts; and all recognizances entered upon his close rolls in his chancery, and made to him, or in his name, were as valid in this county, as those made to the king out of it. But now, the act, twenty-seventh Henry VIII. for the re-continuing of certain liberties taken from the crown, directs that all writs, indictments, and all manner of process in counties palatine, shall be made only in the king’s name ; and since that time all the difference in the style of proceeding's in this county from others is, that the teste of the writ is in the name of the bishop, according to the directions of that act. Still he is perpetual justice of the peace within his territories (and can sit only as such), and is also perpetual chancellor, because the chief acts of the exempt jurisdiction used to run through his court. All the officers of the courts, even the judges of assize themselves, have still their ancient salaries, or something analogous, from the bishop ; and all the standing officers of the courts are constituted by his patents: When he comes in person to any of the courts of judicature, he sits chief in them, those of assize not excepted; and even when judgment of blood is given, though the canons forbid any clergyman to be present, the bishops of Durham did and may sit in their purple robes on the sentence of death, whence it is used to be said, solum Dunelmense stola jus dicit et ense.

‘All dues, amercements, and forfeited recognizances in the courts of the palatinate, and all deodands, belong to the bishop. If any forfeits are made, either of war, or by treason, outlawings or felony, even though the soil be the king’s, they fall to the bishop here, as to the king in other places; and though the first great wound which the palatinate received, was given on the alienation of Barnard Castle and Hartlepool, on the forfeitures of Baliol and Bruce, yet the bishop’s right was declared to them on full hearing; and though the possession of them could not be retrieved, they still resort to the courts of Durham as other parts of the county do.

' All the tenures of land here originate from the bishop as lord paramount in chief. Hence he grants charters for erecting boroughs and incorporations, markets and fairs, enclosing forests, chases, and warrens; licences to embattle castles, build chapels, found chantries and hospitals; and dispensations with the statute of Mortmain. All enclosed estates, as well as moors, or wastes, to which no title can be made, escheat to him. He grants the custody of idiots and lunatics; and had the custody of minors while the custom of wards and liveries subsisted. Besides the dependence of leasehold or copyhold tenants on him, if any freeholders alienated their land without his licence, they were obliged to sue out his patent of pardon ; and all money paid for such licences belongs to him.

'In the article of military power, the bishop of Durham had anciently his thanes, and afterwards his barons, who held of him by knight’s service, as the rest of the Halirverk folk held of them by inferior tenures. On alarms, he convened them as a parliament, with advice for them to assist with their persons, dependents, and money, for the public service at home and abroad; and all levies of men and money were made by the bishop’s commission, or by writs in his name out of the chancery at Durham, for he had power both to coin money and levy taxes, and raise and arm soldiers in the bishopric, from 16 to 60 years old. According as he found their strength, he had power to march against the Scots, or to conclude a truce with them. One of the bishops built a strong castle in his territory, on the border, to defend it against them ; though no other person could have done this without his leave, nor the greatest person in the palatinate embattle his mansion : as the people depended on him in these matters, they were free from every body else, and when the lord warden of the marches would have summoned some of the bishop’s men to his court, a letter was sent from the king to forbid him under pain of forfeiting 1,000l. But the militia of this county has now been long on the same footing with the rest of the kingdom, under the lord lieutenant; the only difference here is that that office has generally, though not always, been borne by the bishop.

' The admiralty jurisdiction in this county belongs also to the bishop, who holds the proper court by his judges ; and appoints by his patents a vice-admiral, register, and marshal, or water bailiff, and other officers ; and has all the privileges, forfeitures, and profits, incident to this power, as royal fishes, sea wrecks, duties for ships arriving in his ports, anchorage, beaconage, wharfage, moorage, butterage, ulnage, &c. To him also belongs the conservancy of waters within his district; in pursuance of which, he used to issue commissions for prohibiting, limiting, or reducing wears, or other erections in prejudice of his rivers. All ships of war were arranged within the county palatine by his commission and writs to his sheriff; and when the king issued out writs from his admiralty to the sheriffs of other maritime counties, he addressed a particular letter to the bishop here for his concurrence, who gave commissions to his own sheriffs, with express command, that nothing should be done by the king’s commissions, without him. It is but lately that any instances have been known of the admiralty being separated from the bishopric, and it is now restored, though with some diminution in the honour.

‘ The great privileges of this bishopric, in temporal jurisdiction,’ continues our author, ‘ leads one to imagine that its spiritual immunities were equally extraordinary. After Paulinus departed from York, the bishops who restored Christianity in Northumberland, placed their see at Lindisfarne, though not with the title of metropolitan, yet with all the ecclesiastical power that was then in those counties. This occasioned a great veneration for their successors, among the Saxons, besides the particular reverence paid to St. Cuthbert. When the see was established at Durham, in the time of the conquest, Thomas the Elder, archbishop of York, having been miraculously recovered of a fever at the shrine of the saint, granted to this church several immunities relating to jurisdiction, visitations, &c. which being confirmed by the king and parliament, and the pope, and by several succeeding kings, could never be recalled, notwithstanding many struggles and contests.'

Civil and Ecclesiastical Divisions

The county of Durham is divided into four wards, viz. Chester, Darlington, Stockton, and Easington, besides the two districts called Norhamshire, and Islandshire : these are subdivided into 135 parishes, whereof 87 are impropriate, containing one city, market towns, about 235 villages, and 33,759 houses : the whole county is comprised within the see, and is included in the northern circuit.

Titles Conferred by the County

The city of Durham, as a bishop’s see, is the richest see. The Vane family are Viscounts of Barnard Castle, and are also Earls of Darlington. The Spencers are Earls of Sunderland. The Edens are Barons of Auckland, and the Scotts of Eldon ; the Stanhopes are Barons of Stanhope, as are the Lumleys of Lumley. Henknoyle gives the title of Viscount to the Belasyse family.

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Durham, one of the northern counties, on the shore of the North Sea, is bounded on the north by Northumberland, from which the Tyne separates it, on the east by the North Sea, on the south by North Yorkshire, from which it is separated by the river Tees, and on the west by Cumberland and Westmorland: it is triangular in shape, nearly 45 miles long and 36 broad, and is about the average size of an English shire. Formerly Durham included several small outlying shires in Northumberland and Yorkshire, but which are now annexed to the counties in which they are locally situated. The area is 647,592 acres.

viz. :-443,973 males and 423,385 females. The number of houses were-inhabited, 147,082; uninhabited, 12,327; and building, 554.

The population is chiefly of Northumbrian descent, including immigrants from the neighbouring shires and from the lowlands. There are few Welsh; but there is a large body of Celts from Ireland and the highlands of Scotland.

The county for the most part is bleak and barren, consisting of moorland and heath, the western portion even mountainous, some of the hills being above 2,000 feet in height. There are many beautiful valleys, principally in the course of the rivers, and near the sea, particularly in the south-eastern part, some good soil, but much of the land being in pasture, a great number of sheep are raised. Red grouse abound on the moors.

Of the Roman occupation there are many vestiges. Among the topographical remembrances are various names, as Chester-le-Street, Lanchester, Stonechester, Ebchester, Binchester. Of the names of the Roman roads, and of the settlements on them, are Middridge, Diddridge, Waldridge, Edge Knoll and Berry Edge, Staunton, Stainton, Stanhope, Nunstainton and Streatlam.

Among other names are Gainsford, Ford near Bishopwearmouth and near Lanchester; Cotsford Walworth, Broomhill near Ebchester and near Medomsley; Broomside, Brampton, Broomyholme, Broomdykes, High Brooms, Burdon, Burnop, Burtree, Carlbury, Bradbury, Raisberry, Hindberry, Berry Edge, Woolhouse, Harwood, Harlow Green, Harraton and Harbuck. There is no Coldharbour, but there are Coldpike, Coldside near Boldon and Woodham, Cold Heseldon and Colebank. There is a Windy Nook near Jarrow, and a Hunger Hill near Neasham.

Of the settlement of the English tribes, the names of the places in Durham show a later occupation than of Northumberland, but a like scantiness of evidence of what are called Danish terms; by, for instance, is very scarce. Of south English terms are found-ton, ham, thorne (scarce), stock (scarce), stall (scarce), horn (scarce), wick, worth, thorpe (scarce), ley, land, holme, field, acre, close, main, nook, frith or firth, green, moor, grove, hall, grange, house, hill, knowl, comb, cliff, gap, side, head, shaw, wood, shot, bush, dale, don or down, den or dean, bourn or burn, beck (scarce), well, pool, mouth, mere, letch, ney, row. Northern terms are to be found in scanty number, toft, gaith, flatt, mire, biggin (scarce), bottle, twizzle or thwistle, steel, byer, peel, peth, forth, gate for road, how or hough, force and syke. The northern terms which are most common are law and gill.

In the names of the colliery villages some peculiarities are to be found, as Gibraltar, Bunker’s Hill, Philadelphia, Vigo, Porto Bello, Dunkirk and Factory.

The principal rivers are the Tyne, the Tees, and the Wear. The Tyne, flowing from Northumberland, forms the northern boundary of the county from a little above Blaydon to the sea, passing in its course the town of Gateshead, and at the mouth separating North and South Shields; it has been under the control of Commissioners since 1850, who have improved the portion navigable to a short distance above Newcastle; it receives the waters of the Team and Derwent: the latter, which rises in Hunstanworth parish, forms a portion of the north-western boundary of the county, which it enters near Ebchester falling into the Tyne a little below Blaydon. The Tees forms the entire southern boundary of the shire, flowing past Barnard Castle, Darlington and Stockton: the management is vested in the Tees Conservancy Commissioners incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1852, who have of late years considerably improved the navigation. The Wear rises in the western extremity of the county, flowing in an easterly direction about half its length, thence taking a northerly direction to Chester-le-Street (to which place it is navigable), past the town of Bishop Auckland and city of Durham, to the sea at Sunderland, there forming the harbour: in its course it receives numerous tributary streams. The Skerne rises in the neighbourhood of Trimdon, taking a southerly course through Darlington, where it receives the Cocker beck, to the Tees. In various parts of the county are small streams called becks or burns.

Tides on the North-East Coast op England.-In the North Sea the flood tide-wave enters from the Atlantic ocean between the coast of Norway and the British Isles, and passes through the various channels formed by the Shetland and Orkney islands and the north point of Scotland; the average rate of the stream in the offing is very moderate, not exceeding 1 ½ knots, but that portion which enters by the Pentland Firth acquires a furious rapidity, amounting at Spring tides even to 8 knots; immediately on quitting the Firth, however, its strength abates as it diverges into the open water, its eastern branch filling up the basin of the North Sea, while the western branch swells along the shores of Scotland and England, making high water in all their rivers and harbours successively till it arrives in the Thames; about 2 miles off Blyth harbour and 4 miles off Tynemouth, it runs to the southward till 4h. 10m. after high water at Leith, and at 4 miles off Sunderland a quarter of an hour later; at 3 or 4 miles off Hartlepool, and at the same distance off Whitby, the flood stream runs to the southward till 4h. 10m. after high water at Leith.

Time of High Water on Full and Change days at the principal places on the coast of Durham, with the rise of the tide at Springs and Neaps (By the rise of the tide is meant its vertical rise above the mean low water level of Spring tides).

The county is well provided with railways, the North Eastern Company’s main line entering south of Darlington, passing due north to Gateshead, Newcastle, and North Britain, with branches to Hartlepool, Durham, Sunderland and South Shields. A succession of lines also traverse the county from south to north, viz. from Darlington to Barnard Castle and into Westmorland, to Middleton-in-Teesdale, and to Bishop Auckland, thence to Durham and to Gateshead-the latter called the Team Valley railway. From Darham is a branch to Lanchester, Consett, Shotley Bridge and the North West to Newcastle. The Stockton and Darlington railway (the first constructed in England) connects those towns, passing north-west to Bishop Auckland, Wolsingham and Stanhope, the latter portion called the Wear Valley branch, from which are other lines, called the Derwent Extension and the Deerness Valley branch. The West Hartlepool line has direct communication with the interior of the county, and has short lines to Port Clarence and Stockton. A branch of the North Eastern enters the county at Eaglescliffe to Stockton. Other lines connect the towns of Hartlepool, Seaham Harbour, Sunderland and South Shields; and South Shields with Jarrow, Gateshead and Newcastle. The Newcastle and Carlisle railway skirts the Durham shore of the Tees, and has stations at Gateshead, Blaydon and Ryton in this county.

Durham is remarkable for its coal formations, by which its whole condition is materially affected, as the production of coal is very large, and not only are many employed in coal mining, but in shipping it coastwise and foreign. From the “Mineral Statistics” for the year 1888 we find that 8,167,789 tons of coal were raised in North Durham and 21,497,103 in South Durham, and 4,522,662 tons of coals were shipped from the port of Sunderland in 1888. Lead ore was raised in Teesdale and Weardale to the extent of 12,000 tons, producing 8,163 tons of lead and 62,542 ounces of silver. 132,447 tons of fire clay were raised in North Durham and 232,472 tons in South Durham. Ironstone is also found. The other products are salt, from mines near Port Clarence, millstones (near Stanhope), grindstones (Gateshead), firestone and whinstone, flags and slate and barytes. Silver sand, used for glass making is obtained near Seaham.

The pig iron manufacture is of great importance, the quantity produced in 1888 being 774,984 tons, from 30 blast furnaces. The county ranks second in the production of iron, North Yorkshire being first.

The chemical manufacture is considerable on the banks of the Tyne, so are those of glass and earthenware at Gateshead and Sunderland. Paper making is a trade of some extent; shipbuilding, sail and rope making and manufacture of anchors are largely carried on, at Sunderland more particularly; iron ship building is one of the staple industries, the Tyne ranking next to the Clyde in this industry and the Wear taking next place with 217,336 tons of shipping in 1889; the Tees with 110,436 tonnage and the Hartlepools with a tonnage of 84,109. Nails, chains and bolts are made at Winlaton, near Gateshead. The textile manufacture includes, on a small scale, woollen, worsted stuffs, flax, linen, carpets and rugs, and some cotton working. There are large ironworks and machine factories in various parts of the county.

Durham is largely concerned, besides the occupations named, in the trade of the great town of Newcastle and its outports; for Gateshead, though in Durham, may be considered a suburb of Newcastle.

The shire has a university at Durham, with faculty of theology, school of civil engineering and mining, and an observatory, and has access to schools of science and of medicine at Newcastle-on-Tyne. There are schools of practical art and of navigation. The number of Collegiate Grammar schools is ten; but there are other schools of equal rank. In consequence of the law for colliery inspection there are a large number of Colliery schools.

Durham is divided into wards as follows, there being no division into hundreds :—

*Two Unions, Stockton, 51,209; Sedgefield, 17,103.

The municipal boroughs are Darlington, population in 1881, 35,104; Darham, 14,932 (which has a University, School of Mining and Cathedral); Gateshead, 65,803; Hartlepool, 12,361; West Hartlepool, 28,472; Jarrow, 25,469; South Shields, 56,875; Stockton-upon-Tees, 41,015 and Sunderland, 116,542 (one of the largest shipping towns in England).

Other principal towns are Barnard Castle, population in 1881, 4,448; Bishop Auckland, the residence of the bishop, 12,246; Houghton-le-Spring, 6,041; Seaham Harbour, 9,031; Chester-le-Street, 6,646; Lanchester, 4,038; Stanhope, 8,793: Sedgefield, 2,601; Shildon, 6,946; Shotley Bridge, Wolsingham, 7,895 and Hetton-le-Hole, 10,945. Many of the colliery townships, although having a very large population, have only the resources of villages, and the population fluctuates as new pits are opened or old ones closed.

The county has one court of quarter sessions and is divided into 19 petty sessional divisions. The county contains 269 civil parishes.

Durham forms the diocese of Durham, which until the formation of the diocese of Newcastle in 1882, also included Northumberland under the province of York, and now comprises the archdeaconries of Auckland and Durham. Auckland archdeaconry is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Auckland, Darlington, Stanhope and Stockton. Durham archdeaconry is sub-divided into the rural deaneries of Chester-le-Street, Durham, Easington, Houghton-le-Spring, Jarrow, Ryton and Wearmouth. At Durham is the cathedral and the palace of the bishop is at Auckland.

The county having been granted to the See of Durham anciently, was for many centuries, till of late years, a palatinate principality of the bishop, who exercised most of the functions of the prince bishop of the Germanic empire: he coined money, levied troops, held his own courts of chancery and law. Besides the shire of Durham, he held like power in Bedlingtonshire, Norhamshire and Islandshire, small districts in Northumberland, and annexed to that shire in virtue of the Act of 1848. The mitre of the bishop was encircled with a coronet, and he held many nominal prerogatives, but very seldom any real power, as the authority of the Plantagenet and Tudor kings, and the influence of Parliament in later centuries, restrained the exercise of the nominal sovereignty of the prelates, who were men without political weight. Within this century the revenues and prerogatives of the bishop have been diminished, and the principality having been dissevered from the See, the bishop is now reduced to the ranks of his brethren, with the sole prerogative of precedence after the Bishop of London, and an assured seat in Parliament, instead of holding a seat by rotation with the junior bishops, and an income of £8,000. The whole of the prerogatives and royal rights have been assumed by the state.

Highway Districts of the County

As constituted by order of Quarter Sessions, 5th January, 1863, in pursuance of the Act 25 & 26 Vic. cap. 61.

Any place at the time of the above order already constituted a district under the Public Health Act, 1848, or the Local Government Act, 1858, or the highways of which were at the time of passing of the Act 25 & 26 Vic. cap. 61 under the superintendence of a board established under the Act 5 & 6 William IV. cap. 50, are not included in the highway districts constituted by this order, and given below.

One waywarden is to be appointed for every parish or place in the following lists, except Ryton Woodside and Norton, for each of which two waywardens are to be appointed.

Her Majesty's prison, situated at the head of Old Elvet, in the city of Durham, is a fine building, erected at a cost of £140,000: the prison comprises 48 wards, 18 day rooms and two work-rooms. The chapel attached has 698 sittings. The assize courts are in the same building, with offices for the judges, and there is a residence for the governor. Lieut.-Colonel. Charles Armstrong, governor; Rev. George Henry Fletcher MA. chaplain; Rev. William Brown BA. Catholic priest; Oliver F. Naylor Treadwell, surgeon; Miss Sarah Jane Cooper, matron.

Durham County Hospital, pleasantly situated on an elevated point in the city of Durham, is a spacious building of stone, supported by donations and public subscriptions, erected in 1853, in the Elizabethan style, at a cost of £7,500, raised by voluntary subscriptions, and will hold 44 patients: in 1867 male and female convalescent wards were added by subscription at a cost of £2,400, as a memorial of the late Dean Waddington, who in 1865 contributed £2,000 to the funds of the hospital, and subsequently a further sum of £2,000; and finally bequeathed by his will £6,000 more: additional wards were added through the munificence of the late John Eden esq. of Beamish Park, who gave a sum of £2,000 towards their erection, and bequeathed a further sum of £10,000: these were opened December 2nd, 1886, by the Earl of Durham: there is now room for 70 patients; the total number of patients treated in 1888 was 1,566. Thomas Laverick Watkin M.D. & John Charles James Fenwick M.A., M.D. physicians; T. W. Barron, consulting surgeon; Edward Sheddon Robson B.A., L.R.C.P. adin. & Alfred Mason Vann, surgeons; Arthur William Thompson L.D.S. glas. surgeon-dentist; Thomas Arthur Collinson, house surgeon; Miss Haythorne, matron; Rev. V. K. Cooper M.A. hon. sec. & treasurer.

The County Lunatic Asylum is about one mile and a half from Sedgefield; it was erected, in 1858, of red brick with white brick dressings, in the Domestic Gothic style, from designs by Mr. John Howison, architect, of Durham, and Dr. Smith. It is available for 120 inmates: there are about 350 acres of land attached, on which the patients are employed. A new ward is now (1889) in course of construction, from designs by Mr. William Crozier. The chapel attached is a building of brick, seating 700 persons. Robert Smith M.D. superintendent; George Collie Argo M.A., M.D., C.M. Arthur Birt M.B., C.M. & William St. John Skeen M.B. assistant medical officers; Rev. Francis Plevy Timaeus, chaplain; Alfred Oxnard Smith, clerk to visitors; Richard Lowes, clerk & steward to the asylum; Miss R. M. Druce, matron.

Parliamentary Representation of Durham

Durham has hitherto returned four members, two each for the North & South divisions, but under the provisions of the “Redistribution of Seats Act, 1885,” it now returns eight members in eight divisions.

No. 1.-The Jarrow division comprises the sessional division of South Shields, the municipal boroughs of Jarrow & South Shields & so much of the parish of Heworth as is not included in the municipal borough of Gateshead.

No. 2.-The Houghton-le-Spring division comprises the sessional divisions of Houghton-le-Spring (including the whole of the parish of Moorhouse) & Sunderland, the municipal borough of Sunderland & the townships of Dalton-le-Dale, East Murton, Seaham, Seaton & Slingley, in Seaham Harbour sessional division.

No. 3.-The Chester-le-Street division comprises the sessional divisions of Chester-le-Street & Gateshead (except so much as is comprised in Division No. 1), & the municipal borough of Gateshead.

No. 4.-The North Western division comprises the sessional divisions of Lanchester & Consett, & the townships of Edmondbyers & Hunstanworth.

No. 5.-The Mid division comprises the sessional division of Durham, including Wellington (inclusive of the whole of the parish of Shadforth, but exclusive of the every part of the parish of Moorhouse), & the municipal borough of Durham.

No. 6.-The South Eastern division comprises the sessional divisions of Castle Eden (exclusive of any part of the parish of Shadforth), Darlington, Seaham Harbour (except so much as is comprised in Division No. 2), Stockton-on-Tees, West Hartlepool & the municipal boroughs of Darlington, Hartlepool & Stockton-on-Tees

No. 7.-The Bishop Auckland division comprises the sessional division of Bishop Auckland (except so much as is comprised in Division No. 8).

No. 8.-The Barnard Castle division comprises the session divisions of Barnard Castle & Staindrop, Stanhope (except the townships of Hunstanworth & Edmondbyers), & Wolsingham & the townships of Auckland St. Helen, Bolam, Crook & Billy Row, Evenwood & Barony, Hamsterley, North Bedburn, South Bedburn, West Auckland & Witton-le-Wear, in Bishop Auckland sessional division.

Under the provisions of the above-mentioned Act the City of Durham lost one member, & the boundary of the borough of Darlington was extended.

Military

The Durham Light Infantry Regiment, which forms Regimental District No. 68, has its depot at Newcastle-on-Tyne; it has for its 3rd Battalion the 1st Durham Militia, for particulars of which see Barnard Castle.

Fairs & Markets

Bishop Auckland, in March & the Thursday before October 11, for cattle & horses; the two Thursdays next before May 13 & November 13, for hiring servants; Market day, Thur.

West Auckland, March & October, for cattle.

Barnard Castle, Easter & Whit Wednesdays, for pedlery & on the eve of St. Mary Magdalene for horses, cattle & sheep; Fortnightly Cattle market on Wednesday; Market day, Wednesday.

Cowshill, last Friday in September.

Castle Eden, Cattle market, fortnightly.

Crook, Market on Saturday.

Darlington, for cattle every Monday; first Monday in March, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, second Monday after Whit Monday, November 10 & second Monday after the latter day, for cattle, sheep & horses; Market day, Monday.

Durham cattle fair is held every alternate Monday & for horses, sheep & horned cattle, on the following days, viz.:-Last Friday in March, Friday before May 13, unless that day falls on a Friday, Whit Tuesday, Friday next before September 16 &: Friday next before November 23, unless that day falls on a Friday. The March fair continues three days; Market day, Saturday.

Hartlepool, Market day, Saturday.

West Hartlepool, Market day, Saturday.

Houghton-le-Spring, October 8 & 9.

Middleton-in-Teesdale, third Thursday in April, second Thursday in September, & second Thursday in November principally for cattle; Market day, Saturday.

Rookhope, Friday before August 24.

St. John’s Chapel, the third Wednesday in April & second Wednesday in September.

Seaton Carew, first Friday in every month, for swine; Market day, Saturday.

South Shields, Wednesday before & after May 1, & on the Wednesday before & after November 11; Market day, Saturday, for general provisions.

Spennymoor, Market day, Saturday.

Stanhope, Thursday before Easter & the second Friday in October.

Stockton-upon-Tees, the two Wednesdays next before May 13 & the two Wednesdays next before November 23, both for hiring servants; Market days, Wednesdays & Saturdays; Cattle markets every Wednesday.

Sunderland, Market day, Saturday.

Westgate, last Thursday in February Sc the Thursday before the last Wednesday in October.

Wolsingham, May 12, for toys, pedlery & hiring; Tuesdays before March 1 & 31; September 15; October 2 &; 29 & November 23, for cattle, but these are becoming obsolete.

Durham County Council

Local Government Act, 1838, 51 & 52 Vic. c. 41.

Under the above Act the county of Durham, except certain boroughs, for which see below (a), after the 1st April, 1889, for the purposes of the Act became an administrative county (sec. 46), governed by a County Council, consisting of chairman, aldermen and councillors (the number of councillors being determined by the Local Government Board) to be elected in manner prescribed by the Act (sec. 2).

The chairman shall, by virtue of his office, be a justice of the peace for the county, without qualification (sec. 46).

The police for the county will be under the control of a standing joint committee of the Quarter Sessions and the County Council to be appointed as therein mentioned (sec. 9).

The coroners for the county will in future be elected by the County Council, and the clerk of the peace shall be appointed by such joint committee, and may be removed by them (sec. 83-2).

The clerk of the peace for the county shall also be the clerk of the County Council (sec. 83-1).

The administrative business of the county (which would, if this Act had not been passed, have been transacted by the justices) shall be transacted by the County Council.

(a) Each of the following large boroughs shall be for the purposes of this Act, an administrative county in itself, and to be called a County Borough (sec. 30), of which the municipal corporation shall have the power of a County Council (sec. 31)-Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland.

The following table shows the acreage under each kind of crop, and the number of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs in the county of Durham, as taken from the agricultural returns, 1889:—