DURHAM CITY, a municipal and parliamentary borough of England, and the chief town of the county of Durham, is situated on the River Wear (which is crossed there by four bridges), 14 miles S. of Newcastle and 60 miles after wandering about with it almost all over the noith of England. Soon afterwards a church was built by Bishop Ealdhune, and the removal of the see from Lindisfarne thither, together with the growing fame of the incorruptible which in Norman times was softened to " Duresme," Ns-hence "Durham." The castle was erected by William the Con-queror in 072, across the neck of the peninsula, so as to guard the church and monastery. In 1093 Ealdhune's

The Cathedral. - Carileph's grand Norman church still forms the main part of the cathedral buildings ; but numerous additions have been made from time to time, the chief of which are - the Galilee or western chapel, of the Transitional period, the eastern transept or " Nine Altars" and the western towers (Early English), and the central tower (Perpendicular). Decorated and Perpendicular win-dows have, a.s is usual in old churches, been freely inserted. The interior presents the appearance, as Dr Johnson remarked, of " rocky solidity and of indeterminate duration," and combines, we may add, absolutely perfect proportion in all its original parts with a harmonious magnificence of detail in its massive columns, arches, and stone groining. It has recently been thoroughly cleaned, and supplied with much painted glass and very costly modern fittings, includ-ing a new organ built on the largest scale and of fine tone. Durham Cathedral, or " The Abbey," 'as old-fashioned residents still call it, has long been celebrated and still maintains its reputation for its choral services, as being at least equal to any in England in point of musical execution. This glorious building has been adtnirably illustrated in Carter's Plates, and in Billings's Architecture of Durham Cathedral. It is 507 feet in length, by 200 in extreme breadth, with a central tower 214 feet in height, and two smaller ones 138 feet high at the west end. The Galilee or western chapel was built by Bishop Pudsey between 1153 and 1195, and contains the supposed remains of the Vener-able Bede. In the chapel of the Nine Altars are the remains of St Cuthbert, brought to light in 1827. The cathedral library, formerly the dormitory- and refectories of the abbey, contains a number of curious and interesting printed books, and MSS., and the portable altar, vestments, and other relics found in St Cuthbert's grave.

The see of Durham 1,■-as long the richest bishopric in England. The total revenue of the dean and chapter during the seven years ending 1834 amounted to 1:36,937 a year. On the death of the incum-bent in 1836, at the recom-mendation of the Ecclesiasti-cal Commissioners, the income of the bishop was fixed at X8000 per annum - the sur-plus revenues of the see be-ing reserved to form a fund for augmenting the incomes of the poorer bishops.

Castle, 4.,c. - The castle of Durham consists of a polygonal keep, now reconstructed to form a very- inconvenient set of college rooms ; the great hall built by Bishop Hatfield, which in some respects exceeds any hall in the older univer-sities ; the Norman hall, now cut up into rooms ; the old Norman crypt chapel ; Bishop Truistall's chapel, at present in use ; the 131ack Staircase, built by Bishop eosin ; and the kitchen, the gate-house, and other offices. These are grouped round a court very irregular in plan, and not less picturesque in general effect. Durham Castle 1N-as the chief residence of the bishops of the Palatinate, but is now appropriated to the uses of the university, with the exception of the state apartments, which are partly reserved for the bishop and for ller Majesty's judges of assize. The univer-sity was opened in 18:33 ; an account of it will be found under UNIVERSITIES. Besides the cathedral, Durham has seven parish churches. There are also places of worship for Roman Catholics, and for various denominations of Protes-tants. The grammar school attached to the cathedral was founded by Henry VIII. in 1541, and possesses eighteen " king's scholarships," of the annual value of nearly X40 each. There are also several scholarships and exhibitions, tellable at the universities. The original school-room is now used by the university of Durham ; the new buildings are beautifully situated to the west of the city, and are very handsome and commodious, including residences for the head and second masters, and a, school infirmary. Durham possesses flourishing diocesan training colleges for school-masters and schoolmistresses ; and about four miles to the west of the city is the great Roman Catholic College called St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, the present representative of the old college at Douai.

The civil corporation of Durham and Frainwellgate con sists of the mayor, six alder-men, and eighteen councillors, with a recorder, a chaplain, and town clerk, two elective auditors, and two elective assessors. On the passing of the Corporation Act, 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 76, the election of the eighteen councillors was vested in the citizens occupy-ing houses and paying poor and other rates. The coun-cillors so elected have to choose the six aldermen, and the aldermen and councillors have the election of the mayor. Four charters (all, except the third, preserved in the " Hutch" at the Guild Hall) have been granted to the city by different bishops of Durham : - the first by Hugh Pudsey, confirmed by Pope Alexander III., 1179 or 1180 ; the second by Tobias Matthew, confirmed by James T.; the third by Nathaniel Lord Crew, 1681 (afterwards redelivcred to the bishop, the corporation acting under the second charter); and the fourth by John Egerton, 1780.

Durham can scarcely be said to have any staple trade or manufacture, though it possesses one carpet factory and one large mill for the preparation of " Durham mustard." It is HOW a very different place, socially-, from what it was when there were tsvelve prebendaries with much larger incomes than the six canons now have, and when " The College" was a noted centre for dignified and liberal hospitality. At that time, canonical residence was kept with much more strictness than it is at present, and the prebendary in residence entertained guests of all classes. Noblemen and gentlemen then resided in 'houses in Fram-wellgate and Elvet, now let out into tenements and serving as the squalid homes of the very- poorest class. The Bailey and Old Elvet are, however, still chiefly occupied by the upper classes, and Western Hill is a new and rapidly increasing suburb. The Palace Green is an open space having the cathedral on the south side, the castle, now University College, on the north, the Exchequer Buildings, now the university library, together with Bishop Cosin's library, on the west, and the museum, ahns-lionses, and other offices on the east. The museum contains an almost complete collection of British birds. Six out of the seven parish churches are ancient, and possess features of interest. The high banks of the river on which. the cathedral and ca,stle stand are richly wooded, and traversed in all directions by- well-kept paths, which afford ever-changing views of wood, water, rocks, bridges, the cathedral, the castle, pic-turesque old houses, and terraced gardens.

In 1861 the municipal borough of Durham had within its area, of 880 acres 2007 inhabited houses, with a popu-lation of 14,088. In 1871, the number of inhabited houses was 2319, and the population comprised 6956 males and 7450 females, or 14,406 in all. The parliamentary borough, which with an area, of 967 acres had 14,833 inhabitants in 1871, returns two members to Parliament. (J. T. F.)