This is the Umbrella Project Page for County Durham, England.

County Durham

• Administrative centre Durham
• County Flower - Spring Gentian
• People from County Durham are called - ?
• Famous for -

• The Bishop of Durham always holds a new Monarch's right hand at a coronation

• Places of interest -

• Washington Old Hall - George Washington's ancestral home.

County Durham is a ceremonial county of historic origin in North east England. Durham is the only English county name to be prefixed with "County" in common usage - a practice more common in Ireland.

The name comes from the Saxon word Dunholme, dun meaning a hill and holme referring to an island in a river (the rocky outcrop where Durham Cathedral now stands). The Normans changed it to Duresme, which was corrupted to Durham. Bishops ruled the area until 1836, so the suffix "shire" was never added. The name was first recorded in 1000 as Dunholme.

The county is hilly and sea-facing, compact and rugged with the Castled Durham at its centre.It lies between two great rivers, the Tyne and the Tees, and extends inland to Yorkshire and east to the Sea. There are industrial towns along the eastern coast facing the North Sea. There are many high cliffs and islands along the coast. The highest point is Beacon Hill. The county smooths inland along the valley of the Tees, with extensive stone wall ed fields and moors above.

The landscape is based on limestone in the west, then a clay plain with sandstone outcrops.

The Districts of County Durham

1. County Durham (Unitary)
2. Hartlepool (Unitary)
3. Darlington (Unitary)
4. Stockton-on-Tees (Unitary) *

• Only the part of the borough to the north of the River Tees is within the ceremonial County Durham.

The largest town is Darlington. Other towns include:

• Aycliffe
• Barnard Castle
• Billingham
• Birtley
• Blaydon
• Boldon
• Brandon
• Consett
• Easington
• Felling
• Ferryhill
• Hartlepool
• Hebburn
• Hetton-le-Hole
• Houghton-le-Spring
• Jarrow
• Newton
• Peterlee
• Ryton
• Seaham
• Shildon
• South Shields
• Spennymoor
• Stanley
• Stockton-on Tees
• Sunderland
• Washington

The county has a mixture of mining and farming heritage, as well as a heavy railway industry, particularity in the southeast of the county in Darlington, Shildon and Stockton. Its economy was historically based on coal and iron mining.

For Historical information about County Durham visit Historic County Durham Link to follow - including connections to Historical figures, Gentry and political people connected with County Durham.

For Information about research in the County and Families Researched on Geni (Including Emigrants) go to County Durham - Family Heads

For Famous or Notable People from County Durham visit County Durham - Famous People

• C. June Barnes Curator

If you have County Durham connections please join the project and if you live in County Durham and are prepared to offer advice or help of any kind please add yourself to the list above.

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How to Participate

• If you have any queries please start a discussion linked to this project. (See the menu top right).
• Please add related projects to the menu on the right.
• If you have links to related web pages that would be of interest to others please add them in the relevant section at the bottom of the page. In order to do this use the drop down menu at the top left of the screen and Join the Project. If this option is not available to you then contact a collaborator and ask to be added to the project. As a collaborator you will be able to edit this page.
• Add any documents of interest using the menu at the top right of the page, and then add a link to the document in the text under the heading below. If you do not know how to do this please contact one of the other collaborators to assist you.

Please do not add the profiles off all your County Durham born ancestors to this project or the People connected to County Durham project. Rather add the earliest known person of a County Durham family to the County Durham - Family Heads project.

Parish Map

from The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers 1984.

See http://www.geni.com/photo/view/4560155096930045739?photo_id=6000000019134301003 - open full view.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Durham