The relaxing environment provides the perfect backdrop to unwind with a rejuvenating swim, all nestled among the picturesque hills of Stanhope’s surrounding countryside.

The water is heated to a tropical 80+degrees Fahrenheit nearly 30 degrees centigrade, making it an enjoyable experience, come rain or shine!

A slide near the shallow end will keep children occupied for hours, while the  springboard in the deep end allows swimmers to show off their prowess by diving in!

For younger children learning to be comfortable and happy in water, there is a small, warm, toddler pool.

Facilities include changing rooms with hot showers, picnic tables, and a fully stocked shop selling hot/cold drinks, sweets & chocolate, swimming goggles/floats/hats etc.

Open during summer months only.

Racing will commence around 8.30am on both days, with a race every two minutes until around 6.30pm.

Other attractions at the Regatta include a Vintage Car Rally, Musical Performances, Trade Stands and various display stands.

The sites offer free* parking for users of the Park and Ride bus service and unlimited daily travel into the city centre and back for just £1.70 per person. Park and Ride users can also use the Cathedral Bus for free.

The addresses for the three Park and Ride sites are:

Belmont Park and Ride
Belmont
Durham
DH1 1SR

Howlands Park and Ride
Howlands Farm
South Road
Durham
DH1 3TQ

Sniperley Park and Ride
Sniperley
Durham
DH1 5RA

The travel time between Durham and London King’s Cross, 254 miles (409 km) south, is around three hours on a high-speed East Coast service.

Northbound Services:
First Transpennine Express and Northern Rail operate services to Newcastle. Edinburgh Waverley and stations further north and west such as Glasgow Central, Inverness and Aberdeen are served by East Coast and CrossCountry.

Southbound Services:
East Coast, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express provide services to York with TransPennine services continuing hourly to Leeds, Manchester Airport and occasionally Liverpool Lime Street. CrossCountry services continue to Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads and Plymouth or Reading. East Coast provides services to London Kings Cross.

The centre of Durham is compact, with small roads and the only congestion charge in the UK outside London (actually the first such charge [£2] in the UK, beating London by a few months). There is no need to drive, and parking away from the Park & Ride sites is expensive and in short supply. Traffic can also be extremely heavy in the City Centre at peak times, owing to Durham’s cramped mediaeval town planning.

For visitors with reduced mobility a Shopmobility scheme operates from the Prince Bishop’s Shopping Centre Car Park, but disabled visitors should bear in mind that Durham’s pavements are narrow, winding and in some places very steep and many roads are cobbled.

Map of Durham:

After the Romans left there is no record of who was living here, until 883 when a group of monks, driven out of Lindisfarne seven years before, stopped here to build a wooden shrine and church to St Cuthbert, whose body they had borne with them. While they were here the town was the centre of Christianity for much of the northeast, as the seat of the Bishop of Lindisfarne was here making the church a cathedral. Also while here the Lindisfarne Gospels, which they had brought with them, were translated into English. They stayed for 112 years, leaving in 995 to the safer and more permanent home at Durham.

The church was rebuilt in stone in 1054, and despite the loss of its bishopric seemed to retain a degree of wealth and influence. In 1080 most of the huts in the town were burned and many people killed in retaliation for the death of William Walcher, the first Prince-Bishop, at the hands of a Saxon mob. After this devastation wrought by the Normans the region was left out of the Domesday Book; there was little left to record, and the region was by then being run from Durham by the Prince-Bishops so held little interest for London.

Cade’s Road did not fall out of use but was hidden beneath later roads which became the Great North Road, the main route from London and the south to Newcastle and Edinburgh. The town’s location on the road played a significant role in its development, as well as its name, as inns sprung up to cater to the travelling trade, as both riders and horses needed to rest on journeys usually taking days to complete. This reached a peak in the early 19th century as more and more people and new mail services travelled by stagecoach, before falling off with the coming of the railways. The town was bypassed when the A167 was routed around the town, and this was later supplanted by faster A1(M).

The coal industry also left its mark on the town. From the late 17th century onwards coal was dug in increasing quantities in the region. It was centred around the rivers, for transportation by sea to other parts of the country, and Chester-le-Street was at the centre of the coal being dug and shipped away down the Wear, so a centre of coal related communication and commerce. At the same time the growth of the mines and the influx of miners supported local businesses, not just the many inns but new shops and services, themselves bringing in more people to work in them. These people would later work in new industries established in the town to take advantage of its good communications and access to raw materials.

There are also a few limited Northern Rail services, even though the station is nationally managed by Northern Rail. CrossCountry run a frequent weekday service northbound to Newcastle and southbound to Reading via Birmingham. Mainline services operated by East Coast pass through the station but do not stop.

Open week days 0730 to 1800 and from 0730 to 1300 on Saturdays, Bank Holidays, and between Christmas and New Year. The station opens early on Mondays at 0620.

A second suggestion is that Auckland derives from the Norse Aukland meaning additional land. This could refer to the area being extra land granted to the Bishop of Durham by King Canute in around 1020. A further suggestion is that Auckland derives from “Oakland”, referring to the presence of forests.

Earliest history
The earliest known reference to Bishop Auckland itself is around 1000AD as land given to the Duke of Northumberland for defending the church against the Scots. It is also mentioned in 1020 as a gift given to the Bishop of Durham by King Canute. However, a village almost certainly existed on the town’s present site long before this, with there being evidence of church on the site of St Andrew’s Church in South Church as early as the seventh century. Furthermore, the Romans had a look-out post where Auckland Castle is sited today and a 10 acre (0.04 km²) fort at nearby Binchester. There is also evidence of possible Iron Age settlements around the town, together with finds of Bronze Age, Neolithic and Mesolithic artefacts.

The Bishops of Durham
Much of the town’s history surrounds its links with the Bishops of Durham. In 1083, Bishop William de St-Calais expelled a number of canons from Durham. Some of these settled in the area and established a collegiate church. Around 1183 Bishop Pudsey established a manor house in the town, with a great hall being completed in 1195 on the site occupied by St Peter’s Chapel today. Bishop Bek, who preferred the town as his main residence over Durham Castle due to its proximity to hunting grounds, later converted the manor house into a castle. The grounds of the castle were noted as being large enough to contain 16000 men ahead of the Battle of Neville’s Cross in 1346.

Between 1283 and 1310, Bek was also responsible for ordering the replacement of the collegiate church established in 1183 with the Church of St Andrew that stands in South Church today, together with accommodation for the canons; the building known today as the East Deanery.

The collegiate church also appears to have supported a school. The collegiate church was re-organised under Bishop Langley in 1428 and at some point in the same century moved to the castle grounds. The college and its school were finally dissolved in the 15th century.

The school was not revived until the reign of King James I when in 1604 Anne Swifte petitioned the King to found a school and the Free Grammar School of King James, the direct descendant of today’s King James I school, was established. Although, the school’s early location is unknown, in 1638 Bishop Morton granted the school space in an old chapel in the Market Place.

Also in 1604, James’s son, the future King Charles I made the first of three visits he would make to the town during his life. On this visit, his first to England, he was entertained by Bishop Matthew. James himself stayed in Auckland Castle between 17 and 19 April 1617. Later, on 8 May, at Durham Castle King James is reputed to have rebuked Bishop William James so badly that the Bishop returned to Auckland Castle and died three days later.

Charles’s second visit to the town was on his way to Scotland on 31 May 1633, when he was entertained by Bishop Morton. His third visit on 4 February 1647 was in less lavish circumstances, as a prisoner. Morton had fled the town in 1640 and the castle was empty. Consequently, the king had to stay in a public house off the Market Place owned by Christopher Dobson.

St Peter’s chapel. Originally the castle’s great hall, it was converted to a chapel after the restoration of the monarchy.After the dis-establishment of the Church of England, at the end of the first civil war, Auckland Castle was sold to Sir Arthur Hazelrig, who demolished much of the castle, including the chapel, and built a mansion. After the restoration of the monarchy, the new Bishop of Durham, John Cosin, in turn demolished Hazelrig’s mansion and rebuilt the castle converting the banqueting hall into the chapel that stands today.

Industrial Revolution
By 1801, the town had a population of 1861. At the end of the eighteenth century the town had no notable roads other than the Roman road and little trade beyond weaving. Although, coal mining existed on a small-scale and had existed as early as 1183 when it is mentioned in the Boldon Book, it was limited by the lack of an easy way to transport coal away from the area. All this changed with the arrival railways in the early nineteenth century, which allowed large scale coal mining. The railways allowed coal to be mined, and then transported to the coast before being put onto ships to London and even abroad.

Around the same time, the Bishop, Shute Barrington was a keen proponent of the use of education to improve the social and moral circumstances of the lower social classes. He used £70,000 received from lead mining royalties in Weardale to fund the establishment of a number of schools in the area. One of these schools was the Bishop Barrington School, one of the town’s three comprehensive schools today. The Bishop Barrington School opened on 26 May 1810, the Bishop’s own birthday. The school even allowed girls to attend until the age of 11 years. Barrington’s support of education for the poor was not without controversy. Some suggested education of the poor would lead people to question their position in society, others even blamed it for the French Revolution.

Barrington’s successor, William van Mildert was involved in the creation of Durham University. Durham Castle was donated to the new university and Auckland Castle, usually the preferred residence by successive Bishops, became the Bishop of Durham’s official residence in 1832. However, the influence of the Prince Bishops of Durham was on the wane and there was pressure for reform. Van Mildert would be the last Prince Bishop. Shortly after his death, in 1836, the position was stripped of its ancient powers and wealth.

By 1851 the population of the town had more than doubled to 5112.  A great proportion of the population working in ironworks and collieries. By 1891, the population had doubled again. In the second half of the nineteenth century there were typically around 60 collieries in the area open at any one time. By the turn of the twentieth century 16,000 people were employed in the mining industry in the area.

The town also became an important centre for rail, with large amounts of minerals such as coal, limestone and ironstone mined in the surrounding area passing through the town on the way to the coast. In the neighbouring town of Shildon large numbers were employed in the railways, were a railway engine works were established.

Industrial decline
By the early years of the twentieth century coal mining started to go into decline as coal reserves started to become exhausted. By the end of the 1920s unemployment had hit 27% and the population too had started to decline, as colliery employment had halved compared with ten years previously. With the onset of the Great Depression unemployment rose to 60% in 1932 before easing back to 36% in 1937. The Second World War offered a temporary reprieve for the coal industry, however, after the war the decline continued. The last deep colliery in the area closed in 1968, although the much more mechanised, and less labour intensive, surface level opencast mining did continue.

Equally, the railways that had also supported the area were also scaled back, ultimately culminating in the closure of Shildon’s Wagon works in 1984 which resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs.

Well-known high street brands trading in the town include Marks and Spencer, Boots, WH Smith, Burtons, Dorothy Perkins, MacDonalds, Superdrug, Top Man/Top Shop, Woolworths, Argos, Currys and Mothercare.

Asda and Morrisons are the main supermarkets within the town centre.

B&Q and Halfords operate on the edge of the town centre.

There are nearly 300 businesses operating in the town centre.

The Bowes Museum

Walter Scott frequently visited his friend John Sawrey Morritt at Rokeby Hall and was fond of exploring Teesdale. He begins his epic poem Rokeby (1813) with a man standing on guard on the round tower of the Barnard Castle fortress.

Charles Dickens and his illustrator Hablot Browne (Phiz) stayed at the King’s Head in Barnard Castle while researching his novel Nicholas Nickleby in the winter of 1837-38. He is said to have entered William Humphrey’s clock-maker’s shop, then opposite the hotel, and enquired who had made a certain remarkable clock. William replied that his boy Humphrey had done it. This seems to have prompted Dickens to choose the title “Master Humphrey’s Clock” for his new weekly, in whichThe Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge appeared.

The Bowes Museum housed in a chateau-like building, was founded by John Bowes and his wife and is of national status. It contains an El Greco, paintings by Goya, Canaletto, Boucher, Fragonard and a collection of decorative art. A great attraction is the 18th century silver swan automation, which periodically preens itself, looks round and appears to catch and swallow a fish.

John Bowes lived at nearby Streatlam Castle (now demolished). His Streatlam stud never had more than ten breeding mares at one time, but produced no fewer than four Derby winners in twenty years. The last of these, “West Australian”, was the first racehorse to win the Triple Crown (1853).

Why not come along and see how things were being done at the start of the century, with daily demonstrations of Threshing and Wood Cutting using original machinery. See a wide range of steam powered engines that have been lovingly restored to full working order. For many it will take you back to the heady days when steam power formed the backbone of Industry.

There is a wide range of things for all the family from the gleaming Steam Engines, the market and traders stalls, Faiground for the children, a wide range of food and drinks, classic tractors of all shapes and sizes, Clasic and Vintage cars, a fully licenced bar with evening entertainment and don’t forget you can even make a weekend of it and stay on site at the camp site, tents, caravans and motorhomes welcome.

The Truck Show has become a major event with a wide selection of vehicles on show and prize categories throughout the ranges it has helped to re-inforce the importance of the haulage Industry.

The range of stands related to the industry are diverse from Insurance to the Major Manufacturers. The fun is all the things to see from the immaculate trucks to the star attraction for the last two years the Monster Trucks. With a wide range of food stands and the wide range of market stands there is a wide range of items for sale. The Beer tent is a firm favourite along with the evening entertainment, and the Arcade and Amusements for the children.

If you are planning to make a weekend of it then you can rent a pitch for your Motorhome, Caravan or tent, or even the unexpected as was the case in 2008 an American Indian Wigwam.

Year after year the Truck Show has proven to be a great day out for the whole family with lots to see and do.

Modern – Custom – Vintage – Commercial Trucks – Working – Recovery – Owner Drivers – Commercial Stands from all the big names such as VOLVO, SCANIA, BELLS, MERCEDES. Large Selection of market traders, auto jumble and food stalls. # Tractor pulling throughout the weekend # Licensed bar with nightly entertainment.

This popular event this year is spread over 3 days during the August Bank Holiday weekend.

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Dalton Park makes fashion affordable for everyone. From a snack to a meal with wine we have it all – there’s a number of great cafees and restaurants where you can take a break from shopping plus 55 acres of Parkland. Look out for free events and entertainment throughout the year

]]> http://www.seedurham.co.uk/shopping/dalton-park-shopping-outlet-2.asp/feed 0 http://www.seedurham.co.uk/seaham/history-of-seaham.asp http://www.seedurham.co.uk/seaham/history-of-seaham.asp#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 administrator http://www.seedurham.co.uk/Seaham/History-of-Seaham.asp Until the early years of the 19th century Seaham was a small rural agricultural farming community whose only claim to fame was that the local landowner’s daughter, Anne Isabella Milbanke, was married at Seaham Hall to Lord Byron on 2 January 1815. Byron began writing his Hebrew Melodies at Seaham and they were published in April 1815. It would seem that Byron was bored in wintry Seaham, though the sea enthralled him. As he wrote in a letter to a friend:

“Upon this dreary coast we have nothing but county meetings and shipwrecks; and I have this day dined upon fish, which probably dined upon the crews of several colliers lost in the late gales. But I saw the sea once more in all the glories of surf and foam. ”

The marriage was short-lived, but long enough to have been a drain on the Milbanke estate. The area’s fortunes changed when the Milbankes sold out to 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, who built a harbour in 1828 to facilitate transport of goods from the industries locally encouraged (the first coal mine was begun in 1845). However, this harbour later proved inadequate to deal with the millions of tonnes of coal and 6th Marquess commissioned engineers Patrick Meik and Charles Meik to reclaim land and extend and deepen the dock. It was officially opened in 1905. The harbour is of particular interest because it consists of a series of interconnecting locks rather than the more typical two wall construction.

In 1928 production started at the last town colliery to be opened, Vane Tempest. By 1992, however, all three pits (Dawdon Colliery, Vane Tempest Colliery and Seaham Colliery – known locally as “the Knack”) had closed, a process accelerated by the UK miners’ strike (1984-1985) and cheap coal imports from Eastern Europe. The pit closures have hit the local economy extremely hard, and Seaham sank into a depressed state in the 1980s and 1990s.

Many local families were affected by the tragic loss of eight men and one boy in the ‘Seaham Lifeboat Disaster’, when the RNLI lifeboat, the George Elmy, sank on 17 November 1962. To commemorate the event, the new coast road was named George Elmy Lifeboat Way.

The festival is both a meeting of minds, with some of the most interesting and important writers of our times, and a fun mix of interactive events, live performance and special events; all carefully chosen to create a festival that engages with a wide range of tastes and interests.

So whether it’s new novels that you’re searching for, poetry that you’d like to hear, history you’re into, or scientific endeavour that you’d like to explore, there’s something here to spark your interest this year.

Blending debates and discussions with interactive events audiences can get involved in, this year’s Durham Book Festival takes place from 18 – 28 October, including three days of free book-based, hands-on fun for children during the October half-term.

In association with Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study, best-selling author (and Durham devotee) Bill Bryson will be in conversation with four contributors to Seeing Further, a lavishly illustrated book, created to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the Royal Society, and edited by Bill. Joining him in discussion will be biographer Richard Holmes OBE; science writer and broadcaster Georgina Ferry; award-winning science writer Philip Ball; and the President of the Royal Society, Lord Martin Rees. (Tuesday 19 October, 6pm)

The festival will welcome prominent thinkers in politics, history, society and the environment to talk about issues affecting us all:

• Will Hutton presents his book Them and Us, looking at the issue of equality and fairness in society. Hutton is one of the foremost liberal thinkers in the UK, and is currently leading an inquiry into cutting top public sector pay for the coalition government. (Monday 18 October, 7.45pm)
• Historian and TV presenter Peter Snow hosts a talk about Wellington, recounting the seven-year campaign that saved Europe from Napoleon. Peter Snow is one of our best-loved TV presenters – both for his Election night Swingometer and for his military history programmes such as Battlefield Britain. (Monday 18 October, 7.45pm)
• Chris Mullin talks about the second part of his diaries, Decline and Fall: 2005-2010, detailing his ministerial life as part of the Labour government. It follows on from the riveting A View From the Foothills, which provided an insider’s account of life as a junior minister. (Saturday 23 October, 12.30pm)
• A special Happy Talk event brings together three acclaimed speakers on the issue of happiness and why we, as a society, strive towards it and expect to achieve it: renowned performance artist Bobby Baker, poet Gwyneth Lewis, and philosopher Havi Carel. (Saturday 23 October, 3.30pm)

As Festival Laureate for 2010, poet Simon Armitage will be in Durham for the duration of the festival and will feature in a number of events. In a festival exclusive, Simon has reunited the New British Poetry Stars of 1990 in an event that brings together Jackie Kay, Lavinia Greenlaw and Glyn Maxwell and Simon himself for the first time in 25 years. The role of Festival Laureate is supported by Durham University. (Thursday 21 October, 7.30pm)

Architect and TV presenter George Clarke, host of Channel 4’s The Restoration Man, launches his book The Home Bible, with an illustrated talk about how to improve your home through simple changes to its layout. George is originally from Sunderland, and Durham Book Festival is delighted to welcome him back to the Wear Valley. (Wednesday 20 October, 7.30pm)

Following on from successful events of this nature last year, the Durham Book Festival once again offers several book events “with a twist”:

• Pete Brown talks about beer and the British Empire, presenting his new book Hops and Glory. He will also be leading the audience on some free beer-tasting to illustrate his point. (Wednesday 20 October, 7pm)
• The Saturday Girls brings together two writers who define Saturday mornings: Kate Fox, Northern poet and comedienne who you’ll have heard on Radio 4’s Saturday Live, and Lucy Mangan, whose hilarious column features in the Saturday Guardian magazine. The Saturday Girls will be talking about books and weddings (both are newlyweds and have written on the subject). The event will include tea and cupcakes. (Saturday 23 October, 11am)
• Radio 3’s The Verb: Live from Durham with Ian McMillan presenting Jackie Kay and Peter Blegvad. (Friday 22 October, 9pm – FREE EVENT)

For the first time, Durham Book Festival is also offering a host of events for children during the October half-term – and they’re all completely free. Book-based but emphasising fun learning, the events include the Slithery Slimy Show with all sorts of creepy-crawlies to handle and learn from; Nick Arnold doing a Horrible Science show; and Dr Who writer Paul Magrs. Events take place from 26 to 28 October on Palace Green in Durham.

A full programme of events and booking details are available at www.durhambookfestival.com

The Festival will see venues in historic Durham City and County hosting award winning acts from five continents, including bands from Colombia, India, Australia, Macedonia, France, Germany and the United States.

Durham is the perfect place to host an international Brass music festival and this summer’s event will see the city and county become the region’s must-visit destination for a live music and entertainment experience.

Several acts will perform for free on the streets of Durham in the unique, musical walkabout Streets of Brass, and selected performers will appear in Darlington, and at Locomotion, the National Railway Museum at Shildon.

Programme highlights from past

]]> http://www.seedurham.co.uk/entertainment/empire-theatre-2.asp/feed 0 http://www.seedurham.co.uk/news/durham-news-from-the-northern-echo.asp http://www.seedurham.co.uk/news/durham-news-from-the-northern-echo.asp#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 administrator http://www.seedurham.co.uk/news/Durham-News-from-the-Northern-Echo.asp All the latest News and sport from Durham – updated everyday with thanks to the Northern Echo.