From 1991 to 1995 the Trust’s annual overview included “Durham Broadcast”, a short section listing new publications or broadcasts concerning the City. This is being revived, albeit in the different form of occasional reviews of material most likely to be of interest to members.
Gary Bankhead, Pilgrim Souvenirs, Devotional and other Objects of Faith: Late Medieval to Modern Finds from the River Wear, Durham. Hardback; 225 pages; numerous photographs and line illustrations. ISBN 978-1-7391074-2-0. Durham: Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland Report 9 (in Association with the Museum of Archaeology, Durham University), 2025. Price: £40
Dr Craig Barclay reviews this volume, the publication of which was supported by The City of Durham Trust. It makes an important contribution to our understanding of the archaeology of Durham and the role played by pilgrimage in the city’s development. It successfully traverses the tricky middle-ground between academic and popular audiences and will make a valuable addition to the bookshelves of anyone with an interest in the history of the County or the role of Christianity in the North East.
Gary Bankhead, Textile Manufacture, Taxation and Trade in late- and Post-Medieval Durham City. Underwater excavations at Elvet Bridge, Durham by Gary Bankhead 2008-2022. Pp 261. Durham: Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland Report 8, 2022. Price: £35
Anne Allen reviews this book about 334 lead cloth seals discovered on the riverbed beneath Elvet Bridge since 2008. The overarching aim of the book is to explore the insight that this assemblage of alnage and cloth workers’ seals, spanning the mid-14th to early-19th centuries, gives into textile production and trade.
Ptolemy Dean. Streetscapes: Historic Routes through English Towns: Navigating Historic English Towns. Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 2024. 304 pages. £36.01 (Hdbk)
Adrian Green provides a review of this book: a vivid account of twenty-six English towns, including Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham. One might hope that this volume, supported by Historic England, will be eagerly appreciated by those working in planning. All efforts to celebrate the character of England’s historic towns, and the conservation efforts that have achieved their preservation to date, are to be welcomed.
Paul Clayden, The Law and History of Common Land and Village Greens, 7th Edition, Open Spaces Society, 2022
Chris Hugill provides an authoritative review of this invaluable book for lawyers and others seeking a better understanding of the law in this area. This eagerly awaited update of the law relating to commons and town and village greens was written by the late Paul Clayden and brought to publication this year with the expert assistance of his former colleagues at the Open Spaces Society after his sad death. This is a difficult area of property law and the author has succeeded in summarising it expertly and succinctly.
Dr David Mason: Roman County Durham: The Eastern Hinterland of Hadrian’s Wall (Durham County Council, 2021) 557 pages; 485 illustrations, 350 in colour. £37.50
Katie Mountain presents an authoritative review of Roman County Durham. This book is the first volume of its kind, with over 500 pages dedicated to the rich Roman heritage of County Durham. Over 19 well set out and clearly written chapters, Dr David Mason takes us on a journey through an area often overshadowed by Hadrian’s Wall and places a well-deserved spotlight on the wealth and uniqueness of archaeological evidence of Roman County Durham.
Nikolaus Pevsner (1953), Elizabeth Williamson (1983), revision by Martin Roberts, 2021: The Buildings of England: County Durham (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2021), 880 pp. £ 45.
Douglas Pocock presents a comprehensive review of the new revision of Pevsner’s County Durham. He concludes: “In compiling this review it soon became evident that the author, the City of Durham Trust and this reviewer appeared to be of one mind. This of course, was no surprise, as a trawl through the Trust’s Bulletins and Annual Reports will immediately confirm. The clearest single indicator is the Trust’s annual Architectural Awards, which were given to no fewer than eight of the buildings singled out by Martin for particular commendation. Such affirmation of the values held by the Trust apart, the volume as a whole deserves to be on the shelf of anyone interested in the architecture of County Durham.”
Derek Dodds: Durham City in 50 Buildings (Stroud: Amberley Publishing, Stroud 2019). 96 pp. £14.99.
Douglas Pocock, a leading expert on Durham’s history and a member of the Trust (and past Honorary Secretary), has written a review of the book Derek Dodds: Durham City in 50 Buildings . This book attempts to describe Durham in fifty buildings in less than ninety pages of text. Douglas discusses how the author has risen to this challenge.
