I
Administrative (pop., 2001: 493,470), geographic, and historic county, northeastern England.
Adjacent to the North Sea coast, it includes the city of Durham . The northern part of the county is cut by the valleys of the Rivers Wear and Tees; the Tees lowlands extend across the south. Under the Romans the region was a military outpost associated with Hadrian's Wall . Durham was later incorporated into the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria . It was unimportant economically until the 19th century, when exploitation of its coalfields, now exhausted, made it a key area of industrial growth in Britain. The area is now a centre of light industry.
II
Saxon Dunholme
City (pop., 2001: district, 87,725), administrative and historic county of Durham , northeastern England.
It is on a peninsula in the River Wear. This natural defensive site, fortified by William I (the Conqueror) against the Scots, became a seat of the feudal prince-bishops of Durham. Medieval Durham was a place of pilgrimage, holding the remains of St. Cuthbert in its cathedral (begun in 1093). The bishops of Durham helped establish the city as an educational centre. It is the site of the Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art and Archaeology, part of the University of Durham.