Cosin's Library

Palace Green is an area of grass in the centre of Durham, England, flanked by Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. The Cathedral and Castle together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although initially not part of the site itself, Palace Green was added to the UNESCO site in 2008.It is situated on top of the narrow, high peninsula formed by a sharp bend in the River Wear. The Cathedral is on the southern side, facing the Castle across the Green on the north side. To the east are Durham University buildings including the law, theology, classics and history departments, with the music department and the university's special collections library to the west. From the north and east Palace Green is accessed by two cobbled streets called Owengate (formerly Queen's Street) and Dun Cow Lane, the latter taking its name from a local legend involving a milkmaid and her cow. From the west a passageway, 'Windy Gap', leads down to the banks of the River Wear between two buildings which are now part of the university Music School. Early in the twentieth century one of the buildings had been the home of the novelist J. Meade Falkner, author of Moonfleet. In summer, Palace Green is sometimes used by students of Durham University as a croquet lawn on permission from the groundsman of University College Durham.'Palace Green' is also the name of a hymn tune written by Michael Fleming (1928-2006) while a music student at the university, for the hymn 'Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above'.During the COVID-19 Pandemic, marquees on Palace Green have been used as a testing centre run by the University.

University College, informally known as Castle, is a college of Durham University in Durham, England. Centred on Durham Castle on Palace Green, it was founded in 1832 and is the oldest of Durham's colleges. As a constituent college of Durham University, it is listed as a higher education institution under section 216 of the Education Reform Act 1988. Almost all academic activities, such as research and tutoring, occur at a university level. University College moved into its current location in 1837. Around 150 students are accommodated within Durham Castle. Other college buildings, including converted 18th century houses and purpose-built accommodation from the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s, are within five minutes' walk of the castle. The college has 700 undergraduates and is currently the most over-subscribed college of the university. In 1987 it admitted women undergraduates for the first time, having previously had an all-male student body. From January 2012 until March 2019 the Master of the college was political theorist David Held. Wendy Powers joined as the college Principal on 1 June 2020.

The siege of Durham was a 1006 attack on the settlement of Durham, England, conducted by Scottish forces under Malcolm II against the English defenders, possibly as part of an attempt to gain complete control of Cumbria, or part of the traditional raiding of a new Scottish king intended to display their military might. The battle ended in defeat for the Scottish after Uhtred of Bamburgh raised an army from the lands of Bernicia and York to repel the attackers. This victory would lead to Uhtred being named Earl of Bamburgh, and later Earl of York, uniting these lands under his leadership. Despite his defeat, Malcolm would lead another attack into England in 1018 and gained recognition that the lands north of the River Tweed were under Scottish control after the Battle of Carham.

Bishop Cosin's Hall was a college of the University of Durham, opened in 1851 as the university's third college and named after 17th century Bishop of Durham John Cosin. It closed in 1864 due to a fall in student recruitment at the university. It was housed in an 18th century building on Palace Green which still carries its name.

The Durham Union Society (DUS), commonly referred to as the Durham Union, is a debating society, founded in 1842, by the students at Durham University. It is the largest society associated with the university, with over 3,000 members in residence, and 10,000 worldwide, and is the fourth oldest continuously running debating society in the UK. The society is private, existing independently from the university, and is distinct from the Durham Students' Union. The Durham Union has hosted prominent figures such as former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May, actors Michael Palin and Jeremy Irons, actresses Imelda Staunton and Maggie Smith, members of the House of Lords, Baron Winston and Baroness Grey-Thompson, and television presenters Anton Du Beke and Jeremy Vine. Previous presidents and members of the Union has gone on to hold prominence within the UK including former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Mo Mowlam, former Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland, former Chief of the General Staff The Lord Dannatt, Dominic Johnson the former co-chairman of the Conservative Party, and GB News presenter Tom Harwood.

The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, commonly known as Durham Cathedral and home of the Shrine of St Cuthbert, is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Durham, the fourth-ranked bishop in the Church of England hierarchy. The present Norman era cathedral had started to be built in 1093, replacing the city's previous 'White Church'. In 1986 the cathedral and Durham Castle were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Durham Cathedral's relics include: Saint Cuthbert's, transported to Durham by Lindisfarne monks in the 800s; Saint Oswald's head and the Venerable Bede's remains. The Durham Dean and Chapter Library contains: sets of early printed books, some of the most complete in England; the pre-Dissolution monastic accounts and three copies of Magna Carta. From 1080 until 1836, the Bishop of Durham held the powers of an Earl Palatine. In order to protect the Anglo-Scottish border, powers of an earl included exercising military, civil, and religious leadership. The cathedral walls formed part of Durham Castle, the chief seat of the Bishop of Durham.There are daily Church of England services at the cathedral, Durham Cathedral Choir sing daily except Mondays and holidays, receiving 727,367 visitors in 2019.

The Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) is an interdisciplinary research centre of Durham University. The IAS - set up to mark Durham's 175th anniversary - is intended to attract scholars and public figures from across the world to collaborate on 'agenda-setting research'. It is housed in the Grade II* listed Bishop Cosin's Hall, an early 18th century building on Palace Green, Durham, within the Durham UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Institute accepted its first fellows in January 2006 and was formally inaugurated into the university in October that year.

Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to open in England for more than 600 years, after Oxford and Cambridge, and is thus one of the institutions to be described as the third-oldest university in England. As a collegiate university its main functions are divided between the academic departments of the university and its 17 colleges. In general, the departments perform research and provide teaching to students, while the colleges are responsible for their domestic arrangements and welfare. The university is a member of the Russell Group of British research universities after previously being a member of the 1994 Group. Durham is also affiliated with the regional N8 Research Partnership and international university groups including the Matariki Network of Universities and the Coimbra Group. The university estate includes 63 listed buildings, ranging from the 11th-century Durham Castle to a 1930s Art Deco chapel. The university also owns and manages the Durham World Heritage Site in partnership with Durham Cathedral. The university's ownership of the World Heritage Site includes Durham Castle, Palace Green, and the surrounding buildings including the historic Cosin's Library. It was Sunday Times University of the Year for 2005, and the Times and Sunday Times Sports University of the Year for 2015, and was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize in 2018. Durham University Student Volunteering and Outreach was awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2020.Current and emeritus academics include 14 Fellows of the Royal Society, 17 Fellows of the British Academy, 14 Fellows of the Academy of Social Sciences, 5 Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2 Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts and 2 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Durham graduates have long used the Latin post-nominal letters Dunelm after their degree, from Dunelmensis (of, belonging to, or from Durham).Among British universities, it had the ninth highest average UCAS Tariff for new entrants in 2019 and the third lowest proportion of state-school educated students starting courses in 2016, at 62.9 per cent (fifth lowest compared to its benchmark).

The Assembly Rooms Theatre is a historic 220-seat proscenium arch theatre located in the centre of Durham. During term time, it primarily hosts the work of Durham Student Theatre's 27 resident companies, and also presents the work of external and touring companies at other points in the year. The theatre is managed by Experience Durham, a department of Durham University, and is run by two full-time members of staff alongside a team of student volunteers.

Durham Law School is the law school of Durham University in Durham, England. In 2017, Durham Law was ranked 4th in the UK in a league table which averaged the rankings of the Complete University Guide, The Guardian and the Times University League Table. Durham Law School is ranked 33rd in the world for law by the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, and joint 43rd in the world for law by the 2020 QS World University Rankings by Subject.Small group teaching in tutorials taught in academic staff offices and seminars are a central part of the School's award-winning legal education. Durham Law School has particular research strengths in the areas of Public Law & Human Rights, Commercial & Corporate Law, EU & International Law and Bio-law with further strengths in Chinese Law and Legal Philosophy. Thom Brooks is Dean of Durham Law School. The School was congratulated by the House of Commons in Early Day Motion 875 in 2018.

The Department of Music is the music school of the University of Durham. It is one of the leading university music departments in the UK. The Department of Music offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses, but also carries out research in musicology, analysis, music technology, music psychology, ethnomusicology, composition and performance.

Durham Priory was a Benedictine priory associated with Durham Cathedral, in Durham in the north-east of England. Its head was the Prior of Durham. It was founded in 1083 as a Roman Catholic monastery, but after Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540 the priory was dissolved and the cathedral was taken over by the Church of England. Historically, Durham Priory was one of the most important land owners in County Durham along with the Bishop of Durham until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. Until then, Durham Priory was home to between 50 and 100 Benedictine monks. Durham was the largest and richest of the monasteries associated with Durham; the other cells were in Coldingham Priory (until 1462), Jarrow and Monk Wearmouth, Finchale, Farne, Holy Island, Lythe, Stamford and Durham College, Oxford (after 1381). The Bishop of Durham was the temporal lord of the palatinate, often referred to as a Prince-bishop. The bishop competed for power with the Prior of Durham who held his own courts for his free tenants. An agreement dated about 1229, known as Le Convenit was entered into to regulate the relationship between the two magnates.After the Benedictine monastery was dissolved, the last Prior of Durham, Hugh Whitehead, became the first dean of the cathedral's secular chapter.Durham Priory held many manuscripts; in the 21st century, steps were under way to digitise the books, originating from the 6th to the 16th century, owned by the Benedictine monastery. The project was being undertaken in a partnership by Durham University and Durham Cathedral.