County Durham

County Durham
County Durham
Geography
Status	Ceremonial and (smaller) Non-metropolitan county
Origin	Historic
Region	North East England
Area; - Total; - Admin. council; - Admin. area	Ranked 19th; 2,676 km2 (1,033 sq mi); Ranked 23rd; 2,226 km2 (859 sq mi)
Admin HQ	Durham
ISO 3166-2	GB-DUR
ONS code	20
NUTS 3	UKC14
Demography
Population; - Total (2005 est.); - Density; - Admin. council; - Admin. pop.	Ranked 23rd; 493,470 (2001 census); 321/km2 (830/sq mi) ; Ranked 26th; 499,800
Ethnicity	98.6% White
Politics
	; Durham County Council; http://www.durham.gov.uk/
Executive	Labour
Members of Parliament	Hilary Armstrong (L); Roberta Blackman-Woods (L); Phil Wilson (L); Frank Cook (L); John Cummings (L); Helen Goodman (L); Kevan Jones (L); Alan Milburn (L); Dari Taylor (L); Iain Wright (L);
Districts
	City of Durham; Easington; Sedgefield; Teesdale; Wear Valley; Derwentside; Chester-le-Street; Hartlepool (unitary); Darlington (unitary); Stockton-on-Tees (unitary); Only the part of the borough to the north of the River Tees is within the ceremonial County Durham.

The flag of County Durham

County Durham is a county in north-east England. There are four different types of county:

the historic County of Durham
the administrative county of Durham
the ceremonial county of Durham
the non-metropolitan county of Durham

Its county town is Durham.

The form of the county name is unique in England. Many counties are named after their principal town, and the expected form here would be Durhamshire. But County Durham did not become a Shire/County until after the language of government was changed from Anglo-Saxon to Norman French in 1066. Previous to that it was a semi-independent Bishopric.^[1] Durham County Council promotes the non-metropolitan county for tourism purposes as "The Land of the Prince Bishops" in reference to the former palatine jurisdiction of the bishops.^[2]

Definitions

Historic County

The historic county covered from the Pennines in the west, the River Tees in the south, the North Sea in the east and the Rivers Tyne and Derwent in the north.

The county several had a number of exclaves: Bedlingtonshire, Islandshire and Norhamshire within Northumberland, and Craikshire within the North Riding of Yorkshire. The historic boundaries were used for parliamentary purposes until 1832, and for law courts and local government until the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844, which merged most remaining exclaves with their surrounding county.

Administrative county

In 1889, under the Local Government Act 1888 England and Wales was divided into administrative counties and county boroughs. Administrative counties, governed by an elected county council, were based on the historic boundaries, less larger towns which became self-governing as county boroughs.

In 1889 the administrative county of Durham consisted of the historic county less the county boroughs of Gateshead, South Shields and Sunderland. The boundary with the North Riding of Yorkshire was adjusted: the part of the town of Barnard Castle that was in Yorkshire was added to County Durham, but the part of the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in Durham was given to the North Riding. For all non-administrative purposes, such as lieutenancy, the County of Durham comprised the administrative county and associated county boroughs.

Over its existence, the administrative county lost territory, both to the existing county boroughs, and also due to the creation of county boroughs at West Hartlepool in 1902 and Darlington in 1915. In 1967 the borough of Hartlepool was removed from the administrative county when it merged with West Hartlepool to form a new county borough of Hartlepool, and in 1968 Billingham was included within the boundaries of the county borough of Teesside, associated with the North Riding.

The administrative county was abolished in 1974.

Non-metropolitan county

In 1974 Durham was divided between three counties. The boroughs of Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees became a part of the new non-metropolitan county of Cleveland. The metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear became responsible for Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside.^[3] The new non-metropolitan county of Durham also covered the former area of Startforth Rural District, a part of the historic North Riding of Yorkshire, and south of the historical boundary of the River Tees.

The Department for Communities and Local Government has said that the seven district councils and the County Council will be abolished and a new unitary authority for the whole of the existing County Council area will be created. The change will be on 1 April 2009 at the latest.^[4]^[5] The successful Durham County Council bid referred to the new authority as County Durham Council.

Ceremonial county

In 1997 the non-metropolitan county (including unitary Darlington), together with that part of the former county of Cleveland north of the River Tees became a ceremonial county. Lord-lieutenants and high sheriffs are appointed to the ceremonial county of Durham. they have no job in local government.

Settlements

This is a list of the main towns in County Durham. The area covered is the entire ceremonial county, hence the inclusion of towns which are no longer administered by Durham County Council.

Barnard Castle, Billingham, Bishop Auckland
Chester-le-Street, Consett
Crook
Darlington
Durham
Ferryhill
Hartlepool
Newton Aycliffe
Peterlee
Seaham
Sedgefield
Spennymoor
Stanley
Stockton-on-Tees
Willington
Parkhill

Places of interest

Auckland Castle, Bishop Auckland
Barnard Castle
Beamish Museum, in Stanley
Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle
Causey Arch, near Stanley
Durham Cathedral and Castle, a World Heritage Site
Escomb Saxon Church, near Bishop Auckland
Finchale Priory, near Durham city
Hamsterley Forest
Hardwick Hall Country Park near Sedgefield
High Force and Low Force waterfalls, on the River Tees
Killhope Wheel, part of the North of England Lead Mining Museum in Weardale
Locomotion railway museum, in Shildon
No Place, near Stanley
Pity Me
Raby Castle, near Staindrop
Tanfield Railway, in Tanfield
Parkhill FC

County Durham Media

County Durham UK locator map 2010
Durham Ceremonial Numbered 2009
The Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street, on the site of the wooden ninth century church built by the Lindisfarne monks
The historic boundaries of the county shown in John Speed's map of the county in his Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine, c. 1611. These boundaries remained in use for administrative purposes until the local government reforms starting in the 1960s. A depiction of the city of Durham is inset in the top right.
The entrance to Durham Castle, the bishops' palace until 1832 when it moved to Auckland Castle
Hand-drawn map of Durham by Christopher Saxton in 1576
Banner of Durham County Council since 1974, based on the council's coat of arms. This was used as County Durham's unofficial flag until an official flag was adopted in 2013.
Ceremonial county from 1974–1996
Population over time of the current remit of Durham County Council between 1801 and 2001
Flymos are made in Newton Aycliffe