The historic city of Durham is now over 1000 years old. With its magnificent Norman cathedral and castle it has become a world famous tourist attraction, the outstanding important of which was recognised in 1987 when it was designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
Martin Dufferwiel's book is a celebration of this unique city and of the county that has grown up around it. Starting from the day in AD 995 when a group of monks carrying the coffin of St Cuthbert settled on what was then known as 'The Dunholm', and continuing right through to the present time.
From the original site on the high, wooded rock, a settlement began to take shape. It was one which would be swelled by pilgrims and made wealthy by their offerings, and which would eventually become one of the most important sites of religious pilgrimage and military power in England.
Many events and people have throughout the last millennium, lit up the long story of Durham, both in fact and fable. This book recalls some of them. Wars, saints, kings and mythical beasts are all included in this tale of over 1000 years, as a surveyors, locomotive engineers and miners.
It is all here from the long sagas of the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil War, to the legendary Lambton Worm. From Canute the Great, Viking Emperor, to murder most foul at Cutty Throat Farm ... and from the ravages of William the Conqueror, to the bizarre plan to turn Durham City into a port. Steam locomotives for the Tsar of Russia and Dixieland in the USA both had their origins from Durham, and both feature in this book.
Contents:
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
Introduction
Part 1
1. Beginnings: St Cuthbert's Journey and the Founding of the City
2. Cnut the Great: His Rise to Power and his Pilgrimage to Durham
3. Fire and Sword: The 'Harrying of the North' by William the Conqueror
Part 2
4. The Pirate Saint: St Godvic of Finchale
5. Of Brave and Bowld Sir John: The Legend of the Lambton Worm
6. Battle on the Red Hills: The Battle of Neville's Cross
7. The Sons of Cecily Neville: The Rose of Raby, moth of two Kings of England
Part 3
8. The Rising of the North: Northern Catholic Nobles Rise against Queen Elizabeth I
9. The Execution of John Boste: Roman Catholic Saint, Martyred in a Durham School Field
10. The king, the Convenanters and Oliver Cromwell: Civil War Years
11. Murder at 'Cutty Throat' Farm: Notorious Local Murder
Part 4
12. The Wear Men, the Tyne Men and the Old Man of the Sea: Plans to turn Durham City into a 'Port'
13. Look Away Dixieland: Jeremiah Dixon, Astronomer and Surveyor, Co-founder of the Mason-Dixie Line, Boundary between North and South in the American Civil War
14. Byron, Boz and Pretty Bessie Barrett: Lord Byron, Charles Dickins and Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Part 5
15. Of Cavaliers and Coalfields: The 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Cavalry Officer and Coal Entrepreneur
16. Fighting Charley and the Blind Beggar: Legend of the Londonderry Statue
17. The Tsar of Russia, the Nova Scotia Miners and Mr Timothy Hackworth: Timothy Hackworth, Locomotive Pioneer
Part 6
18. St Cuthbert and the Lost Bombers: The Story of an Allegedly Unsuccessful 'Baedeker Raid' by the Luftwaffe
19. Lest We Forget: The Durham Miners
20. Nine Hundred Years: Stories of Durham Cathedral
Endnote
Bibliography
