Framwelgate (or Framwellgate) is an area of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, England. It is adjoined by Crossgate, North End,

Framwellgate Moor Framwellgate Moor is a village and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is situated to the north of Durham, and is adjacent to Pity Me and Newton Hall. It had a population of 5,404 in the 2011 Census.

and the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

. The origin of the place-name is from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

words ''fram'' and ''wella'' together with the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

''gata'' and means street by the strongly gushing spring. It appears as ''Framwelgat'' in 1352. The 'Borough of Framwelgate' grew up following the construction of Framwellgate Bridge over the River Wear by Bishop Flambard in 1121. The roads Millburngate and Framwelgate became part the main route between Durham and the North. The area was home to wealthy Durham merchants and artisans until the 17th century. By the 19th century much of the area had developed into

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

housing with coal mining occurring to the north of Framwelgate. These houses were demolished during the 1930s and residents moved to the newly built

Sherburn Road Estate Sherburn may refer to: Places *Sherburn, County Durham, England **Sherburn Hill, a separate village to the east of Sherburn **Sherburn House, a hamlet to the south-west of Sherburn **Sherburn Hospital, a medieval hospital located at Sherburn Hous ...

in Gilesgate. Framwelgate is believed to have been named from a well at the head of the old street. This was connected to a pant in the Market Place. An honorary Pant Master continues to be appointed to this day. Above the well the road continues as Framwellgate Peth. Framwelgate Peth continues towards Dryburn, Durham's place of execution until the construction of Durham Gaol. Saint

John Boste John Boste (c. 1544 – 24 July 1594) is a saint in the Catholic Church, and one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Life John Boste was born in Dufton, Westmorland around 1544, the son of Nicholas Boste, landowner of Dufton and Penrit ...

was executed here in 1594 for being a Roman Catholic priest. While name Dryburn is popularly claimed to derive from a stream that dried up following the execution of a Jesuit or a corruption of

Tyburn Tyburn was a Manorialism, manor (estate) in London, Middlesex, England, one of two which were served by the parish of Marylebone. Tyburn took its name from the Tyburn Brook, a tributary of the River Westbourne. The name Tyburn, from Teo Bourne ...

(London's place of execution),

Victor Watts Victor Watts, (18 April 1938 – 21 December 2002) was a British toponymist, medievalist, translator, and academic, specialising in English place-names. He served as Master of Grey College, Durham from 1989 until his sudden death in 2002. He ...

has shown the name, deriving from the middle English for 'dry stream' was being used by at least the 14th century. A mediaeval leper hospital, St. Leonard's is believed to have been sited just south of Dryburn until its demolition in 1652/53. Framwellgate was formerly a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the parish of Durham-St Oswald, in 1866 Framwellgate became a separate

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, on 1 April 1916 the parish was abolished to form Durham. In 1911 the parish had a population of 3235. Prior to the 1974 local government re-organisation the

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

covering central Durham was styled "The City of Durham and Framwelgate".

References

*Margot Johnson. "Framwellgate" in ''Durham: Historic and University City and surrounding area''. Sixth Edition. Turnstone Ventures. 1992. . Pages 12 and 13. *Watts, Victor. ''A Dictionary of County Durham Place-Names''. English Place-Name Society, Nottingham, 2002.

External links

Northern Echo 'Durham Memories' article on Framwelgate 14 March 2003
* ttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=39895#s1 British History Online article on St Leonard's Hospitalbr>Durham Mining Museum entry for Durham Main Pit
(in Framwelgate). Areas of Durham, England {{Durham-geo-stub