Shincliffe

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Shincliffe is a village in the City of Durham, County Durham, in England. It is situated to the south-east of Durham. Shincliffe is also a civil and ecclesiastical parish consisting of Shincliffe Village, High Shincliffe, Sherburn House and Whitwell House.

Shincliffe is regarded as one of the most affluent villages in Durham City and has been designated a conservation area to preserve its historic character.

In medieval times Shincliffe was an agricultural community belonging to the Prior of Durham Cathedral. The population grew significantly due to coal mining at nearby Houghall, Old Durham and Shincliffe Bank Top (now High Shincliffe) but declined following mine closures in the late 19th century.

Shincliffe was an outlying part of the large Durham parish of St. Oswald's. A rectory was built in the village in 1800, and a Chapel of Ease in 1826. Shincliffe became a parish in its own right in 1831, however the Parish Church, St. Mary's, was not built until 1851. John Wesley preached in Shincliffe in 1780. A (Wesleyan) Methodist Chapel opened in Shincliffe in 1874.

Shincliffe is the site of a medieval bridge over the River Wear and recent archaeological investigations suggest Shincliffe may have been the site of a Roman crossing (source: Northern Echo 22/09/2005). Durham's first railway station opened at Shincliffe in 1839 as the passenger terminus between the Durham area and Sunderland but closed in 1893 once a line had been run from Sherburn House to Durham itself. A goods line continued to Houghall and Croxdale Colliery. A new road was constructed in the 1920s to by-pass the village along its eastern side.

William Sever, Bishop of Durham (1502-1505) was born in Shincliffe.