Durham

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
City of Durham
Coordinates 54 ° 47 ′  N , 1 ° 35 ′  W Coordinates: 54 ° 47 ′  N , 1 ° 35 ′  W
City of Durham (England)
City of Durham
City of Durham
Residents 65,549 (as of 2010)
surface 186.68 km² (72.08  mi² )
Population density: 351 inhabitants per km²
administration
Part of the country England
region North East England
Ceremonial county Durham
Unitary authority County Durham
The River Wear, the castle and, to the right, Durham Cathedral
Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle
Thomas Girtin : Cathedral and bridge , the River Wear from

Durham [ ˈdʌɹəm ] is a city in County Durham in north east England . The city center is surrounded by the River Wear . The city had just under 66,000 inhabitants in 2010 and is the administrative seat of the Unitary Authority County Durham . It is located about 30 km south of Newcastle upon Tyne at an altitude of 51 meters above sea level.

Attractions

Durham is home to the University of Durham , a cathedral ( Durham Cathedral from 1093), which dominates the city's skyline and is considered one of the most beautiful in the country, and a castle ( Durham Castle ) (since 1837 University College Durham ). Both the Cathedral and the Castle are on the since 1986 UNESCO list of World Heritage . Recordings for the Harry Potter films Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were filmed in the Norman Cathedral and its cloister . A popular event in Durham is the annual Durham Miner's Gala .

history

Archaeological finds indicate settlements as early as the 20th century BC. Chr . The present-day town has its origins in 995 , when a group of monks from Lindisfarne , at that time on the run from the Vikings for over 100 years, chose the high peninsula as the final resting place for the remains of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and one Church founded.

According to tradition, the name of the city is traced back to a vision of one of the monks. So Cuthbert appeared to him and instructed him to take the coffin to a place called Dun Holm . Although this place was unknown to the monks, it is believed that they knew the meaning of the name. Dun is the Anglo-Saxon word for hill , Holm is of Scandinavian origin and means island : hill-island . The Normans called the place Duresme , and for a long time the Latin version Dunelm was used, which later evolved into the simplified Durham .

Cuthbert's tomb drew numerous pilgrims, and in time a town developed around the church. In the years 1006 and 1038 this settlement was unsuccessfully attacked by Scots ; the hillside proved to be easy to defend. In 1069 William the Conqueror sent 700 men to Durham, who were attacked and massacred shortly after by the local Saxons . In the subsequent Harrying of the North (for example: plundering the north ) as part of the Norman conquest of England , the native Saxons were systematically plundered and suppressed. An estimated 150,000 people were killed during this time ( Domesday Book ).

In 1072 the Normans built the castle Durham Castle and founded in 1083 a Benedictine - Priory . Ten years later, construction of Durham Cathedral began under the direction of the Norman Bishop William of St. Carilef . The cathedral became the final resting place for the remains of Saints Cuthbert and Beda Venerabilis and has remained so to this day. Author Bill Bryson called the cathedral one of the most beautiful in the world and was confirmed in a 2001 BBC poll in which 51% of respondents voted it the most beautiful building in Great Britain .

For the three centuries that followed the castle, Durham was regularly besieged by the Scots. In 1346 they came within a mile of the city at the Battle of Neville's Cross .

In the Middle Ages , Durham was a major center of both political and ecclesiastical power. It was of strategic importance, particularly because of its proximity to Scotland . The bishops of Durham practiced as Prince Bishops (English prince bishops ) not only the Church but also the secular power in the region, in the substantial independence from Westminster . In addition to the monetary and tax privilege and the right to asylum , they also had the right to have their own army and jurisdiction . In 1538, Henry VIII destroyed Cuthbert's shrine and restricted some of the rights. It was not until 1832 that the bishops completely lost their extensive power under the Great Reform Act . County Durham's entrance and direction signs today are signed Land of the Prince Bishop's Land of the Prince Bishops . In the same year the University of Durham was founded as the third university in England after the universities of Oxford and Cambridge .

Over time, the nobility acquired extensive land holdings, on which several castles were built around the city. With the beginning of the modern era , natural resources gained in importance. Coal was mined and the steel industry and shipbuilding in the nearby coastal towns gained in importance. The city grew through immigration; workers' settlements and villas for industrialists were built. The Durham Miner's Gala, first held in 1871, still commemorates the miners . However, mining began to decline in the 1970s. Against the decision of Margaret Thatcher's government to close the mines by canceling the subsidies, there was a major miners' strike in 1984/85 ; The film Billy Elliot - I Will Dance, set in Everington ( County Durham ), tells of this time .

Durham benefited from service-sector companies moving in as the mining industry fell .

sons and daughters of the town

Twin cities

Web links

Commons : Durham  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikivoyage: Durham  Travel Guide

Individual evidence

  1. ^ County Durham and Area Action Partnerships. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 12, 2015 ; accessed on November 1, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.durham.gov.uk
  2. ↑ Durham City Origins. The North East England History Pages, accessed September 19, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Durham Cathedral tops building poll BBC (English)