Elvet Explained

Country:England
Official Name:Elvet
Static Image Name:Old Elvet Bridge on a sharp autumn day - geograph.org.uk - 1027342.jpg
Static Image Caption:Old Elvet Bridge
Coordinates:54.7759°N -1.5743°W
Population:10,175
Population Ref:(2011 Ward)[1]
Civil Parish:City of Durham
Unitary England:County Durham
Lieutenancy England:Durham
Region:North East England
Constituency Westminster:City of Durham
Post Town:DURHAM
Postcode District:DH1
Postcode Area:DH
Dial Code:0191
Os Grid Reference:NZ2742

Elvet is an area of the city of Durham, in County Durham, England. It is situated on the opposite side of the River Wear from Durham Cathedral and forms the south-eastern part of central Durham.

Name

The name Elvet is recorded as Aelfetee in circa 800 AD and in the 12th century as Aeluete and Eluete. It is thought to be Old English in origin, containing the element elfitu ("a swan") + either ēa ("a river") or ēg ("an island"), giving the name a meaning of "swan stream" or "swan island".[2] [3] The Swan and Three Cygnets, a public house on Elvet Bridge, is a reminder of the historical name given to this part of the city.

Other attempts at the etymology of Elvet include identification with the epithet Elfed in the name of Madog, a hero in Y Gododdin.[4]

History

Elvet grew up from two medieval settlements based around Old Elvet and St Oswald's Church and includes Church Street, Hallgarth Street, Whinney Hill and much of Durham University's science site and the Roman Catholic chaplaincy at St Cuthbert's Church. Elvet is home to Durham Prison and Durham Crown Court centre (Court Lane), County Court centre (New Elvet) and magistrates' court (Old Elvet). The Crown Court centre was originally built for the Durham Assizes and is a grade II* listed building.[5] [6]

Elvet was formerly a township in the parish of St Oswald,[7] in 1866 Elvet became a separate civil parish, on 1 April 1916 the parish was abolished to form Durham.[8] In 1911 the parish had a population of 3934.[9]

Hallgarth Street

Elvet House, a former Crown building (c. 1951) in Hallgarth Street, is currently the base for Durham's Jobcentre Plus, Crown Prosecution Service, Driving Standards Agency and Tribunals Service. The County Court vacated its purpose-built 1960's annex to Elvet House in October 2008 to relocate alongside the magistrates' court.

The former priory farm included the former granary called the Tithe Barn,[10] which is grade II* listed;[11] and two former barns,[12] other buildings[13] and a wall which are grade II listed.[14] The Tithe Barn has been dated between 1446[15] and 1449.[16]

Hallgarth House, which is number 77,[17] is grade II listed.[18] The Victoria, formerly the Victoria Hotel, an inn which is number 86, is grade II listed.[19] [20]

Numbers 18,[21] 21 to 32,[22] 54 to 56,[23] 58,[24] 59,[25] 67,[26] 68, 69,[27] 70,[28] 73[29] and 75[30] are grade II listed.

Church Street

Oswald Court is off Church Street. A fire ball is reported to have fallen there during a thunderstorm on 13 July 1884.[31]

New Elvet

Dunelm House, a grade II listed building, is located on New Elvet.[32]

Old Elvet

Shire Hall, a grade II listed building,[33] is located on Old Elvet.[34] [35] Ustinov College operates three student residences (houses 29, 34 and 38) on Old Elvet; The Swan is unnumbered but located immediately beside 38.

The local Masonic Lodge (Universities Lodge 2352) is at 36. The Masonic Hall was built in 1869. The architect was T C Ebdy.[36]

The Royal County Hotel is a grade II listed building. It has a staircase traditionally said to have been taken from Lochleven Castle.[37] [38] Number 32, which has been used as an Adult Education Centre, is a grade II listed building.[39]

Elvet Methodist Church was begun in 1902.[40] [41]

Number 34 is a grade II listed building. It has been used as the Graduate Society Offices.[42] Elizabeth Milbanke and John Bacchus Dykes lived there at different times.[35] [43]

The Dun Cow, a pub which is number 37, is a grade II listed building.[44]

Numbers 1,[45] 5, 6,[46] 14,[47] 15, 15A,[48] 17,[49] 18, 19,[50] 19½,[51] 20,[52] 25,[53] 26,[54] 26A, 27,[55] 28,[56] 30,[57] 38,[58] 39, 40,[59] 42,[60] 43,[61] 44, 45, 46,[62] 52,[63] 53, 54, 55 and 55A[64] are grade II listed buildings. Numbers are 47, 48 and 49 are grade II* listed buildings.[65]

Whinney Hill

Whinney Hill is a street on a hill of the same name in the Elvet area, that name being derived from the whin (gorse) shrub that grows there in profusion. The street runs north–south from Durham Prison and the Durham City Cricket Grounds, on the banks of the River Wear, to the roundabout on the Stockton-on-Tees road near the Durham University science site. The lower site of Durham Johnston Comprehensive School was located on it until September 2009 when the school's sites merged.

Durham's third passenger railway station, Durham Elvet, opened in 1893 at the north end of Whinney Hill, closing in 1954.[66] Its site is now occupied by Durham Magistrates' Court and the university's Parson's Field buildings.

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ward population 2011. 9 July 2015. 14 July 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150714064805/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=6508146&c=South+Shields&d=27&e=62&g=6359568&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1436181129221&enc=1. dead.
  2. [Allen Mawer|Mawer, Allen]
  3. Web site: Key to English Place-names - Elvet, Durham . University of Nottingham . 8 February 2024.
  4. Mark Reginald Wakeford, 'The British Church and Anglo-Saxon Expansion: The Evidence of Saints' Cults' (unpublished Ph.D. theses, Durham University, 1998), pp. 17-19.
  5. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322878 List entry 1322878
  6. For the courthouse used by the Crown Court, see Nikolaus Pevsner, "Assize Courts, Court Lane", The Buildings of England: County Durham, Penguin Books, 1953, (The Buildings of England, volume 9), p 128 https://books.google.com/books?id=UBjqAAAAMAAJ; Elizabeth Williamson (ed), "Crown Courts", The Buildings of England: County Durham, Second Edition, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1983, Corrected reprint, 1985, p 227; "The New Assize Courts at Durham" (1869) 27 The Builder 553 (10 July); "The New Assize Courts at Durham" (1869) 17 The Building News 489 (24 December), see also p 34 (9 July); The Illustrated Guide to Durham and Its Vicinity, G M Watt, 1888, p 139 https://books.google.com/books?id=iHLXAAAAMAAJ; "Criminal incompetence left £7.3m* bill". Northern Echo. 10 August 2011.
  7. Web site: History of Elvet, in Durham and County Durham. A Vision of Britain through Time. 7 June 2024.
  8. Web site: Relationships and changes Elvet CP/Tn through time. A Vision of Britain through Time. 7 June 2024.
  9. Web site: Population statistics Elvet CP/Tn through time. A Vision of Britain through Time. 7 June 2024.
  10. Heritage at Risk. List entry 48798.
  11. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1120616 List entry 1120616
  12. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323279 List entry 1323279
  13. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323278 List entry 1323278
  14. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160063 List entry 1160063
  15. Roberts, "A Preliminary Roof Typology for the North East of England c. 1200–1700" (2008) 39 Vernacular Architecture 27 to 49 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/174962908X365028?journalCode=yvea20; Johnson, Durham: Historic and University City and surrounding area, 6th Ed, 1992, p 18
  16. Arnold and Howard, "The Tithe Barn, Elvethall Manor, Hallgarth Street, Durham", 2010, report number 59
  17. Joseph Bascom St. John, The Europa World of Learning, Globe and Mail, 2005, p 1951.
  18. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323282 List entry 1323282
  19. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1381263 List entry 1381263
  20. Stables, "Victoria Inn", A-Z of the City of Durham, 2019; Dodds, "Victoria Inn Public House", Durham City in 50 Buildings, 2019, chapter 41; Richardson, Durham Cathedral City from Old Photographs, 2009, section 5.
  21. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1120615 List entry 1120615
  22. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1120617 List entry 1120617
  23. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160068 List entry 1160068
  24. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323280 List entry 1323280
  25. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310711 List entry 1310711
  26. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1120619 List entry 1120619
  27. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310715 List entry 1310715
  28. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1323281 List entry 1323281
  29. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160089 List entry 1160089
  30. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1120620 List entry 1120620
  31. "Thunderstorms" (1884) 13 The Electrician 220 (19 July 1884)
  32. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1477064 List entry 1477064
  33. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310562 List entry 1310562
  34. Nikolaus Pevsner, "Shire Hall, Old Elvet", The Buildings of England: County Durham, Penguin Books, 1953, (The Buildings of England, volume 9), p 128; Elizabeth Williamson (ed), "Old Shire Hall", The Buildings of England: County Durham, Second Edition, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1983, Corrected reprint, 1985, p 226
  35. Margot Johnson. "Old Elvet" in Durham: Historic and University City and surrounding area. Sixth Edition. Turnstone Ventures. 1992. Page 18.
  36. "A New Masonic Hall for Durham" (1869) 27 The Builder 20 (2 January); "Durham" (1869) 17 The Building News 467 (17 December); Elizabeth Williamson (ed), The Buildings of England: County Durham, Second Edition, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1983, Corrected reprint, 1985, p 253
  37. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121376 List entry 1121376
  38. Charlie Emett. "Walk 1: Durham City: The Royal County Hotel". Pub Walks in County Durham & Teesside. Countryside Books. Newbury, Berkshire. 2005. . Pages 9 and 10.
  39. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322879 List entry 1322879
  40. Michael Richardson. Durham City from Old Photographs. Amberley Publishing. 2009. p 46
  41. "Wesleyan Church, Durham" (1903) 85 The Builder 499 Google Books
  42. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121413 List entry 1121413
  43. William Whellan & Co. History, Topography, and Directory of the County Palatine of Durham. Whittaker and Co. Ave Maria Lane, London. Galt and Co. Ducie Street, Exchange, Manchester. 1856. p 206.
  44. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121414 List entry 1121414
  45. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121400 List entry 1121400
  46. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322876 List entry 1322876
  47. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121401 List entry 1121401
  48. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121402 List entry 1121402
  49. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322877 List entry 1322877
  50. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160498 List entry 1160498
  51. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121403 List entry 1121403
  52. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160540 List entry 1160540
  53. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121409 List entry 1121409
  54. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121410 List entry 1121410
  55. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160628 List entry 1160628
  56. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121411 List entry 1121411
  57. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121412 List entry 1121412
  58. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310454 List entry 1310454
  59. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322880 List entry 1322880
  60. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121415 List entry 1121415
  61. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310463 List entry 1310463
  62. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322881 List entry 1322881
  63. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121417 List entry 1121417
  64. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1160700 List entry 1160700
  65. https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1121416 List entry 1121416
  66. Web site: Subterranea Britannica - Durham Elvet Station . 2008-03-17.

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