Durham. a maritime county in the north-east of England, between Tyne and Tees. It has 32 miles of coast, generally low, but with some cliffs; area of land and water, 1012 sq. m., two-thirds being arable. The surface is hilly, and slopes to the east. In the west, which is waste but rich in minerals, are branches of the Pennine chain, rising in Kilhope Law, 2196 feet; Collier Law, 1678; and Pontop Pike, 1018. The two chief branches inclose the valley of the Wear, and send forth several parallel ranges, declining toward the coast, and inclosing many fertile tracts and sheltered valleys. The chief rivers are the Wear, Tyne, and Tees, navigable respectively for 12, 15, and 10 miles. The rocks are new red sandstone, magnesian limestone, millstone grit, carboniferous limestone, rich in lead; and coal-measures, forming the valuable Durham coalfield, 25 by 10 miles, with many faults, and with about forty beds of coal, 3 to 10 feet thick. Basalt and greenstone trap dykes intersect the west part of Durham. The mineral products are coal, limestone, black marble, free-stone, ironstone, firestone, slate, millstone, grind-stone, iron pyrites, fluor-spar, zinc, and lead. The principal lead-mines are in Teesdale and Weardale. The annual value of the ore at the mines is over £80,000. Large furnaces for the production of iron are in operation in various parts of the county. Durham has the largest coal production of any county in England, the annual output being nearly 30,000,000 tons, and the number of persons employed above or below ground at the mines being over 100,000. The chief shipping ports are Stockton-on-Tees, South Shields, Sunderland, and Hartlepool. In the eastern districts it is intersected in all directions by railways. The soil is a clayey or dry loam. The chief crops are oats, wheat, barley, turnips, potatoes, and other green crops. The Teeswater or Holderness breed of cattle is famed for fattening, quantity of milk, and early maturity. The Durham horses are famed for draught and the saddle. Many sheep are pastured on the hills. There are manufactures of iron, coke, pottery, glass, alkalies and chemicals, and salt, and much shipbuilding at Jarrow, Sunderland, South Shields, Hartlepool, and Stockton. Coal is the chief export. Durham is one of the three counties palatine (see PALATINE) of England, the other two being Lancaster and Chester. It was the only county palatine in the hands of a subject, and belonged to the Bishop of Durham. By 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 19, the palatine jurisdiction was separated from the bishopric, and vested in the crown. Till 1844 three wards adjoining Berwick formed a detached part of Durham; they were then incorporated with Northumberland. The county is divided into four wards.
It contains 269 civil parishes, and is entirely in the diocese of Durham. Pop. (1801) 149,384; (1841) 307,963; (1881) 867,576; (1891) 1,106,449. The chief towns are Durham, the county town, Sunderland, Darlington, Gateshead, South Shields, Stockton, and Hartlepool. The county includes eight parliamentary divisions, each returning one member; and the following parliamentary boroughs: Sunderland, returning two members, and Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, South Shields, and Stockton, each returning one. Durham has some ancient barrows, and has afforded many Roman antiquities, as altars, urns, and coins. There are extensive remains of Roman stations at Lanchester, Binchester, and Ebchester. Durham formed part of the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria (547-827). Subsequently it suffered severely from the incursions of the Scots. See R. Surtees, History of the County of Durham (4 vols. 1816-40); W. Fordyce, History of the County of Durham (2 vols. 1855-57); W. H. Smith, Walks in Weardale (1885).