About County Durham - Overview
County Durham lies at the heart of North East England, a region of great contrasts.
The hills, moorlands and forests of the North Pennines and Border hills form its western part. Its eastern side is 160-kilometres of North Sea coastline, on which long-established, industrial conurbations are grouped around the main rivers of the Tees, Wear and Tyne.
It is the smallest of the English regions in both area (8,592 square km) and population (2.6 million). It has four sub-regions, Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley.
County Durham is itself one of the two shire counties in the region. It covers 223,000 hectares (862 square miles) and is bordered by the major conurbations of Tyne and Wear to the north and Tees Valley to the south and extends from the North Sea coast in the east to the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in the west.
Most of the County is rural, with a distinctive settlement pattern of several major centres and over 300 smaller towns and villages.
The County has a population of 499,800. For many years, the population was in decline, largely due to the effects of out migration caused by major economic change. However, in recent years, the population has stabilised at just under half a million people.
County Durham has a long and proud history, and a name unique among English counties, as the only one to bear the prefix ‘County’. Its history is also unique and can be traced to pre-conquest times in Sancte Cuthberte’s Land and by the eleventh century, there are references to comitatus Dunelmensis, the county of Durham.
In the middle ages, County Durham’s Bishops exercised powers enjoyed in the rest of the country only by the Crown. The Prince Bishops were mighty magnates who, along with the people of the County, played a crucial role in the history of England by maintaining the country’s borders.
From the eighteenth century onwards, County Durham became the driver of the Industrial Revolution, which, in turn, created the modern world. Its coal industry supplied the energy on which the Revolution depended, and its development of the transport of goods and people by rail transformed the world. Durham became a county of many small settlements and heavy industry, the legacy of which is the distinctive settlement pattern of today.
The County was also at the forefront of intellectual change: its university was the first English university to be created since those at Oxford and Cambridge in the middle ages. Similarly, in the twentieth century, Durham County Council was a pioneer of improvements in public health and the County saw the development of the first of the New Towns offering improved living conditions to its people.
The economic history of the County, its agricultural heritage and the development of coal-mining in particular, have shaped and defined the cultural traditions of the County and its many communities. The annual three-day agricultural show in Wolsingham is England’s oldest, and a focal point for rural crafts, traditions and commerce. Enthusiasm for sport saw a football team from the County win the first World Cup in 1909 and vibrant village cricket fostered the development of Durham County Cricket Club which has brought Test Match cricket to the North East. The annual Durham Miners’ Gala – the ‘Big Meeting’ – is considered to be the largest regular social and political rally in the country, attracting over 70,000 people each year.
Because of its highly distinctive history and character, the people of County Durham identify very strongly with their county as well as their immediate local communities.
Parts of County Durham are included in the North East’s two ‘city region’ areas – Tyne and Wear and Tees Valley - and will be covered by the associated multi area agreements.
The County is sometimes overshadowed by the conurbations to its north and south. But with its central location within the region and flagship institutions and developments such as Durham University and NetPark (the North East Technology Park in Sedgefield), the County plays a very important role within the region, developing linkages between the two City Regions and contributing to the economic prosperity of the region as a whole.
Further information on the County and the wider region is available from the following websites: