21 Facts About County Durham

1.

County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.

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2.

Ceremonial county is officially named Durham, but the county has long been commonly known as County Durham and is the only English county name prefixed with "County" in common usage .

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3.

The land that would become County Durham now sat on the border with the Great Heathen Army, a border which today still forms the boundaries between Yorkshire and County Durham.

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4.

The crown regarded County Durham as falling within Northumberland until the late thirteenth century.

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5.

Matters regarding the bishopric of County Durham came to a head in 1293 when the bishop and his steward failed to attend proceedings of quo warranto held by the justices of Northumberland.

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6.

The arguments appear to have prevailed, as by the fourteenth century County Durham was accepted as a liberty which received royal mandates direct.

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7.

County Durham had his own court, and almost exclusive jurisdiction over his men.

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8.

From 1075, the Bishop of County Durham became a Prince-Bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes.

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9.

The reconstituted County Durham lost territory to the north-east to Tyne and Wear and to the south-east to Cleveland.

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10.

The area of the Lord Lieutenancy of Durham was adjusted by the Act to coincide with the non-metropolitan county .

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11.

The County Durham Council assumed their functions and became the fourth unitary authority.

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12.

County Durham contains a small area of green belt in the north of the county, surrounding primarily the city of Durham, Chester-le-Street and other communities along the shared county border with Tyne and Wear, to afford protection from the Wearside conurbation.

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13.

County Durham contains a sizeable area of the North Pennines, designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, primarily west of Tow Law and Barnard Castle.

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14.

The highest point of historic County Durham is the trig point of Burnhope Seat, height 746 metres, between Weardale and Teesdale on the border with historic Cumberland in the far west of the county.

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15.

County Durham, as considered a county for lieutenancy purposes by the Lieutenancies Act 1997, is administered as a part of the constituent country of England in the United Kingdom.

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16.

The city of Durham is the most populous settlement in the county to have a parish.

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17.

County Durham was aligned to other historic counties of England from 1836 until 1889; multiple acts were passed removing exclaves, splitting the county from the bishopric and reforming its structure.

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18.

Non-metropolitan county was reconstituted on 1 April 2009: the strategic services-providing Durham County Council was re-organised into a single district of the same name, merging with the seven local facility-providing districts in the non-metropolitan county and became structured as a unitary authority.

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19.

The LG Philips Displays cathode ray tube factory at Carrville, County Durham was the second largest employer in the north east after Nissan, before the company went bankrupt in 2006.

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20.

County Durham LEA has a comprehensive school system with 36 state secondary schools and five independent schools .

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21.

County Durham University is based in County Durham city and is sometimes held to be the third oldest university in England.

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