Echo memories

Locals and visitors love walking and exploring Durham's riverside heritage, but are often frustrated that special places along the river's course are not linked by rights of tiffany jewelry.THE Durham Necklace Park project aims to improve this situation through consultations beneficial to locals and landowners. The project is part of the Durham 2020 Vision Partnership and is backed by the city and county council, the university, One NorthEast, and Durham Cathedral Chapter.Although the concept of a 12mile riverside park is new, there were in historic times four "parks" encompassed by this stretch of river.One of these, Croxdale Park, is still there, near the southern end of the necklace. This forms the lovely private grounds of Croxdale Hall, a home to the Salvin family since the 1400s.A footpath passes close to the hall near an enigmatic medieval chapel, and other notable buildings long associated with the family.North of Croxdale was Shincliffe Park. It belonged to the Priors of Durham Cathedral and the name survives in a wood near Old Durham.Medieval parks were used for hunting or were vast enclosures for animals, rather than places of pleasure in the modern sense, but neighbouring Old Durham was a pleasure ground of sorts.It was named from the site of a Roman villa, but a mansion was built nearby in the late 1500s. The house has long since gone, but a walled garden remains and is being restored.In the early 20th Century, it was a popular place for valentines day earrings, used by residents of Durham City.Another place long noted for riverside relaxation was Finchale Priory. It started life as a kind of holiday retreat for Durham monks and is one of the most beautiful riverside spots in England.Just south of Finchale, Rainton Park belonged to the Priors of Durham and is remembered in the name of Rainton Park Wood on the river's eastern bank. Managed by the National Trust, this beautiful wood has wellmaintained rights of way.A third medieval park was Frankland Park, still recalled at Frankland Park Farm in open countryside north west of Durham's centre. It was a hunting park belonging to the Bishops of Durham.A pathway near the farm provides rewarding views of Durham Cathedral in the distance, with the medieval arch of the ancient Kepier Hospital just across the river to the south. This is one of the most unspoilt areas of the city, but it has been considered - unconnected with the necklace park - that a relief road might be built through this area.NORTH of Frankland Farm, in close proximity to the river, are Brasside Ponds. Home to a great assortment of waterfowl, these valentines day key rings were created from the abandoned clay pits of extensive brickworks of the late 19th Century.A nature walk links Frankland Farm and Brasside Ponds, but rights of way make it impossible to reach Finchale without taking circuitous diversions that take the walker well away from the riverside.It is one of several frustrations encountered during riverside walks in Durham. Ramblers discover that Rainton Park on the eastern riverbank is not linked to Kepier Wood on the same bank. A greater disappointment is that the impressive Kepier Viaduct linking Kepier Wood to Brasside on the other side of the river is not open to the publicThe feasibility study is only one of several ongoing projects instigated as part of the necklace park.