Durham's narrow medieval streets were not built for modern traffic. The city was chosen as the site for a cathedral and castle because it was so well defended naturally.

In this respect, Durham has often hindered rather than encouraged access.

Only the narrow neck of the Durham peninsula could be entered without crossing the steep gorge of the river, and it is here, on the peninsula neck, that the long, steeply descending street of Claypath enters the city's market place.

As the threat of invasion from Scotland subsided, improving access for traffic became increasingly important. Alterations were made that were sometimes detrimental to the city's heritage.

Most significant was the removal of the huge and wonderful medieval structure called the Great North Gate, demolished in 1820 to ease the movement of carriages along Saddler Street.

For most of the 20th Century, Durham thronged with traffic as car ownership increased. The ancient Elvet and Framwellgate bridges were choked with lorries, buses and cars, as were the city's narrow streets.

So, in 1932, the police box appeared for the first time. It was a small, domed, cylindrical, windowed structure, located on the western side of the market place.

It was designed to house one traffic policeman, who was solely responsible for controlling the traffic in and out of Durham's centre.

At first, all of this was done without cameras or television. The policeman had to assess the volume of traffic approaching the market place from three directions.

He could clearly see the traffic in Claypath to the east, but could only guess at the volume of traffic on the medieval bridges to the north and south. Here the signals may have been under his control, but they were well out of sight.

Cameras arrived on Tuesday, December 31, 1957. They were connected to a new rectangular police box with a sloping roof. The old box was demolished and the policeman now sat between two TV sets monitoring traffic from strategically-placed cameras on tall poles overlooking Elvet and Framwellgate bridges.

A government minister, GRH Nugent, officially opened the system and said he believed it to be unique in the world. The system proved very successful and remained in use until November 1975.

By this time the two concrete traffic bridges had been constructed outside the peninsula, and they removed the need for heavy traffic in the city centre.

Durham's city centre has been increasingly pedestrianised since then and the old bridges are no longer open to traffic. Last October, a toll was introduced to Durham Market Place to reduce the number of vehicles entering the peninsula. Although controversial, this scheme was almost as innovative as the traffic box of 1957 and is the latest in a long-running series of attempts to solve the city's age old traffic problem.

Published: 14/02/2003

If you have any memories of Durham City, Chester-le-Street, Derwentside or the Durham coast, including old photos or stories of people and places you would like to share with readers of The Northern Echo, write to David Simpson, Durham Memories, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF or email David.Simpson@nne.co.uk. All photos will be returned.