Diocese of Durham

The diocese of Durham is a diocese of the Church of England in North East England. The boundaries of the diocese are the historic boundaries of County Durham, meaning it includes the part of Tyne and Wear south of the River Tyne and contemporary County Durham north of the River Tees. It contains 249 parishes and 292 churches. Durham Cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham, and the diocesan offices are located just outside the city at Stonebridge. The bishop lives in Bishop Auckland and has offices in Auckland Castle.

The diocese is the successor to the diocese of Lindisfarne, founded in 635, which moved its seat to Chester-le-Street in 882 and subsequently moved again to Durham in 995. Most of Northumberland and the part of Tyne and Wear north of the Tyne were part of the diocese until 1882, when the diocese of Newcastle was created.

The line of bishops of Durham stretches back to the 10th century, when Aldhun, Bishop of Lindisfarne (995–1018), transferred his see to Durham around 995. The diocese was founded, with its See at Lindisfarne, in 635; until the See was removed from there around 875 and translated to Chester-le-Street (Cuncacestre) in around 882.

The Bishop owes his unique position to the 7th and 8th century Kingdom of Northumbria, which stretched from the Humber estuary to the Firth of Forth. Subsequently the Kingdom came under Danish and English sovereignty and was transformed into an Earldom.

When William the Conqueror became king of England in 1066, he soon realised the need to control Northumbria to protect his kingdom from Scottish incursions. He gained the allegiance of both the Bishop of Durham and the Earl of Northumbria by confirming their privileges and acknowledging the remote independence of Northumbria.

To quell rebellions, William installed Robert Comine, a Norman noble, as the Earl of Northumbria, but Comine and his 700 men were massacred in Durham. In revenge, the King raided Northumbria in the Harrying of the North. Aethelwine, the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Durham, tried to flee with Northumbrian treasures, but was caught and imprisoned. He later died in confinement, leaving his see vacant for William the King to appoint Walcher as bishop of Durham in 1071.

The King also appointed Waltheof, an Anglo-Saxon of the old Northumbria house, as the new earl. Bishop William was on friendly terms with Earl Waltheof, who built a castle at Durham for the bishop. After another rebellion, Waltheof was executed in 1075 and in his place Walcher was appointed earl, becoming the first bishop to exercise secular authority over the area. Walcher was well-intentioned but proved an incompetent leader. He was murdered in Gateshead in 1081.

King William Rufus divided the Earldom into two parts: the lands north of the rivers Tyne and Derwent were ruled by the Earls of Northumberland, while the lands south of the rivers were put under the control of the Bishop of Durham.