|
Durham Town Hall
Durham Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Durham, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The current complex replaced an earlier timber guildhall on the site which was built in 1356 and replaced by a stone structure commissioned by Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall in 1535. The earliest part of the current facility is the guildhall which was commissioned by Bishop John Cosin and dates back to 1665. The town hall was extended in 1752, when George Bowes, the mayor, commissioned extensive alterations to the mayor's parlor. The facade of the town hall was completely refaced in 1754. John Fenwick, a leading abolitionist, spoke at an emancipation meeting held in the hall in 1826. The complex was extended to the west, i.e. the rear of the guildhall, to create a town hall, which was designed by Philip Charles Hardwick in the Perpendicular style, in 1851. The Great Hall inside the complex is long, is richly panelled and has a hammerbeam roof which is high. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durham, England
Durham ( , locally ), is a cathedral city and civil parish on the River Wear, County Durham, England. It is an administrative centre of the County Durham District, which is a successor to the historic County Palatine of Durham (which is different to both the ceremonial county and district of County Durham). The settlement was founded over the final resting place of St Cuthbert. Durham Cathedral was a centre of pilgrimage in medieval England while the Durham Castle has been the home of Durham University since 1832. Both built in 11th-century, the buildings were designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. HM Prison Durham is also located close to the city centre and was built in 1816. Name The name "Durham" comes from the Brythonic element , signifying a hill fort and related to -ton, and the Old Norse , which translates to island.Surtees, R. (1816) ''History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham'' (Classical County Histories) The Lord Bishop of D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology. Tutu was born of mixed Xhosa and Motswana heritage to a poor family in Klerksdorp, South Africa. Entering adulthood, he trained as a teacher and married Nomalizo Leah Tutu, with whom he had several children. In 1960, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and in 1962 moved to the United Kingdom to study theology at King's College London. In 1966 he returned to southern Africa, teaching at the Federal Theological Seminary and then the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. In 1972, he became the Theological Education Fund's director for Africa, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City And Town Halls In County Durham
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city-dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, but following two centuries of unprecedented and rapid urbanization, more than half of the world population now lives in cities, which has had profound consequences for g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Government Buildings Completed In 1665
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a means by which organizational policies are enforced, as well as a mechanism for determining policy. In many countries, the government has a kind of constitution, a statement of its governing principles and philosophy. While all types of organizations have governance, the term ''government'' is often used more specifically to refer to the approximately 200 independent national governments and subsidiary organizations. The major types of political systems in the modern era are democracies, monarchies, and authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Historically prevalent forms of government include monarchy, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, theocracy, and tyranny. These forms are not always mutually exclusive, and mixed go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durham County Council
Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, excluding those parts which now form part of the Borough of Darlington, Borough of Hartlepool and the part of Borough of Stockton-on-Tees north of the River Tees. Between its establishment in 1889 and major local government reforms in England in 1974, the council administered the historic county of Durham Following the 2021 Durham County Council election the council is under no overall control. A Conservative/Liberal Democrat/Independents coalition was formed at the 2021 Annual General Meeting. From 1919 to 2021 the council was under the control of the Labour Party, who held a majority except from 1922 to 1925. At the time of the 2011 census the council served a population of 513,200, which makes it one of the most-populous local a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palatinate (colour)
Palatinate or palatinate purple is a purple colour associated with Durham University and the City of Durham. The term has been used to refer to a number of different shades of purple. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a "light purple or lavender colour", which is used for Durham (and Newcastle) academic hoods. For corporate purposes Durham University uses a darker shade. A separate colour, 'palatinate blue', is derived from the Coat of Arms of County Durham. The name 'Palatinate' in both instances alludes to the historic status of Durham as a County Palatine. Use Palatinate is widely used in the academic dress and sport kits of Durham University and in the faculties of medicine and law at Newcastle University (having been used for degrees in those faculties when Newcastle University was a college of Durham University). It was also formerly used (from 1894) in the BA and MA hoods of Trinity College (Connecticut). As used in academic dress, the colour is said to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Court Dwarf
Some of the first dwarfs to have their histories recorded were employed as court dwarfs. They were owned and traded amongst people of the court, and delivered as gifts to fellow kings and queens. Visual effect Court dwarfs were made to stand right next to the king or queen in a royal court during public appearances and ceremonies. Because they were so small, the king appeared much larger and visually enhanced his powerful position. Other than court jesters who were professional entertainers and clowns, court dwarfs were also used as "natural fools" to create amusement due to their unusual bodies. Their appearance also created allusions of mythology and magic like kobolds and wights. Antiquity Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome From the earliest historic times dwarfs attracted attention, and there was much competition on the part of kings and the wealthy to obtain dwarfs as attendants. Ancient Egypt saw dwarfs as being people with significant sacred associations, so owning a dwarf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Józef Boruwłaski
Józef Boruwłaski (November 1739–September 5 1837) was a Polish-born dwarf and musician who toured in European and Turkish courts. Early life Józef Boruwłaski was born near Halicz in Poland in November 1739. His parents seem to have been impoverished gentry, but it is impossible that Józef had any real claim to the title of 'Count' as there were no similar Polish aristocratic titles. This may relate to the practice of giving show dwarfs military titles, such as General Tom Thumb. Two of his five siblings were also short, but he did have a brother who grew to be in height, and died in battle as a soldier. Given the proportions of his body, and the fact that in adulthood he was sometimes mistaken for a small child, it is likely that Józef was a pituitary dwarf, not a dwarf of the achondroplasic variety. The Starostin de Caorlix took a shine to the short boy and adopted him. After her marriage her acquaintance the Countess Humiecka took charge of Boruwłaski and took ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charter Trustees
In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a parish council is established. Duties are limited to ceremonial activities such as the election of a mayor, and various other functions depending upon local customs and laws. The charter trustees are made up of local councillors in the district representing wards within the boundaries of the town/city. If there are fewer than three district councillors for the former borough, then qualified local electors may be co-opted to make the number up to three. Charter trustees must hold an annual meeting within twenty-one days of the annual meeting of the district council. The first item of business is the election of a town or city mayor and deputy mayor for the next year. The charter trustees of Lowestoft failed to nominate any candidate for the office of town mayor for several years ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durham District
The City of Durham was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of County Durham in North East England, with the status of borough and city. Formation The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the existing City of Durham and Framwelgate with Brandon and Byshottles Urban District and Durham Rural District. The district was abolished as part of the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. Durham City Council The Council was made up of 50 councillors elected in all-out elections every four years (last elections 2007). The last political composition was Liberal Democrat 27, Labour 15, Independent 8. The 2003 elections saw the Liberal Democrats gain overall political control of the council from Labour, benefiting from boundary changes and substantial gains in Durham's eastern suburbs. Labour had held overall control of the City Council continually since the early 1980s. Durham City Council was abolished when the district of Durham was aboli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durham And Framwelgate
Durham and Framwelgate was a municipal borough with the status of city in County Durham, England. The corporation of the ancient borough of Durham and Framwelgate was reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The borough was abolished in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov .... Its former area was merged with Brandon and Byshottles Urban District and Durham Rural District, to become the new City of Durham non-metropolitan district. References {{reflist Districts of England abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 History of County Durham History of Durham, England ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Bryson
William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has been a resident of Britain for most of his adult life, returning to the U.S. between 1995 and 2003, and holds dual American and British citizenship. He served as the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011. Bryson came to prominence in the United Kingdom with the publication and accompanying television series of ''Notes from a Small Island'' (1995), an exploration of Britain. He received widespread recognition again with the publication of '' A Short History of Nearly Everything'' (2003), a book widely acclaimed for its accessible communication of science. In October 2020 he announced that he had "retired" from writing books, although in 2022 he recorded an audiobook for Audible, entitled 'The Secret History of Christmas'. He has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
