The Society was formed in 1964 to encourage and promote interest in the study of the history of County Durham. It is a registered charity (no. 235597)
Our emphasis for the past sixty years has been on recent centuries when County Durham was playing a major part in the economic and industrial growth of Britain and also making its individual contribution to the social, religious and political development of our country.
The Society attends events promoting local history, issues a range of publications, arranges occasional talks free to non-members and maintains this website.
The Journal, available free to members, includes original contributions on Durham's history, articles on sources and reviews of books. Other publications, covering original research on a wide range of local topics, are made available to members at reduced prices.
Information on the large range of articles published in our Journal (formerly Bulletin) over the last sixty years is on our Publications page.
The Society is keen to expand its website to give access to these articles and is looking for new members with the skills to help organise this initiative. If you are interested, please contact the DCLHS Secretary, Dr John Banham on 01388 816209,
Or e-mail him at jdbdclhs@gmail.com
or write to him c/o 21 St. Marys Grove, Tudhoe Village, Spennymoor DL16 6LR.
Our Membership page gives details of how to join the Society.
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For details of the Memory in the Medieval & Early Modern Worlds! history course by The Medieval and Early Modern Student Association (MEMSA) at Durham University click here.
JOURNAL 89 was published in December 2024 and has the following articles:
Our Journal Editor, Dr Mark Egan, would like to hear from members interested in writing for the Journal, who have suggestions to make about the Journal’s format and contents or who wish to suggest subjects to be covered and possible authors. He says:
As ever, I appeal for more content! As editor, I am also happy to assist potential contributors pull articles into shape. Whether you are an experienced writer, or are just for the first time considering writing up some research, please get in touch at marksanddancer@googlemail.com
See the Publications page of this Website for details of all our publications.
Free Wordpress Training
In collaboration with Thorpe Thewles History Group the County Durham Forum for History and Heritage are pleased to announce the availability of a limited number of free training places on a series of IT and heritage related skills development courses and workshops to be presented throughout 2025.
The first of these courses will provide attendees with the skills and confidence to allow them to build and maintain a professional website using what is arguably the world’s most popular and easy to use platforms, i.e. WordPress....
The timing for the delivery of this first training course is presently under discussion with the professional organisation presenting it. However, it is likely to begin within the second quarter of this year and comprise a series of up to 10 weekly sessions, each of between 1 and 1½ hours duration.
The course will probably take place in a location either in the southeast or northeast of County Durham. The regular weekly timings for the delivery of each training session has not yet been fixed. However, to enable the widest possible age group and demographic of attendees, the organisers believe there is merit in holding them outside of normal working hours, possibly at weekends.
Those attending the course need no prior knowledge of website design, only basic IT skills and the requirement to provide their own Wi-Fi enabled laptop computer. Attendees of the course will be provided with course notes and a WordPress users guidebook.
While this website design and maintenance course will be totally free, the organisers will request each attendee pays an upfront attendance guarantee deposit. This will be fully redeemable on completion of the course and will help ensure that all its limited spaces will be actively used.
If you would like to know more about the aims and scope of the course and/or register your interest in taking part in it (on a totally noncommittal basis for now) please contact Margaret Hedley: e-mail: history.club2@btinternet.com
When replying please state any preferences you may have for the final selection for the weekly timings of the training sessions and their venue in either of the above two mentioned regional locations.
To qualify for selection to attend this course prospective attendees must be able to prove their current membership of one of the Forum’s 40+ membership group or must be a registered private/individual member of the Forum. They are also encouraged to provide basic details of their group’s or project’s need for a website.
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