20 March: Durham Day

Today is Durham Day. Here are 10 things you might not know about County Durham.

1. County Durham is the only English county to use the prefix “County” in its name. Usually English counties add “shire” to the principle town, so under the normal convention it should be called Durhamshire. It’s possible the county was named in a different way because it was for a time governed by the Bishop of Durham. The word Durham itself comes from the Celtic word “dun” meaning hill fort and the old Norse “Holme” meaning island.
2. Escomb near Bishop Auckland is the oldest church in its original form in England. The church itself is home to the oldest sundial in Britain.
3. The designer of the world's oldest railway bridge (Causey Arch near Stanley, County Durham, dating back to 1726) was so convinced it would collapse and ruin his reputation that he committed suicide by throwing himself off it.
4. The world’s first steam powered passenger train journey set out from Darlington in 1825. 600 passengers were pulled by George Stephenson’s Locomotion No 1 to Stockton on Tees at an average speed of 6 miles an hour.
5. Mustard paste was invented by a woman from County Durham – a Mrs Clements, who in 1720 came up with the idea of grinding mustard seed like flour.
6. Britain’s tallest single drop waterfall is in County Durham. High Force, on the River Tees near Middleton is 70 feet high.
7. Durham Castle has been in continuous use for over 900 years and is one of the best preserved examples of a motte and bailey castle. It’s also the only castle in the UK never to have suffered a breach.
8. Neil Fingleton, Britain’s tallest man, was born in County Durham. He was 7feet 7 inches tall. He appeared in a number of films including 47 Ronin, Jupiter Ascending and Avengers: Age of Ultron. He also played Mag the Great in Game of Thrones.
9. West Auckland was the first team to win a Football World Cup. While the World Cup as we know it began in 1930, back in 1910 Sir Thomas Lipton organised an international football tournament in Italy. The English football league refused to recruit a team for him, so he selected a team made up of West Auckland miners. They won the tournament, beating Juventus in the final. They won the trophy a second time two years later. The trophy has been missing since the late 1900s.
10. Charles Dickens was staying in Barnard Castle while he was collecting material for Nicholas Nickleby. Dotheboys Hall was based on William Shaw’s Academy in Bowes, which is now a private house.

My Books 

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The Ultraheroes series

Several new groups of superheroes, mostly British, living and working (mostly) in British cities like London and Birmingham. People discovering they have, and learning to live with, superpowers. Each book is complete in itself although there is some overlap of characters.

The Raiders series

A tale of two dimensions, and worm hole travel between the two. People displaced in both time and space, learning to get along and work together to find a way home while getting used to the superpowers wormhole travel gave them. A trilogy.

Golden Thread

A superhero tale with a difference. Five heroes from another dimension keep returning - whenever they return, they have a job to do and are a well-meshed team in order to do it. Until one time, something goes wrong...

Tabitha Drake series

A different kind of power - the ability to talk to dead people. Tabitha has it, and murder victims seek her out to make sure justice is done. Tabitha has this and a disastrous love life to cope with.

Short story collections

Some feature characters from the above novels, others don't. They're not all about superheroes. Some are creepy, romantic, funny.