From the Durham County Advertiser 50 years ago. – (From Durham Times)

From the Durham County Advertiser 50 years ago. –

7:00am Friday 13th July 2012 in Looking Back

A ‘disgrace’ and ‘a blot on the city"’were two of several decriptions applied by members of the Wear and Tees River Board when they took a look at Durham’s notorious and unsightly ‘sludge hump’ in the Wear, below Framwellgate Bridge, and resolved to make a fresh investigation into the possibility of its removal. Ald A Cunningham, chairman of the Board and vice-chairman of Durham County Council, voiced the general opinion of his colleagues when he declared: ‘‘The Board is anxious that this ‘eyesore’ is removed and we are going to examine the whole problem very carefully.’’ There was a similar intention some years ago to do something about the ‘hump’, a large tract of silt and mud covered with weeds and tall grass which disgraces the scene but nothing came of it. Ald Cunningham said it was impossible to get two greater contrasts than to stand on Framwellgate Bridge and admire the majestic beauty of the Castle and Cathedral and then to look in the opposite direction and see the ‘sludge hump’.