County Durham
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘County Durham’
William Stead conceived modern print journalism in the belief that newspapers could change the world.
Driven by a sense of moral crusade, William Stead (1849-1912) transformed newspaper journalism from simple reporting into political activism, pioneering now familiar techniques from headlines, illustrations, interviews and editorial comment to the plain speech and lurid storylines of the tabloids.
A man steals a mother sparrow from her chick, but St Cuthbert isn’t going to let him get away with it.
In 1165, a priest came all the way to Durham from Lixtune (possibly Lytham) on the west coast. He told Reginald of Durham a number of remarkable stories about miracles performed by St Cuthbert, patron saint of his church, and the bond with his beloved birds called ‘St Cuthbert’s Peace’.
A man who seems to have everything loses his good looks to a dreadful disease.
In 1165, a priest came all the way to Durham from Lytham on the Lancashire coast, to give thanks at St Cuthbert’s shrine for several remarkable miracles experienced by members of his parish. He told the stories to Reginald of Durham, including this one about a man with a gruesome disfigurement.
A boy goes bird-nesting in Cuthbert’s church, and finds himself all in a heap.
In 1165, a priest came to Durham from Lytham, where his little parish had experienced a number of miracles at the hands of the patron saint, Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Reginald wrote them down as he heard them, and one tale in particular stands out for the level of eye-witness detail.
An enterprising knight rids the Bishop of Durham of a troublesome boar, but the price comes as a shock to his lordship.
The Pollards were gentry with land near Auckland Castle, seat of the Bishops of Durham. By tradition, each new Bishop of Durham was presented by the Pollards with a handsome falchion (a kind of sword), accompanied by a speech recalling how an ancestor ‘slew of old a mighty boar, and by performing this service we hold our lands.’
The little County Durham line built by George Stephenson and his son Robert was the place where the world’s railway infrastructure really began.
George Stephenson had already built over a dozen steam locomotives and engineered colliery railways at Killingworth in Northumberland, and Hetton in County Durham. Now his growing reputation had brought him another challenge, a little further south at Shildon, and on September 27th, 1825, the world’s railways began to take their now familiar shape.