MOST locals are familiar with Durham racecourse but are often baffled by the absence of a race track, let alone a race meeting.

This rather pleasant open tract of land in the heart of Durham City has a long history, but horse races have not been held here for many years.

In times gone by, the racecourse was called the Smelt Haugh or Smiddy Haughs. A haugh is a flat piece of riverside meadow and aptly describes the racecourse site.

Long before it became the racecourse, the Prior of Durham is thought to have established a smithy here and this accounts for the first part of the old name.

For many years during the medieval era, the land belonged to the Hostellier of Durham Priory and it was here that the horses of the countless pilgrims and visitors who flocked to Durham were tethered and presumably shoed by the blacksmith.

Horse racing was held on the Smiddy Haughs from about 1733, but before that time, as far back as the 1600s, racing was held at Framwellgate Moor, Brasside Moor and Durham Moor.

In 1792 and 1793, the races returned to Framwellgate Moor but were back at Elvet in 1794. They continued to be held there until about 1887 and were not revived until 1895, when a new racecourse opened at Shincliffe.

Shincliffe racecourse stood in a field at Strawberry Lane, near High Shincliffe, but the race meetings ceased before the First World War.

The remains of a concrete grandstand could still be seen on the edge of a field near Shincliffe until quite recent times.

A grandstand also stood on the Elvet racecourse. It was built of stone but was demolished before the end of the 19th century. Its stone was allegedly used in the construction of Mount Joy Crescent, near Whinney Hill, and also, possibly, in the building of a house at Neville’s Cross.

The track of Durham racecourse is clearly marked on a city map of 1754 but the grandstand does not appear on maps until the second half of the 19th century, by which time the Sport of Kings had become increasingly popular.

A race meeting held on the Smiddy Haughs on April 14, 1873, attracted a crowd of 80,000. This was a two-day event and, with accommodation in short supply, many city residents offered their beds for the night.

Such big crowds often attracted travelling showmen and shooting gallery proprietors.

In the 1881 census, many of these are listed as occupants of the racecourse where they set up their caravans and tents.

The racecourse is tucked away behind the houses in Old Elvet and is accessible from Green Lane or from Elvet Waterside near Baths Bridge.

Baths Bridge is a footbridge across the river and was first built in 1855 when the public baths opened nearby.

The bridge was superceded by new structures in 1898 and 1962 and the actual baths were rebuilt in 1932.

The old baths have been recently superseded by the new baths at Freeman’s Place and await their fate.

A riverside footpath skirts the north side of the racecourse from Baths Bridge while the river itself separates the haugh from Pelaw Wood, at Gilesgate, on the opposite bank.

On the south side, the racecourse is skirted by an ancient road called Green Lane.

This starts at Old Elvet, near Whinney Hill, and leads down to the river at Hollow Drift rugby ground where the city’s rugby club, founded in 1872, has been located since 1885.

Hollow Drift is the name given to a meandering embankment that betrays the former course of the River Wear. Alongside this now dry meander stood Scaltok Mill, built in the 12th century but abandoned in about 1492 when the river changed course. The mill site stood somewhere near the rugby club towards the end of Green Lane.

Green Lane is an ancient route and may once have been the main road to Shincliffe.

The lane must have crossed the river at some point, perhaps by a ford, but it may have wound its way around the steep banks of the wooded hill at Maiden Castle, which is topped by the earthworks of a Celtic fort.

Green Lane possibly began near Durham Cathedral and crossed the river by a ford somewhere near where Kingsgate Bridge now stands.

It followed the course of Rotten Row, another ancient lane (now Court Lane) before continuing along the Green Lane of today.

It is tempting to link this ancient route to the Romans, as just across the river from Green Lane is Old Durham Farm and nearby, the site of a Romano-British farmstead. It is known that there was certainly a Roman road just to the south at Shincliffe.

At the Whinney Hill end of Green Lane stands Durham Magistrates’ Court, on the site of the Elvet Railway Station of 1893. The railway ran close to the course of Green Lane and crossed the river by an iron bridge, but the line had ceased to operate by the 1950s and the bridge has now gone.

As well as being the home to a rugby club and a cricket club, Durham’s racecourse is annually a focal point for the city’s most famous sporting event – the Durham Regatta.

This event was established in 1834 and developed from a procession of boats that first took place here in 1815 to celebrate victory at Waterloo.

However, without a doubt the racecourse is best known as the annual home for the Durham Miners’ Gala that has been held here since June 15, 1873. The first gala was held in August 1871, but was initially held at Wharton Park.

Now traditionally held on the Smiddy Haughs on the third Saturday of July, the Miners’ Gala or “Big Meeting”

could once attract crowds of up to 300,000.